Isaiah 40:27-31

“Does A BIG God Care About Me?”

Introduction

1. Does a BIG God care about me? Weak, tired, discouraged people ask that question.

2. Is. 40:27-31 “Faint” “Weak” are used 7 times. God is speaking to weak, tired

discouraged people.

Does a BIG God care about me? Weak, tired, discouraged people ask that question.

I. OUR DOUBT...God’s Grievance 40:27

A. His Perspective 27a

1. God Says God knows what you are thinking, feeling, saying: Why sayest thou?

God knows how to speak to us to wake us up to His goodness and greatness:

Jacob…Israel Jacob wrestled with the Angel. The angel touched his thigh. He

limped. As a token of a new beginning his name is changed from Jacob to Israel

(He will rule as God).

2. God Sees However they may see themselves God sees them under a new

covenant. God sees you differently than you see yourself. He sees us as joint heirs,

seated in the heavenlies, more than conquerors, a child of the king.

B. His Puzzle 27b

Israel has two charges against God. It ends with a question. Why do you say?

1. His Ignorance My way is hidden from the Lord…God doesn’t care!

2. His Injustice The justice due to me (my judgment is passed over) is passed over

from my God. It’s not fair! It’s not right!

*They are captive in Babylon and God has let them down. Where is God when I

need Him? He puts so much on me, where is God?

*No one lives with unwavering faith. God doesn’t care! Israel: God will never

back out of His promise!

Does a BIG God care about me? Weak, tired, discouraged people ask that question.

II. OUR DELIGHT...God’s Greatness 40:28

The answer to nearly every question is See God A New. Everything that matters

hangs on who God is! Don’t start with your problem and then look at God. Look at God

and your problem is reduced to manageable size. How do discouraged people need to see

God? Heard? Known?

A.God Is Eternal…everlasting

1.You and I are looked into a slot right now. This present moment is all we see or experience. The urgency of the moment squeezes us, we make costly mistakes because of an overwhelming sense of urgency. Do Something!

2.God is not confined to time. He is eternal…the absence of time. He is always ahead of us. We should never panic if things aren’t falling together according to our deadlines.

3.God is working out His purpose…in His own way…at His pace. He is never in a hurry. He is never desperate or frustrated. Live on His schedule not yours!

B.God Is The Creator of Everything

1.God…Lord…Creator…all the way…to the ends of the earth.

2.There is no where on earth (or this universe) that is unknown to God. (Can you be hidden or can you hide from Him?)

3.Anywhere life may take you…whether a Babylonian captivity…a mortuary…a lonely motel room…an intensive care room…Africa or Afghanistan…God will already be there for us!

4.We rest in His grace and power at all times no matter where we go.

C.God Is Always At Work

Fainteth not…neither is weary. Faint ‘as some wearisome flight’ Weary ‘to gasp’ ‘to be exhausted’ This describes us not Him!

1.We tire daily. We spend 1/3 of our lives asleep in bed recouping our strength. Then we die!

2.God is an eternal, inexhaustible fountain of energy. He never grows tired. In any given event in your life, God is actively accomplishing about 10,000 things you aren’t even aware of!

D. God Is Wise

There is no searching His understanding. His understanding is unsearchable.

1.In other words, we can’t figure God out.

2.Life is often bewildering to us, but it isn’t bewildering to God.

3.If our lives are not exactly the way we would like them to be, we can be sure they are precisely the way God wants them to be.

4.He knows what He is doing. We don’t live by explanations; we live by promises. We don’t figure Him out, we surrender to Him!!

Does a BIG God care about me? Weak, tired, discouraged people ask that question.

III. OUR DEPENDANCE...God’s Grace 40:29

He gives to us what He is. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. When I am weak

then is He made strong. He shares His strength with us in our weakness. Our weakness is

an opportunity for God to receive all the glory.

A. He Energizes Faint…as if wearisome from flight. It is a LONG trip!

B. He Enables He increases strength to those who have no might. “I feel so weak.”

Does a BIG God care about me? Weak, tired, discouraged people ask that question.

IV. OUR DELIVERANCE...God’s Goodness 40:30-31

A. Our Reliability 30

At sometime we all come to the end of our resources…even youth or young men.

B. Our Responsibility 31a

How does this strength become mine? Wait But they that wait upon the Lord.

1.What does it mean to ‘wait’? ‘To look for with eager expectation.’ ‘To Hope’

2.To live in confident suspense. The answer is not in you. Stop struggling and pushing your agenda.

3.It is waiting on tip toes. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended; but his one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14)

4.Waiting on our part is hope in the Lord. Waiting is what faith does before God’s answer shows up. “Live in light of His presence and promises until God comes through.” Are you willing to wait? Are you willing to let God set the pace or are you such a controller you can’t live on God’s terms?

5.We sometimes look for hope in the wrong places…God is our design. LET GOD BE GOD!

C. Our Reward 31b

It is a shall of assurance.

1.Shall renew their strength. It is so needed for faint/weary people.

2.They shall mount up with wings as eagles. Weak and faint soar! Let God be God!

3.They shall run and not be weary. This is the opposite of weary and not be exhausted.

4.They shall walk and not faint.

Sing the chorus: They That Wait Upon The Lord…Teach Me Lord, Teach Me Lord to Wait!

Does a BIG God care about me?

Let God Be God...Wait...Surrender to Him