Strength in the Desert
a sermon based on  Isaiah 40:21-31
by Rev. Frank Schaefer
 

I want to open with a story I recently  came accross:

A man was walking in the mountains just enjoying the scenery when he stepped too close to the edge of the mountain and started to fall. In desperation he reached out and grabbed a limb of a gnarly old tree hanging onto the side of the cliff. Full of fear he assessed his situation. He was about 100 feet down a shear cliff and about 900 feet from the floor of the canyon below. If he should slip again he'd plummet to his death. Full of fear, he cries out, "Help me!" But there was no answer. Again and again he cried out but to no avail.

Finally he yelled, "Is anybody up there?"

A deep voice replied, "Yes, I'm up here."

"Who is it?"

"It's the Lord"

"Can you help me?"

"Yes, I can help."

"Help me!"

"Let go."

Looking around the man became full of panic. "What?!?!"

"Let go. I will catch you."

"Is anybody else up there?"

I think this story is not untypical of the human reaction to frightening circumstances, suffering, and and difficult situations in general. We pray to God and we expect an answer to our prayers instantly. We want to be rescued and we want to be rescued NOW.

The people of Judah must have felt likewise in Isaiah's days. Of course, they had good reason to be frustrated; they were stuck in Babylon in captivity. They were many hundreds of miles away from their homes. Their temple lay in ruins, and God seemed to have forgotten them. It was a situation of suffering, hardship and god forsakenness.

Yet, into this situation, Isaiah reminds his compatriots that God is still in control, that God still cares about God's people and sees their suffering:

 

Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God"?

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. Isa. 40:27-28

Isaiah's message is so timely for us 20th-century people; we too want God to come and help us solve our crises. We pray that our diseases are healed, that our mourning will be turned into joy, that our relationships are mended, that our hardships will end, and that our tears will be dried by the hand of God.

And we too get impatient if God doesn’t act on our prayers right away. Isaiah knows that those who hang in there, will be rewarded by God; they will be rescued, they will be uplifted:

He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Isa 40:29 - 31

Isaiah encourages his contemporaries--and indirectly us this morning--to hang in there; that good things will happen when we do. If you are disturbed by personal problems, if you cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel, if you are worried--even frightened—in a world that seems to spin out of control . . . . hang in there. God is still in control. And God does deeply care.

The question I want to raise this morning is: why does God choose to let us suffer sometimes? Is there something about those god-forsaken moments that are beneficial to us? Is God testing us? There have been many explanations for the problem of suffering in light of God's omnipotence and love for us. But what answer does our bible reading give us? What is Isaiah saying here? In Verse 28 he says: "God does not faint or grow weary; God's understanding is unsearchable."

What does this mean? I think Isaiah is saying: Don't worry, God is working at it. You may not notice anything; you may not understand what's going on, but even if nothing seems to happen following your desperate prayers, Isaiah wants to assure us that God is at work. And that in itself, I think, is a great comforting knowledge.

In addition to this, Isaiah also wants us to know that if we hang in there, if we wait patiently for God to come through for us, God will give us the strength to endure even in the midst of the fiercest storm:

". . . but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." Isa 40:31

So, then, if we have this assurance of God's work behind the scenes through the prophet Isaiah and the promise that God will give us the power to hang in there, the only thing that is needed on our part is to . . . trust. Trust God. Put our whole trust in God while we patiently wait and hang in there.

The chorus of one contemporary gospel song ("My Life Is In His Hands" Kirk Franklyn & God's Property) expresses such an attitude of trust so well:

I know that I can make it,

I know that I can stand,

No matter what may come my way,

My life is in Your hands.

Another contemporary song--a praise song--that speaks to this kind of attitude is "Blessed be Your Name" by Beth & Matt Redman:

Blessed be Your name in the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name
And blessed be Your name when I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name when the sun's shining down on me
When the world's ‘all as it should be’
Blessed be Your name
And blessed be Your name on the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

I don't know about you, but I find refreshment and encouragement in Isaiah's words. I find inspiration and hope and strength in them as well as the songs I quoted that speak to this kind of trust and faith. I want that simple faith, I crave that simple trust in God. I want to return to this child-like faith that doesn't question God, but instead simply says: no matter what may come my way, my life is in your hands, o God. With you in my life, I know I can make it; with you by my side, I know I can stand--even in the face of trials and pain and despair. Amen.