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.

There are those tough times in life, when our situation seems to get the best of us, and its hard to follow our Father in faith. When everything goes against us, when we are in the middle of one of the greatest battles of our life, its hard to trust in God. Yet it is in these times that we need the Lord more than ever. You see it is in those times that our faith and trust in God is really put to the test. We need to learn to embrace these moments, for that is what they are mere moments, drops of difficulty in the scope of eternity. Yes embrace them because they reveal and refine our hearts. Showing us where and what we really are, like those tests we took in school, they give us a standard by which to gauge our progress. These are the moments of real contact in our lives, where the rubber meets the road, in our journey with Jesus. If we chose to flee and bail on our beliefs the moment it gets rough we will never realize the rest that we can have in the eye of the storm. If your life is in the middle of turmoil and the waves of temptation are about to swamp you, stop struggling, look to the Savior and surrender to His rest. These are the moments when trust is built, and our relationship with God shows its true depth. God never promised that it would be easy, that we wouldn’t have hard times. What He did promise is that He will never leave us nor forsake us, Hebrews 13:5. In Isaiah 40 we find that Israel had become so discouraged that God had to remind them of Who He is. When we are in the clutches of despair we need reminded, that life is not dictated by our circumstances but Christ, that God is in control, and even in the chaos we can experience His renewing rest. We have all fallen victim to prides vicious lie that we are more than we really are, causing us to trust in our own strength and security. Yet no matter what we think our reserves of strength may be, they are both feeble and finite. We pride ourselves in our ability to take care of ourselves, to conquer our own circumstances. To be the sole champion of all challenge, especially in America, where if we are not careful, pride in our freedom and independence can cause us to go it alone. We hate having to admit that we need help from anyone, including God. But this scriptures reminds us that no matter how strong or independent we think we are, we cannot do it alone. You see at some point our pride will be reduced in the rock crusher of reality, or shattered on the anvil of an Almighty God. Yet what sweet release to have our arrogance smashed against His anvil, where it can be annihilated, and our self absorbed confidence crushed to dust. Where we can live in the reality of truth instead of the fictional fantasy of self strength. To get through this life we all need strength, but unlike the anemic, deficient limits of self strength, God offers us His sustaining strength. In Isaiah we see that God has laid down the pattern for pursuing His sustaining strength. The first thing we need to realize is who God is, and that despite how we may feel, He is still at work in our lives. So often when we get trapped in the turbulent water of our trials we forget not only God’s power,but also His presence. Something that has always amazed me is how as Christians, myself included, we can read a passage of scripture, that is both challenging and convicting and yet say in response: “Yes, I agree in principle to what this verse or command says but my situation is different. We cry “But you just don’t comprehend my particular, even unique situation, because My situation is different.” This is nothing short of circumstantial conviction, and isn’t it amazing how we will make rules for others and exceptions for ourselves! We make exceptions for ourselves because in our mind our situation is unique, so it can’t apply to us. You see we love to quote the end of Isaiah 40 “They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” but we seem to forget that it was the disbelief and despondency of God’s people that prompted this passage. In verse 27 we see that God’s people were wavering, questioning God’s care and compassion. What Jacob and Israel were basically saying is, “Lord, you don’t understand our situation.” Sound familiar? They put it this way “Our way is hidden from the Lord, our situation escapes His notice.” I love Isaiah’s response, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? His understanding, including His understanding of your situation, is inscrutable. God is not like a judge or jury who are without all the facts, or who have the facts so twisted that they misrepresent them. No, His understanding of your situation, including every detail is inscrutable. God fully comprehends your situation, but often we waste our time whining about His lack of understanding when it is really us who are clueless. To you, the trial you are facing is very personal, it seems that no one else can relate or understand. But your circumstances are no surprise to God, your troubles don’t stress Him out. He knew what was coming and He already has the answer. There is no limit to His ability to meet your need, because He never grows tired or weary. Yet often God has to bring us to the place where we are forced to stop trying, so we can turn to Him and start trusting. We need these times in our lives where we have to say, “God, I can’t but you can” But for many we do this reluctantly even begrudgingly. Where the common Christian comment becomes “well I guess all we can do now is pray” God is waiting for us to trust, yet we keep trying, pushing on in our own self effort. Why do we wait until we have exhausted all of our own ideas with no results? So the question remains