So good to be here. Appreciate
your pastor asking me and appreciate God working everything out so
we could be here. We were so afraid we wasn't sure
about the weather if we was going to be able to make it. Somebody
asked me how the roads were. I said, well, it was fine except
for coming up 40 up through that gorge. My biggest fear was one
of them trucks jackknifed and we'd be just snowed in. Couldn't
get out. But God always provides. And
let me tell you this, I would have drove through any snowstorm
But I heard that lesson this morning, Lindsay. Blessed my
heart. Sure did. It was worth the drive.
If you would open your Bible this morning to Isaiah chapter
40. Isaiah chapter 40. Let's read verses 27 through
verse 31. Isaiah chapter 40. 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 increases strength. Even the
youth shall faint and be weary, and the young man shall utterly
fall. They that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings
as eagles. They shall run and not be weary.
They shall walk and not faint. I pray that God might enable
us from these verses, that we that are his people might receive
comfort. Because the very first verse
of this chapter says, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith
your God. We that are his people live in
a veil of tears. We live in a world of sorrow.
We live in a world of sin. We live in a world where we're
just pilgrims passing through. We're just strangers. This world
doesn't know us. We're just strange people. And
this world doesn't know our God. And we face trials, we face tribulations,
we face a lot of different things. And what I want us to try to
think upon today is this word, wait. Waiting upon God. One of the hardest things for
me to do is just wait. And if I know you, and you're
just like me, the hardest thing for you to do is wait. And I think as we The world we
live in today, I think, it's geared not to wait. As we, if
you use any computers at all, you use one and for a while you
say, well, this thing's just so slow. I just can't wait. We want it yesterday. And we
live in a society, we used to save money before we bought something.
Now we don't. We don't have to wait. We just
lay the plastic down and we just put it on a charge card or whatever.
Why? We don't have to wait. We don't want to wait. We want
it yesterday. But I know this. God teaches
us to wait. And he has a reason for that.
God has his time and he moves in his own time. As Lindsay said,
trying to define what wait would mean, nothing more than faith. It takes faith to wait. And it's hard to describe or
even try to define faith. If God gives you faith, you know
it. Many times you feel like you don't have any faith. It's
maybe just weak or maybe so small, but if you have faith, it's faith
that God gave you, and if God gave you faith, He'll increase
that faith, so you must wait upon Him. Wait. When things don't happen like
we think they should, when things don't change when we think they
should, we grow weary. We are prone to give up. Have
you ever just been depressed and just downcast? You said,
yeah, I just wouldn't admit it. I just would hate for anybody
just to know how I feel. You may be there today. But let
me tell you this. Those that are gone, he preserves,
and they will persevere. unto the end. And they will what? They'll wait. They'll wait. In verse 27, this could be speaking to those,
the children of Israel, while they were in Babylon for that
70 long years living in that ungodly, wicked country of Babylon. And God's speaking to them and
He said, why sayest thou O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel." This
is what they were saying. My way is hid from the Lord and
my judgment is passed over from my God. We always, unbelief always misjudges
circumstances. They were saying, my way is hid
from God, does God not see where I'm at? Does God not consider
what I'm going through and how long I've been going through
it. And it's my judgment and my judgment passed over from
my God. My way is hid from my God and
they thought God had took no notice of them. They thought
that God did not right the wrongs that were done to them. They
thought that God would not help them and would not hear them. They thought that God had forsaken
them. It may seem as though God has
forsaken you, but he said, I will never, no never, no never forsake. He has never forsaken his bride
and he never will. Now that is comfort. We all,
and if you've never been discouraged, if you've never been downcast,
if you've never been to the place where you felt like God had forgotten
you, just wait. Just wait. Job cursed the very
day he was born. Elijah, this man that went to
glory without dying, this man who stood on Mount Carmel before
all these false prophets, had all of them destroyed, prayed
a few words, and God sent fire down from heaven. 24 hours later, after Jezebel
said, I'm going to do to you just like you did to those prophets,
he's sitting out under a juniper tree saying, I just wish I was
dead. Nobody believes God. There's
nobody left but me. Does that not sound depressed?
