Psalms 46:10 – “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Have you ever seen the movie Castaway with Tom Hanks? In the movie, due to a plane crash, Hanks’ character finds himself stranded alone on a deserted island with his only companion being a volleyball he names “Wilson” As we watch him respond to this sudden change of life we see over the hours, days, weeks, and years a change taking place. As his prior life slips away he becomes a very different person. Stripped of his modern conveniences, he discovers that deadlines no longer control his life, that the constant hustle and bustle and endless noise is really pointless. He comes to realize what is really important in life, as he comes to know himself in a much deeper way than he could have with all those things crowding and clouding his reality. What Hanks’ character goes through is, in a sense, what every believer who longs to be a disciple of Christ needs to go through from time to time. To be stranded from society, set apart in the silence of solitude, to soak in the Savior. This is where we discover what is really important in life. Just as Hanks character is stranded, set aside from society, so we too need time to disconnect and disentangle from the constant demands of this world. Yet for may we fight against this idea of solitude, all we can see is being stranded, we miss seeing the redeeming time we could have with the Savior. We have become so tethered to technology, that our lives are now more dependent on data than God. We are more than just attached to technology we are addicted. We can’t wait for the next social hit, that next Facebook like, craving its comments more than Christ. We may fear becoming stripped of our social media and stranded from society just as Hanks did, yet what started out as a disaster for him actually turned into discovery. This call from God to be still comes in the midst of the storm, when everything is crumbling we are called to cling to Christ. Today many of us choose to rely on our own resources, to find comfort in our modern ways of communication, turning to twitter and Facebook more than the Father. May be what we really need is to be marooned with the Messiah, stripped of our self reliant ways. Psalm 46 reminds us that regardless of the chaos, Christ is still in control, Psalm 46: 1-3 “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.” God is really our only hope, and regardless of our circumstances we can be secure only in the Savior. When our world is turned upside down, when what we thought was stable slips away, and our feeble foundations falters and fall, it is then that we discover the refuge of our Father. One of Satan’s traps is to get us so busy and involved in activity that we become so consumed by the trivial that we miss the truth. Satan loves it when we have no time to be still in the presence of God, when all our activity keeps us from the Almighty. Sometimes God must force us to be still, to shake up our lives to the point that our false foundations falter. God’s gift here is the invitation to sit with Him, to stop focusing on our circumstances and clamoring for results but to simply cling to the relationship. When was the last time you sat still and silent in the presence of the Savior? Silence is seldom desired in our society, which values the voice of noise, choosing to fill every moment with sound. We are drowning in the noise of a society consumed with communication, yet having nothing important to say. We are a society of sound clutter. Silence is choosing to abstaining from sound long enough to open our spiritual ears to the still small voice of God. When was the last time you heard the softness of that voice, from the One that speaks in whispers? What if we strained to listen to God as much as we do our social media? It is in silence that we come to know Him better, that we discover the value of His voice. That we discover the depths of His love and the life-changing words that He speaks. Our hearts are whip lashed from one direction to another by the many voices we listen to, and as a result never find true peace. Our hearts are restless until they rest in Jesus, oh what a reward to rest in our relationship with Him. Solitude doesn’t just aid in drawing us closer to God, it helps keep us there. So why does He call us to be still in His presence? First it provides opportunity for reflection. If our time is spent purely in making requests we are not allowing God to reveal His will to us, it become more about our desires than His direction. Being still allows Him to place other people on our hearts. Sure we might have prayer requests about people or situations but God might want to add something or someone to that list, those we may have never considered. But if we are not listening when He speaks we will miss these opportunities. If we don’t learn to be quiet, we won’t be reflecting on what God wants to reveal to us about ourselves. Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to examine your heart and mind, are you listening to God to hear what He wants to change in your life? Reflection leads to revelation. Second being still before The Lord allows us to release our burdens, fears, anxiety and worry to Him. We often live life bottling up our fears, stuffing the stress, its not until we stop and sit with the Savior that we even realize how big our burden bag is. One of the blessings of being quiet before God is that it gives us the opportunity to shut out the screaming world, to not be bothered with anything else. Sitting with the Savior serves to both shut out the monotonous drone of this world, and to sift my heart, filtering out the fear. All of the continuously negative noise, of this world with its worthless words can be released and removed through our time of stillness with God. As we still our hearts before Him, He reminds us of His word that teaches us not to worry, or be anxious and afraid. He can remind us to trust Him that though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging we can depend on Him. God is our strength and we can take refuge in his promises. It is in these moments of stillness, when God quiets my heart, that the grip Satan may have gotten on me through his lies and deceptions can be released. It is God’s truth that breaks the chains of bondage that bind our hearts, it is the sweet reminder that we are redeemed, that I am His child, loved and priceless. Often we forgo being freed, choosing instead to carry the burden and bondage of lies. Yet a lot can be released when we are willing to release our reluctance to be still before Him. Third being still before the Savior replenishes our restless hearts. It is in this quiet place of reflection and release that our hearts can rest. In this time of rest He replenishes and restores our soul. His healing is found in the quiet silence of His presence. Our abundance, and every need is found at His feet. The answers to life’s questions are found in these moments of face to face reflection when it’s just me and Him. That true and pure love we all crave is only found in Christ. Its in the stillness and security of Christ that we discover that we don’t have to work and strive for His love. Today will you respond to His invitation to be still and know that He is God?

Isaiah‬ ‭40‬:‭27-31‬ – Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God”? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:31 is one of the most famous verses in the Bible, it’s on pictures, posters, calendars, cross-stitch, we quote it, memorize it, and preach it, but do we really get it. What we love about this verse is the end product, strength, but what about the process that Isaiah says it takes, waiting? The NIV uses the word hope, where the KJV says those that wait, what does this word “wait” really mean? In Hebrew there are many different words for wait but here the word means to hope strongly, to trust, it literally means to expect. It is putting our trust and confidence in God with an expectancy, a certainty, that He is going to respond. Even though the Israelites were living in captivity in Babylon, with no prospect of deliverance humanly speaking, Isaiah was encouraging them to wait with a fixed expectancy that their God, at just the right time in His plan, would deliver them. Today we as believers are waiting for the return of Christ, I don’t live saying that I hope it will happen, but I’m not quite sure that it will. No, I’m saying that I am waiting with a sure expectancy that this event is going to happen, that I know it is going to happen. When Isaiah says “wait”, he is referring to a sure expectancy. Our expectancy is that The Lord will renew our strength, the problem for us today is we see this word renew as replacing what was there with more of the same. May see this as, “I was strong, got worn down and God will restore my strength”, but it doesn’t say restore it says renew. To renew means to change, to pass from one state to another, this is literally changed strength. What Isaiah is telling us to do is to wait expectantly for an exchange, an exchange of strength, ours for His. This is not about increasing our self strength, by building it back up to where it was, for even at full capacity my strength is insufficient. We need a different strength on that is not weak and unable to live out what He calls us to do. For we can’t live the life The Lord has for us in our own strength. Exchanging my strength for His strength isn’t just replacing its upgrading, we are exchanging our weak, finite, limited, exhaustible strength for His strong, infinite, unlimited, inexhaustible strength. Most people desire a good deal, so much that they are willing to wait for it. This deal that God offers, well it doesn’t get much better than this. Yet we will line up and wait for the after holiday sales while baulking but when it comes to waiting on God we whine. Isaiah reminds us that those who with sure expectancy look to God, will have their strength exchanged for His. James reveals the same idea in James 1:5-8, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.” He is saying come to the Lord, ask for wisdom with a sure expectancy that He is going to give you what you need, which is exchanging your wisdom for His. God is not adding to or increasing your wisdom but gives you a different kind of wisdom, His wisdom. We must have an expectancy, not doubting, this is not us saying, “I sure hope the Lord will give me the wisdom I need. I don’t know if He will but it’s worth a shot.” No, James says, ask with expectancy, with an assured confidence that God will give you His wisdom in exchanged for yours. We