May the Lord be pleased to bless
the reading of his holy words to the prophet of our souls this
evening. Let's turn to the prophecy of
Isaiah and we'll read part of chapter 40. The prophecy of Isaiah
and reading part of chapter 40. And we'll commence reading at
verse 18. So verse 18 in chapter 40. To whom then will ye liken God? Or what likeness will ye compare
unto him? The workman melteth a graven
image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth
silver chains. He that is so impoverished that
he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot. He seeketh unto him a cunning
workman to prepare a graven image that shall not be moved. Have
ye not known? Have ye not heard? Has it not been told you from
the beginning? Have ye not understood from the
foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the
circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers,
that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them
out as a tent to dwell in. That bringeth the princes to
nothing, he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity, yea,
they shall not be planted, Yea, they shall not be sown, yea,
their stock shall not take root in the earth, and he shall also
blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall
take them away as stubble. To whom then will he liken me? Or shall I be equal, saith the
Holy One? Lift up your eyes on high, And
behold, who hath created these things? That bringeth out their
host by number, he calleth them all by names, by the greatness
of his might, for that he is strong in power, not one faileth. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and
speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord? and my judgment
is passed over from my God. Hast thou not known, hast thou
not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of
the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary. There is no searching of his
understanding. He giveth power to the faint
and to them that have no might. he increaseth strength. Even
the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall
utterly fall, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their
strength, they shall mount up the wings as eagles, they shall
run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. We have some very positive statements
in these words of Isaiah and statements that should be an
encouragement to us today as we find ourselves on the earth
at this time. and we read these few verses
in this 40th chapter, the whole chapter is very wonderful and
very soul-strengthening still we've just confined ourselves
to these verses from verse 18 and I'll just make a few comments
from verse 24 where Isaiah says, Yea, they shall not be planted
Yea, they shall not be sown their stock shall not take root in
the earth and he shall also blow upon them and they shall wither
and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble well we
can see how powerful God is and those things which do exist those
things which have been planted naturally are of God, and those
things which are spiritually the good seed, that seed of life
into our hearts is planted by Almighty God. And we haven't
done it, and we haven't sown it, but God has done it. And in that situation, as we
read here, shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither,
and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. Then to whom then will ye liken
me? Or shall I be equal, saith the
Holy One? Lift up your eyes on high, and
behold, who hath created these things, that bringeth out their
host by number, He calleth them all by names, by the greatness
of his might, for that he is strong in power, not one faileth. I often think it's really wonderful
to realise that here in the Old Testament we're reminded of the
greatness of God, We're reminded that it's Him that created all
things, and that bringeth out their host by number. He calls
them all by names by the greatness of His might, for that He is
strong in power, not one faileth. How wonderful it is to realise
that you and I today are blessed to be able to come to this great
Almighty God, who is all-powerful, always has been, is and always
will be. What a blessing it is to have
such a great almighty God to come to. We've gathered here
tonight to prayer, to pray to that God, that God who hears
and answers prayer. And may we each come and pray
in faith, nothing wavering, believing, that we do come to such a God
who looks down upon us, and amazing as it may seem, to be here in
our midst. Oh, how humbling it is to think
that Almighty God graciously condescends to meet with a little
company of unworthy sinners. We can never claim any merit,
but what a mercy it is to have a God who is just and yet kind
and gracious. And so he says, why sayest thou,
O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord? That's how it seems sometimes,
doesn't it? It seems that God is deaf to
our prayers. He doesn't seem to answer them. or at least it doesn't answer
them in the way that we anticipate. And so we come and say sometimes,
if not out loud, at least in our heart, my way is head from
the Lord and my judgment is passed over from my God. Well, we see
so often the evil heart of unbelief But what a blessing it is when
we come to that God who gives more faith, more faith to believe,
more faith to pray without wavering, believing that we come to that
God who does hear and answer prayer. He speaks to us and it's
really in answer to the question in the 27th verse which we've
just read. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and
speakest thou Israel? My way is hid from the Lord,
and my judgment is passed over from my God. That's a question.