Does that not sound discouraged? How could an individual in 24
hours turn around like that? I know exactly how. He's human
just like us. We can be up here one day and
down here the next. Everything can be fine Monday
and he can be putting her plane all to hell on Tuesday and we
say, where's God at? He's where He's always been.
He's on the throne. He's teaching us the way. And
we're just like Jacob and Israel here. God never forsook Jacob. Never. And God never forsook
Israel. Even when they were in Egypt,
when they were in the wilderness, God never forsook them. And they
said, my ways hid from God. My judgment has passed over from
my God. We should never judge God's goodness,
faithfulness, and wisdom by our circumstances. It's like you
said, Lindsay, when things are going well, we say, oh, God must
really love us. But what about when everything
seems to turn bad? See how we misjudge God's goodness
by our circumstances. Judge not the Lord by feeble
sense, but trust him for his grace. Behind the frowning providence,
he hides a smiling face. It can be so cloudy, you can't
see the sun. But if you get above the clouds,
the sun's always shining. I'd never flew till just a couple
months ago and everybody would tell me what it was like and
try to describe it. Nobody can describe it till you've
actually experienced it. And when you get above the clouds,
everything's so peaceful and calm. It wouldn't matter if it
was raining. It wouldn't matter if it was
snowing. None of it doesn't matter. Behind the frowning providence,
he hides a smile. Blind unbelief is sure to err
and scan his work in vain. Listen, God is his own interpreter
and he will make it plain. We misinterpret circumstances,
but he'll make it plain. Verse 28. Hast thou not known? Hast thou
not heard? Heard of what? that the everlasting
God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth
not, neither is he weary. There is no searching if he is
understanding. When we're cast down and depressed,
stop looking at our circumstances and look at God. God is everlasting. He's without beginning of days
or end of life. It says He's the Creator, and
if He's the Creator, He's the Lord over all things. He spoke
everything we see into existence by His own Word. He created it. He's Lord over it. Not just of
heaven, but also of earth. And everything that happens in
this earth happens on time and on purpose, and all things are
working together for good. To them that love God, to them
that are the called according to His purpose. Has Alma heard?
Has thou not known? It's just like Lindsay said,
if I could get it from here to end here. You say that you believe
God, just wait. I say I believe God, just wait. You put in a situation, a circumstance
and it seems like it doesn't change. Maybe you're dealing
with some job or a child or it could be a lot of different things
and it just doesn't seem to work out or change when you think
it should. Do I really believe God? Do I really trust Him? He is the Creator. He is in control. He's able to deliver His people
out of all trouble in His own Time. Not our time. He is wise. There is no searching of his
understanding. You remember the story of Joseph.
Joseph's brothers hated him, were jealous of him. If God hadn't
intervened, they would have killed him. They threw him in a pit
and just so happened a bunch of people came by and they sold
him into slavery. They took him down in Egypt.
He lived in Egypt for a few years and then he got promoted and
was working in Potiphar's house and Potiphar's wife lied on him
and got him thrown into prison. He stayed in prison for several
years. Don't you think he thought, God forgot about me? And when everything finally turned
around and God brought him to the throne, Josephus told his
brothers, he said, you meant it for evil and God intended
it for good to save many a life. They might intend it for evil,
but God intends it for good. Has thou not known? Has thou
not heard? And I will remind you again,
God is creator. He's the everlasting God. He
never grows weary. And he never faints. My God is not some God trying
to do anything. He does exactly what He wants
to do. They said this young man said
one time, said, God did His part and I did my part. And that preacher
looked at him and said, what do you mean by that? He said,
God did it all and I just got in the way. God does it all as He pleases. when He pleases, with whom He
pleases. And God will teach us. Listen
to me. God will teach us. I didn't say He might teach us.