have a God who longs to replace the puny with power, to exchange our inability with the infinite. Notice what happens when His strength is exchanged for mine, the result is revealed in 3 metaphors. The first speaks of overcoming a natural impossibility, flying, the next two speak of overcoming two natural weaknesses, running and not tiring and walking without becoming weary. These are impossible things, I cannot fly, but I remember as a kid, fantasize about being a superhero who could, able to soar through the sky, and I am sure I’m not alone in this! Or running without tiring, its an impossibility no matter how good a shape you are in. The point is that God’s strength is supernatural, able to sidestep the impossible, scaling our physical limitations in a single bound. Isaiah is telling us that we will be able to overcome the impossible and live in a way that we could not live before. In a way that would have been impossible in the past. The exciting news here is that not only has God not forgotten us but He has made a way for us to overcome. The problem is that for many of us instead of praying for God to transform self we pray for Him to change our situation. Flying is not about a situation change, its a self transformation, God wants to change our hearts not our hangups. Everyday we face all sorts of impossible situations, whether it is loving other people or accepting each other. Whether it is not loosing our temper or getting frustrated and angry over a situation or person. Whether it is in dying to self in some area of our lives, or having an attitude of submission or giving up my rights. We all face many impossible situations, impossible in terms of living the way God desires and has called us to. When we collide with these impossible situations we know what God wants, what He says and what He commands us to do, we know how we are suppose to respond. But often we will say “But God, I can’t do it, it’s impossible, I can’t live the way You want me to or respond the way you desire me to in this situation.” Thats when He gently reminds us of Isaiah 40:28, encouraging us to wait on Him and exchange our limitations for His love. A.W. Tozer said it this way, “we have switched from our little human battery to the infinite power of God.” This idea of exchange describes the entire Christian life, which is the call to live an exchanged life. The central foundation of the christian life lies in the amazing atonement of Jesus Christ. A transfer of guilt from the sinner to the Savior, 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us that “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Christ’s sacrifice by His death on the cross made it possible for me, a sinner, to exchange my sin for the Saviors righteousness. Its foundational and its only the beginning, almost everything hereafter is an exchange of something worse for something better. We exchange wrath for acceptance, death for life, weakness for grace, mortality for immortality, fear for peace. You see the result of waiting on God is fourfold. First we will experience Inward strength, strength that gives us the power overcome temptation. Just as the people in Isaiah’s day, who trapped in their captivity were tempted to turn and run from God, so are we. We will all face times where we are tempted to bail instead of believe. There are also many other areas of temptation and because we are tempted to give in to our weak flesh we need more than just physical strength we need moral strength. Second we need upward strength, to mount up with wings as eagles. Colossians 3:2 tells us to “Set our affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” Living life soaring above the circumstances, living with an upward, eternal perspective. Eagles soar effortlessly because they use thermals to lift them up not the constant flapping of their own wings. The same should be true for us, we need to lear to soar on the currents of His commands not comfort and convenience. Christians are called to live upward lives, sure there are many ups and downs in this life, but when we wait on God He gives us victory to soar even over the downs. Third we need outward strength, to run and not row weary. Galatians 6:9 reminds us to “not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Isaiah did not say those that sit but those who run. Because the fourth strength we need is onward. The Christian life is one lived in motion moving forward toward the finish line. We are all tempted to slack and make it about self. Galatians 5:7 asks us a powerful and piercing question: “You were running a good race. “Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?” May be this is you, you have stopped running for Jesus. I know there have been periods in my life when this has been true for me. Mostly I think its because we try to run in our own strength, we grow weary, start to whine and then we want out. We all get tired but remember God can get you out of retirement. The race we run in this life is a marathon, we need onward strength, strength for the long haul, so we don’t tire and faint. Waiting on the Lord produces, inward, upward, outward, and onward strength. Today are you waiting on God, putting your trust and confidence in Him with an expectancy, a certainty, that He is going to do the impossible in your life?