And then it's as the Lord answers. And he says, Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard? that the
everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator, again comes back to
that great point that God always has been and has created all
things, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He fainteth not,
neither is weary, there is no searching of his understanding. We get tired, don't we? We need
rest and we need sleep. We have a God who never rests,
never needs it, never sleeps, is always alert to hear and answer
our prayers. So what a blessing to come to
a God like that, even tonight. And indeed, throughout our life,
day by day, to be able to believe that this God hears and answers
prayer. And what a blessing if in our
little lives we have the evidence of it. Sometimes in the things
of our life naturally as we pray to God that he might help us
and enable us to do things and we look back and we can see how
God did help us and how God did stand by us. And surely that
should be very encouraging. and very humbling to us to realise
this is the everlasting God who does not change, that we are
privileged to come to. And he tells us then, he giveth
power to the faint. Perhaps sometimes we feel like,
we feel like fainting. We feel the journey's too difficult. There's too much opposition.
And we're ready to give up. Well, here the Lord says, He
giveth power to the faint. So if we feel faint sometimes,
to realise we have a great God who can strengthen us in our
time of need. The Apostle Paul, when he wrote
to the Philippians, those beautiful words, and he said, I can do
all things. There was a secret through Christ
that strengthens me. Well, it was true in Paul's day. Indeed, it was true right through
the history of the world. And it's still true today. And what a blessing then for
us to believe that. We can always come to our God
believing that you and I can do those things which seem to
be impossible, realizing what the Apostle was able to declare. And as we read the Apostle Paul's
life, which you can read in detail in the Acts of the Apostles,
and you can see how God was with him. how God stood by him. And he came through many difficult
times. There were mountains, but they
flowed down in the presence of Almighty God. And it's just the
same, thankfully, for us today. And so, here we have this statement
here that he, he faints not, neither is weary. There is no
searching of his understanding. He has a complete understanding.
of everything in this vast world and also every detail in your
and my little lives. Isn't that wonderful? To think
that he has knowledge of everything. And so then, remember, he giveth
power to the faint and to them that have no might he increases
strength. And he draws an analogy to encourage
us, even the youths, shall faint and be weary, and the young men
shall utterly fall. He takes those examples because
youths and young men are normally strong and do not faint and do
not fall. But he says, even the youth shall
faint and be weary. and the young men shall utterly
fall. And then he comes down with his last verse in his 40th
chapter, which is so wonderful really. He says this, but, but,
they that wait upon the Lord, well may we all be found waiting
upon the Lord. And that's a blessing, because
often we're impatient. But as he says here, they that
wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. There we were
weak, there we were weary, perhaps ready to give up, and yet to
be able to come and commit our way unto the Lord. To trust also
in Him, to wait upon Him, And then we have this number of positive
statements. Those that by God's grace are
able to do it, shall renew their strength. Ready to give up perhaps? No, we shall renew our strength. Not through ourselves, but through
the loving kindness of the Lord. He leads us in that right way.
He directs us to cast all our care upon Him with that good
hope that He cares for us. So then, they that wait upon
the Lord shall renew their strength. There we were, weak, ready to
perish. He comes and strengthens us.
Strengthens us in our soul for the spiritual battle which we
have day by day. The devil tries to disarm us,
tries to make us forget to pray, what a blessing when we are reminded
and we come and we call upon his name and we receive strength
in our inner man but they that wait upon the lord shall renew
their strength and then and they shall mount up the wings as eagles
why does he give us that example because an eagle is an amazing
bird and it can fly more or less vertically upwards going around
in tight circles to a great height we've got that example and therefore
we can read about and we can perhaps see eagles do this and
recognize that if we wait upon the Lord by the grace of God
we shall mount up with wings as eagles and then they shall
run and not be weary Perhaps we could hardly walk, perhaps
we felt lame and not able really to walk at all. And yet here
the Word of God tells us, they that wait upon the Lord shall
run and not be weary. How easy it is to be weary naturally,
how easy it is to be weary spiritually. When we find it sometimes, hard
work to pray, hard work to come to our God. And when we do, hard
work to concentrate. Well, here we have an encouraging
word then. They shall run and not be weary. and they shall walk and not faint. Why is that? Because we're blessed
with union with our Saviour. We go in His strength. We don't
go in our strength. We do His will. We follow His
good and gracious example and always remember that blessed
Lord pleased not himself. Sometimes we find ourselves weak
and weary because we're trying to please ourself. What a mercy
it is, therefore, if we can cast all our care upon him. And of
course, on our journey through life, there are many adversaries. The devil's very keen to turn
us out of the way and make us give up and assume there's no
hope for us. Well, my friends, let us remember
the great and blessed truth of God and to follow it through
and rejoice in such statements as this. This last verse is 31st
verse. But they that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength. It doesn't give any details,
just gives us an encouragement. they shall mount up the wings
as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall
walk and not faint. Amen. Well, my second hymn tonight
is 1,107.