He teaches us continually every day to wait upon Him. We know, we've heard, we know,
we've been taught this for years. We know it here, but what do
we know it here? Verse 29, He giveth power to the faint. He does. He giveth grace, giveth
power to the faint. And to them that have no strength,
He increases strength. Someone said where it said He
gives power to the faint, to those who are ready to faint,
to just give up. under affliction because, listen,
because why would they want to give up? Why would they, that
word faint, this is not what we think about faint when you
just pass out and somebody has to revive you. No, they just
grow discouraged. They faint because they have
not immediate deliverance or their prayers are not answered
at once or promises are not fulfilled as they expected. To such, He
gives fresh supplies of spiritual strength. He strengthens their
faith. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. For those that come to God must
believe that He is, and He's a rewarder of them that diligently
seek Him. The psalmist said, Psalms 27.13,
I had fainted. I just would have give up unless
I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the
living. Listen, we must believe to see,
not see to believe. There's a big difference. We
want to see something. This is human nature. We want
to see something before we believe. You must believe to see. God is an invisible God. There's
none of us that have ever seen God with natural sight. We believe,
he said, I believe to see the goodness of God in the land of
the living. I don't have to see circumstances
change to know that God's goodness and mercy shall follow me all
the days of my life. How do you say I can't see it?
I can't see it either, but I see it by faith. I believed. Verse 14, Psalms 27, what did
he say? Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage. And He shall
strengthen thine heart. If you didn't hear me the first
time, he said, I'm going to say it again. Wait, I say, on the
Lord. That's where it's at. We see
God's grace, His power. He give us power to the faint.
And to them that have no strength, He increases strength. Not that they have no might at
all, for it could not be properly said that their strength was
increased. But their might and their power were so small that
they even thought they had no faith at all. Have you ever asked
a question? Do I even believe at all? Do I have any faith? I know I'm
supposed to have some, but it don't seem like I have none.
You ever been there? To those he what? He increases
their strength. You know what Paul said? He said
this after God gave him a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of
Satan to buffet him. He said, when I'm weak, then
I'm a strong. Verse 30. Even the youth shall
faint. See all these young kids around
you say, oh, there's strength in that youth. Even the youth
shall faint. And to them that have, and even
the young men shall utterly fall. Those who trust in their own
strength will fail. It ain't saying, well, I've got
to muster up my strength. I've got to make myself believe
God. You'll fall. He that thinks he
stands, take heed lest you fall. It's not of our human strength.
Our minds grow weary. The strongest believer of doubt,
John the Baptist, a man that was filled with the Holy Spirit
from his mother's wound, sitting in a prison cell, He knows he's
just waiting his execution and he sends his disciples and said,
you go ask Christ. Jesus said, are you the Christ? Are you the Christ? Or do we
look for another? Is that not doubt? This is the
same man that said, behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the
sin of the world. The strongest believer may doubt. What brings comfort to me? Gives
me comfort. To know that it's not resting
on my shoulders. Our thoughts, our prayers, our
achievements, everything that is done in our flesh will fail. All is vanity. Vanity. Vanity. Now we come to verse
31. I love to read, when I read through
scriptures, they use the word but. But. They. That word they is used
three or four times in that one verse. Find out who the they
are. But they, that wait upon the
Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings
as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. grass cut down will grow when
it's watered again. A brook that is ready to dry
up, when the rain comes back, it'll flow once again. I've saw
brooks down where we live, little small stream, and it can be flowing
real big in the wintertime, but in the summertime, after so much
heat and so much drought, it seems like it's dried up. The
source is not dried up. When things change, The water
will run again. You go by there in the summertime
and say that little spring is gone. I'd say just wait. You
come back in a few months. That spring's still there. Wait. Wait. Three things about this
wait. What does this mean? It means
to wait in dependence. He is a waiter upon God. He is
totally dependent upon God for everything that's waiting on
God. I cannot make God do anything. I can't make God look my way. I am totally dependent upon God. You know why we live in a world
like we do in everything that goes on in religion and they
think we cannot wait on God because they think their God needs help.