when you feel alone, trapped by your trials, are you going to respond to your feelings or rest in the facts? What will you do with the trials that you face, wether currently or in the future? Will you turn to your own devices, making decisions that will cause you to run and rebel. Leaving you to become so wrapped up in the business of providing your own solutions that you don’t have time for God, His church, and even your family? Will we forget the Word of God and become depressed, abandoning His promises, and forgetting our commitments to Christ. Will we throw aside the proof of His past provision, forgetting His faithfulness? What will we do when the perfect is replaced by pain? Will we respond with hopeless like Israel? Who chose a pity party over a prayer. It is time for us to stop our pity party, quit acting like it is the end of the world, and lift up our eyes to see the glory of God. To set our sights on the One who is surrounded by strength, seated far above our sad situation. Isaiah’s call is to put our hope in God not happiness. What is your hope in? Who are you resting in? I for one need the reminder that I will never truly rest until I learn to rely on my Redeemer. Sometimes we get discouraged by our situation and someone looking in on us might think we have been abandoned by the Almighty. Yet our hope is not based on our current circumstance but only Christ. Your painful situation is never a good gauge of His goodness and grace. It is these trials of pain that provide a platform for the defining moments of our lives. Will we trust in the trial or turn away? Will our faith and trust grow stronger, or will we abandon the ways of righteousness, turn our back on God, putting everything in your life in jeopardy. We can’t control our circumstances but we can control our choices. As Christians we will either learn to trust and place our hope in Christ or go through the continuous cycle of doubt, depression and despondency. Isaiah says that “his understanding no one can fathom, He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak” I wish I could say that I understand why God allows certain things to happen, but I can’t. His ways are far above mine and all I can do is put my trust in Him. Only God can give you the power to overcome. Only He can take your weaknesses, your failures, your doubts and fears, and turn them into a message of mercy. God is the only sustaining source of strength, we can’t do it on our own, even youths will grow tired and weary. I think the longer you live, the more you realize that everything is in God’s hands. Its easy to worry and work, to try and solve all of life’s problems ourselves. But faith trusts the Father, believing that everything will work out even when it seems that everything is not. Its easy to believe when we see it coming together but what about when its crumbling. In the seemingly crushing defeat will we still cling to faith? Faith says that I know, that I know, that somehow, God will work it all out. Here in Isaiah we have the reminder that God will renew those who wait. But waiting on God requires an audacious faith, one that believes in the impossible, looks for the unseen answers, hope in the times of hopelessness, and knows, without knowing why or how, that God will provide. Isaiah paints a majestic picture of an eagle effortlessly soaring in the sky. Yet it was not always that way for the eagle, as a baby in the nest he could do nothing but wait until the parent returned to bring what was needed to grow and mature him. I think today we want to walk without waiting, we want to fly without faith. Just like the chick, we need time in God’s nest and just like the baby eagle we will probably cry, scream, flap around and make a scene. Yet God will provide and if we wait on the Savior we will soar. When it comes to Isaiah 40, we quote it, we read it, we even preach it, but do we really believe it? If you are facing trials and tests then lift up your head, look to The Lord, because your answer is already on the way. Don’t listen to the lie of Satan, don’t allow him to convince you that all is lost. Instead wait upon the Lord, placing your whole heart into His hands. Rest in Him and He will renew your strength

Mark 6:31 – “Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

Mark’s comment about “so many people coming and going” reminds us that not much has changed even in 2000 years. We may wish for things to slow down but unless we head the call of Jesus we will always be caught in the chaos. Jesus invites His disciples to follow Him to a quiet place to rest. Its easy to get caught up in the needs around us but at some point we all need to trade the crowd for Christ. The Greek word “quiet place” here is literally “desert place.” The “desert” had strong associations for the Jewish people as it was in the desert where they often encountered God. In the book of Exodus, we are told that while traveling through the desert God came to live with His people. Elijah experienced God’s presence and provision after wondering despondently into the desert. Jesus before starting His public ministry went into the dessert. For the Jew, the desert was both a place of proving and testing, as well as a place of renewal and restoration. By calling his followers away from the crowd to a desert place, Jesus is reminding us that the essence of being a Christian isn’t doing stuff for Jesus, but it’s being with Jesus. This is the most incredible invitation and one we often miss, you see Jesus is inviting them to hang out with Him, to let down their guard, they don’t need to perform or act, but to simply be. Although their time of ministry was effective, they need to disassociate themselves from ministry for a while.