We wait upon God. We wait as a beggar for an alm. We're like blind Bartimaeus.
Can you imagine how long he'd sit there waiting? Waiting on
somebody to show him some benefit and some grace and some mercy.
And one day, he heard Jesus pass by. We must depend upon him for teaching. The Bible says we're all taught
of God. He must teach us. We depend upon
his grace. A person that waits upon God
in dependency knows that his strength, all of his strength
comes from God. Those who preach the gospel wait
upon God in dependency for God to do his work. Wait. Wait. Our Lord told the disciples,
He said, you tarry in Jerusalem until you be endued with power
from on high. How long we got to wait? Till
you be endued with power from on high. What are you doing?
We're waiting. Ain't you doing something? Yeah,
we're waiting. What are you waiting on? We're
waiting on God. We're showing our what? Dependence
upon God. Why? We're doing exactly what
He told us to do. Kind of like this, I use my granddaughter
a lot as illustrations. I do that for one thing because
she's not here. She's about seven and a half years old. She lives
with us now. She's totally dependent upon
her grandpa for shelter, for food, for clothing, and for safety. And she loves to have it that
way. It was kind of funny, yesterday we were getting ready to leave
and Sandy walks in the kitchen and gets the last banana. Emily
walked in there with little sad eyes and said, did you just eat
the last banana? Little did you know we had to
go to town and come back by the house and we had to bring some
more bananas. You know why? She's dependent
upon me. We are dependent upon God for
everything. the clothes you have on your
back, the breath you breathe, everything you must depend upon
God. That's what waiting is. Dependent,
it means also, it means our expectation is of God. How many has ever seen, especially
in the spring of the year when birds begin to build their nest,
you see the mother bird and she lays her eggs sits on and then
they begin to hatch. You see that little bird fly
off and she'll go try to find a worm or an insect or something. And when she comes back, all
you see is a bunch of little mouths just wide open. Them little
birds are waiting on their mama in expectation for the food she's
going to bring them. Oh, that God would teach us when
we come into the house of God, we're just like the little birds.
coming with our mouths open, expecting God to bring us something
from the very throne of grace. Expecting. Looking. Looking. Let us wait upon Him this way.
The Old Testament believers looked with expectation for the coming
Christ. They looked, they expected. It
says that Abraham was looking for a city who had foundation,
who's builder and maker is God. And we as New Testament believers,
looking with expectation. He's coming. He may not have
come. He didn't come yesterday, but
I expect him to come today. You say, you really believe that?
Don't you expect him to come today? I expect him to come today. If he don't come today, I'm still
waiting tomorrow. Let me give you a good illustration
of this. Everybody remember Simeon? Simeon was, in Luke chapter 2,
he was ministering in the temple. And God had told Simeon, listen
to me, that he could not die, would not die, till he had seen
the Lord's Christ. You know what it says in verse
25? He was waiting for the consolation
of Israel. Don't you think he was expecting
to see Him? He cannot die. That's a picture of all God's
elect. They cannot die. They are immortal
until God crosses their path. Can you not just see Simeon?
Mary and Joseph brought Christ into the temple and he says,
oh my goodness, this is what I've been waiting for. Expecting, expecting, expecting. Waiting upon a God also means
to wait patiently. Boy, don't we grow impatient.
You ever had to go sit in a doctor's office? Well, you lie because
you know you've been there. What if he had to wait all day
and then the nurse comes out and said, I'm sorry, the doctor
just can't see you tomorrow. You'll have to come back tomorrow.
That wouldn't go over too well, would it? Let me tell you this. If you knew that he was the only
one that could help you, You'd wait that day, and you'd wait
the next day. Patiently. Patiently. It's like the disciples. Our Lord turned and looked at
the disciples one day. A bunch of people had been following
Him. Now they turn and they just go away. And He says, will you
leave me also? They said, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life. We're looking to you. Psalms
37. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently
for Him. Fret not thyself because of Him
who prospereth in His way, because of the man who bringeth wicked
devices to pass. When we wait patiently upon the
Lord, we what? Rest. Rest. I know what it is. to lay down
and try to sleep at night and cannot rest. I've learned something. No matter
how hard you try, you can't make yourself rest. I have somewhat
a sleeping disorder and they wanted me to go on one of them
CPAP machines. If any of y'all have dealt with that, you know
exactly what I'm talking about. That is the most aggravating thing I've
dealt with in my life. The more I tried to use it, the
worse it got. I'd try it, throw it in the floor, and I did. It
was just awful. But I learned something in that. No matter
how hard I tried, I could not make myself rest. Couldn't. Couldn't. You can make yourself
stay up and lay down and sleep, but you can't rest. But rest.
Have you ever just rested? Nothing doesn't matter. Nothing
doesn't matter. To rest, you're not worried about
nothing. God teach us to wait patiently
upon God. If God wants me to stay right
here, fine. If God wants to change it, fine. If God don't see fit to change
it, well, fine. Everybody see what I'm talking
about? Everybody understand? Wait patiently
for the Lord. God's worth waiting for. But what is the result of waiting? It says here, they shall renew
their strength. Our strength is revived. The Bible says, be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind. Job said in Job 17, 9, the righteous
also shall hold on his way, then he that hath clean hands shall
be stronger and stronger. We wait. Our spiritual strength
is renewed. Our spiritual strength is renewed. Now watch this. They shall mount up with wings
of eagles. Why did he describe us like an
eagle. Well, first of all, if you'll
go back and look, an eagle was considered an unclean thing.
Well, that describes us perfectly to start with. It's an unclean
animal. It and a raven and ostriches
and all those were considered unclean animals. But you know
also, the Lord Jesus Christ is pictured as an eagle. He took
upon himself Our sin was made sin for us who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Listen. Listen to Deuteronomy
32, 11. As an eagle stirreth up her nest,
fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them
and beareth them on her wings. What is that old eagle? teaching
those young eagles to do. When she flutters over that nest,
those eagles are prone by nature to what? Just go to sleep. Just
feel safety in the nest. She's teaching them how to use
their wings. And you know how that eagle carries
her little ones? Not in her talons, but on her
wings. The only animal, only fowl bird
that does that. You know why? To reach those
little ones, you would have to destroy her. Is that not a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ who bears us on His wings? To reach them, you must go through
Him. He cares for us. Lindsay used that scripture,
and I forgot it was even there in the book of Luke, but it's
also in Matthew chapter 23, verse 37. He said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
thou that killest the prophets and stoneth them which are sin
of thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together
as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and you would
not. God protects us just like that
eagle protects her little ones. protects them, carries them,
mount up with wings of eagles. The eagle, they say, is the only
bird that can fly and look directly into the sun. God enables us
to look at God's son. And that eagle can fly above
the clouds, can fly above the storms. She'll renew their strength.
There, she'll mount up with wings of eagles. Their strength is renewed. Someone said, and I don't know,
you can take it for what it's worth, they said an eagle never
dies of old age. They die of hunger because their
beak gets so calloused or something they can't eat, but they don't
die of old age. They shall renew their strength.
They shall mount up with wings of eagles. I want to show you
something. Renewing our strength. It's not
age. You can be 17 or 70, and God
renews the strength of His people. I want to show you this. Turn
with me to Joshua chapter 14, verse 6. Talking about Caleb, give you some history when God
was going to send the children of Israel into Canaan. Before
he sent them in, they sent out spies. They sent out 12 spies,
one from each tribe from the nation of Israel. Out of the
12 that came back, there's only two that said we can take the
land, Caleb and Joshua. The nation followed the advice
of the ten, would not listen to Caleb and Joshua. Caleb and
Joshua said, yes, we can go in and take the land. God will give
us the land. And God shut the door. The next
day they tried to go up on their own strength and they failed.