When we don’t come away it isn’t long before we become overwhelmed by the chaos. Caught in the currents of the crowd and worn down by its constant coming and going, a tide of relentless needs. In a chaotic world solitude and silence centers us, providing perspective, painting the bigger picture of eternity. In this get it now society, driven by the latest fades where the only constant is their consistent fade into the temporary, we need an eternal reminder. Without this eternal reminder we become earth bound, caught in a culture consumed with production yet bankrupt of peace. We have traded the treasure of relationship for the temporary trinkets, and there rusty riches. Leaving us to live in the lie, and endure its empty meaningless life, void of any real pleasure. Jesus’ call to “come away by yourselves to a quiet place” is an invitation to intimacy. Yet we fight rest, even from our earliest moments we resist rest, children don’t want to go to bed for fear of missing something. But what if in our constant activity and avoidance of rest what we are really missing is intimacy with Jesus? In our ceaseless wrestling most of us miss the invitation to the intimate, the “come away by yourselves to a quiet place” Today we live lives so caught up and consumed by doing that we miss the Master. The tragedy of our times is that we are trading the miraculous for the mundane. We are over run by the ordinary, stuck in the rut of routine, instead of resting with the Redeemer. In our buy now pay later society, with its focus on temporary and immediate gratification its easy to loose sight of eternity. It is during these times of coming away to rest that we discover God’s purpose, solitude provides an opportunity to pan out and gain an eternal perspective. Without this broad view we become trapped in our tunnel vision, forgetting our real calling and purpose in life. Rest helps us to remember what really matters, while providing a distraction free place to make decisions. Just as Jesus sought out solitude before many major events in His life so we need to cultivate a coming away to a quiet place. Seeing the big picture also allows us to see who we are as well as who we are not. We let much of our lives be shaped by the opinions and wants of others instead of our Maker. In Solitude we learn to live in integrity, listening to the voice of Christ more than the crowd. How much of out lives is spent on wasting time, time spent trying to measure up instead of listening to the truth. Trying to live up to who we think we should be, instead of living out who He say we are. We are all tempted to live as people pleasers, rather than live in integrity with who the Father has called us to be. The more time we spend in solitude with the Father, the less other’s judgments will dictate and direct our lives. It is our Savior that calls us special, and this is separate from any of our accomplishment or accolades. The sad truth is that rather than base life on what He says we chase after the fleeting and fickle applause of the crowd. As if its hollow applause could somehow fill our empty lives.
So how do we build solitude into our lives when we live in a society that seems to be moving at the speed of light? How do we develop a practice of solitude, so we sit with the Savior regularly and not so sparingly? First we need to stop being so reactive and learn to be proactive, carving out time in our calendars. If we try to just wait for things to slow down we will always be swept along by the tidal tug of some current crisis. Its not just going to happen, and if we want to participate in His call then we have to be proactive. Without the practice of proactive living we become consumed by our calendars and their current demands. Life becomes a series of knee jerk reactions, void of rest, and quickly disintegrating with every reactive decision. The truth is that we make time for what we think is important. Jesus didn’t live a reactionary life, responding to the continuous demands of the culture, instead of reacting to the world, the world reacted to Him. This time that we carve out to be with Christ, Christians have traditionally called “a quiet time.” Take some time out of your day, find a place that you can be alone and quieting yourself before God. Start small and build, for those unaccustomed to stopping to be silent at first it can be overwhelming. Many find silence to be deafening when you take away the noise! Silence can still the heart, but many of us fear that if we take time in solitude we won’t have time to get everything else done. Yet it is silence and solitude with the Savior that puts everything into perspective and preparing our hearts to be productive. Nothing prepares and purges the heart more than solitude for it purges us of the incessant need to pursue pointless things. Rest releases us from the need to constantly rush, instead of a hurried life we live a holy one. Today we wonder why we live such unhappy lives, I wonder could it be tied to the fact that we are stuck in the rut of rushing? I believe that when there is always hurry and no hush there will always be unhappy. Along with quiet times, we can go on retreats, wether for the day or longer. These prolonged times of stillness and can be powerful times of connect with God. You might think that going on a solitary retreat is only for super Christians, people in full time ministry, or people who are really messed up, or all of the above. But the truth is Jesus was calling His disciples to retreat with Him, so let me ask you, are you a disciple of Jesus? Some find it easy to quiet themselves before God, but for most it takes practice to quiet our souls. First take away any expectations, this is not about accomplishing, its about being not doing. Prayer can play a big part in these times of solitude but remember its not about the petition its about His presence. Practice pausing when you pray, give God time to speak, remember prayer is a two way street not a one way dead end. Sometimes I will read and meditate on scripture, but often I will start simply by sitting still, dismissing the seemingly urgent demands of the day, and letting the mentality of do dissipate into be. Give your heart a chance to shift gears, just like anything that is moving it takes time slow down. Solitude is about carving out sacred space in our lives, shutting out the world and spending time with the Savior. I think our cultural tendency is to talk, we seem to have a need to fill the silence with noise. I have been traveling through Scotland, seeing many amazing places along with others who also come to experience its rugged beauty and turbulent history. As you stop to see one of its breathtaking sights maybe a majestic castle or serene Loch, what are the people all around doing, talk, talk, talk. Rather than standing silently in awe and soak in the scene we speak, mostly about nothing. Right now the World Cup is also going on and there is the non stop chatter of commentators. Their job is to talk and tell us what is going on, but have you noticed the subtle shift in commentating? We have gone from communicating on the game to constant babble. Its not just the World Cup listening to any sports commentator, they constantly point out the obvious, talking about everything and yet nothing, its as if they get paid for every word they speak. We have become a culture of constant chatter and no communication. We are afraid of silence, even our elevators have background music, because a ride in silence might get uncomfortable! But silence stills the tongue long enough for us to stand in awe of the Almighty to listen as He speaks. When was the last time you were silent and just soak in the Savior? Next time you get in your car, try not turning on the radio, recognize God’s presence as you ride to work. So now comes the hard question, “when are you going to get away with God?” Jesus says, “Come away by yourselves to a lonely place . . .“ will you heed his call?