And God allowed them, made them wander in the wilderness for
40 long years. But after the end of 40 years,
God Raises up Joshua, who's a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, to
take him in the Canaan. And here we come now with Caleb. Verse 6, Then the children of
Judah came unto Joshua in the Gilgal. And Caleb, the son of
Jehoshaphat, the Kenyanite, said unto him, Thou knowest the things
that the Lord hath said unto Moses, the man of God, concerning
me, and thee, and Kadesh Barnea, when God sent us first out. Forty
years was I when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh
Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it
was in my heart. Nevertheless, my brethren that
went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly
followed the Lord my God. And Moses sware on that day,
saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet hath frodden shall be
thine inheritance and thy children forever, because thou hast wholly
followed the Lord My God. Verse 10. And now, behold, the
Lord hath kept me alive. As he hath said, these forty
and five years since the Lord spake this word unto Moses, while
the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness, and now, lo,
I am this day fourscore and five years old. I'm eighty-five years
old. It's been forty-five years since
I first went into Canaan. Verse 11. Now watch this. Everybody, I want you to see
this. Yet, as yet, I am as strong this day as I was in the day
that Moses sent me. You mean this man, he's 85 years
old. He's 45 years older, but he said,
I'm as strong as I was. I'm as strong today as I was
then. Why? Somebody's renewed his strength. As my strength was then, even
so is my strength now, for war, both to go out and to come in. Now watch verse 12. Now therefore
give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day, for
thou heardest in that day how the Anakins, you know who those
people were? They were the giants. They were there, and that city
was great and fenced. If so be the Lord be with me,
then I shall be able to drive them out, saith the Lord." What's
he saying? If God gives me the strength,
I'm going to take what's mine. God promised it to him, and God
kept him alive. And he said, I'm as strong now.
These bodies, what am I saying? These bodies grow weary. Ours
turns gray, turns loose, it falls out, we get wrinkled and tired.
But I'm not talking about that strength. I'm talking about a
strength. of God's grace and God's mercy
of when He gives you His Spirit, you may grow discouraged and
that body may have an effect upon you. But God renews that
strength. He gives you the ability and
the desire to do exactly what He's called you to do and kept
you alive for. I am as strong this day. They shall renew their strength.
They shall mount up with wings of eagles. Psalms 103, verse 1. Bless the
Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy
name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all of his benefits,
who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who heals all thy diseases, who
redeemeth thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with lovingkindness
and tender mercy, who satisfies thy mouth with good things, so
that thy youth is renewed. like the eagle. They shall run and not be weary. They shall run in the ways of
God's commandments, which they show great affection for God's
commandments. They are haste to obey God's
commandments with delight and pleasure. Paul, the apostle, said we are
troubled on every side. but not overwhelmed. We are perplexed,
but not in despair. We are persecuted, but not forsaken. We are cast down, but not destroyed. They shall run and not be weary.
They shall walk and not faint. Shall not faint in the ways of
God in the name of the Lord or in Christ. They have received
from him They are leaning upon Him, they are trusting in Him,
and they continue to do so. The grace of God in you never
quits. If it was left to you and left
to me, we would all fold up our tent and go back. We would all be just like the
nation of Israel in the wilderness. We'd want to go back to Egypt.
But what makes the difference? Christ in you, the hope of glory. God gives you strength when you
have none. None. In clothing. Let us therefore
learn to flee to the Lord. who after we have encountered
many storms will at length conduct us into the harbor. For he who
has opened up a path and has commanded us to advance in that
course in which he has placed us does not intend to assist
us only for a single day and to forsake us in the middle of
the course. He will bring us to our goal. He's never lost one. The Apostle Paul said, being
confident of this very thing, that he that hath begun a good
work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. Wait thou upon the Lord. May God bless you.