Trusting God’s Strength in Our Weakness | Isaiah 40:12-31

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a

couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in

practical ways.

Good morning morning, there you talk, dude.

That's awesome.

Heay, good morning everybody.

We're Christian Jeff and we're the Bible Guys, and we

are sitting here just waiting for the recording to start

because we just want to be with you so badly today.

So excited. And this is one of our favorite segments

that we love. We love these. Now we have not

read these, at least I have not. Have you read them?

So desiree, our faithful assistant.

She signed us of the boss.

That's right. We just do what she tells us to

do exactly. That's right. She hassigned us these five dad

jokes since dad joke competition. Yes, so I have not

read mine and you haven't read yours, but let's jump in. Okay,

let's do it grouping. You go first.

Number one, Here we go. I knew a guy who

was arrested for stealing hay. Unfortunately he couldn't make bail.

I like a good hay bail joke. That's great. I'm

gonna laugh it that way.

That's good. I like that. Oh okay, I'm a fan. Yeah.

Did you ever do any Hay Bailey?

No?

Never, Oh boy, I did too much of it. Okay.

My cell phone accidentally took a ten minute video of

my shoes yesterday. It was some pretty good footage.

Oh that's pretty good. Actually, that's funny.

Have you ever done that?

Yeah?

Just walk around on your phone recording?

Yes, yes, and I'm not sure about my feet, but yes,

all right, here we go. You should always fear a

pirate duck. He has the power to unleash the quacken.

That is the strangest joke ever. A pirate duck, unleash

the quacking.

Unleash, unleash the kracking.

There you go.

What's the movie?

Uh? I don't remember something about the kracking.

It's a Clash of the Titans.

Clash of the Titans. Yes, right. Why should you never

take sides in an argument at the dinner table? Trick question?

It's the perfect time to take sides because no one's

paying attention. Bringked upperware?

Oh my, oh my word, how random?

I think it goes to find random dad.

I like that one. That's a good one.

Yeah, that's good. That's a good one. All right, here

we go. Okay, who's winning so far? I think it's

pretty tir.

I don't know. Yeah, they're kind of tied. Okay, they're

all kind of so random.

All right.

I went to the aquarium this weekend, but I didn't

stay long. There's something fishy about that place. O.

That one's rough, that's really rough.

That was the roughest one. I just let's vote for

the roughest one. That's it.

I just went down underneath tie.

My dad told me a joke about boxing. I guess

I missed the punchline. That's rough too, that was rough.

Man three. Number three for both of us was wow, boy.

I gotta be honest with you, though. Mine's worse. Something

about that place. Here we go.

What do you call a sheep who can sing and dance?

I don't know, lady baba. Oh no, that is worse

than the punchline joke. Oh no, Hey, these were great

at the beginning.

First four, okay, first two, I thought the first yeah, yeah,

year two and my two. You think swimming with sharks

is expensive? Swinging swimming sharks cost me an arm on

a leg.

That's rough too.

Man. We're four good ones, four bad ones.

Yep, that's right.

Okay, right, all right, okay, here we go.

Whoever has the best of these because of the number

number five, it's like ty ty ty tie okay, and

then who ever wins this?

Okay, okay, here we go. So you're number five against

my number five.

I'd like to shout out, wait, oh wow, Okay, here

we go. I'd like to shout out sidewalks for keeping

me off the streets.

That's clever. I'd like to give a shout out to

sidewalks taking me out, it.

Says, I'd like to shout out sidewalk.

Yeah, it'd be like i'd like to give Yeah, I

just I just read it, like it. Okay, my number

five is I like telling dad jokes sometimes, he laughs.

Okay, I think yours. You like mine?

Yeah, I was gonna like yours keeping off the streets. Okay,

Well that's good.

I like telling dad jokes.

Okay. I feel like it just came to a full

on tie today.

Okay, Well let's do for that.

All right, that's what we're gonna both say.

Vote okay and desiree, thank you for that roller coaster

of a journey, maybe on purpose.

Yes, ties and lows and then bring us back to

the middle.

She's making it, you know, with somebody who knows. Maybe

she's using Ai who knows. But here's what she's doing.

She's like, Oh, this is gonna be hilariou these are

going to be so bad. Yes, I want to see

Jeff's reaction.

Bad dad jokes.

Great there, well, speaking of.

Dads, yes, God the father is setting in motion something

for his son.

Wow.

In Isaiah chapter.

Forty, okay, actually, wait a minute, that's not today, that's

fifty three.

Yeah, Isaiah forty is not speaking of dads. My dad's

better than your dad. The ultimate chapter is probably Isaiah forty.

Oh yes, oh, there you go the hole my dad,

your dad. My dad's better than your dad. My dad's

tough and your dad. My dad's big and your dad. Yeah,

well that's kind of what's happening here, just a little

bit in Isaiah chapter forty.

All right, so I got there.

Let's pick up with Isaiah forty and we're going to

go Isaiah forty twelve through thirty one. Now, at this

point we're coming towards the end of Isaiah's life in

his ministry, and uh, he's for telling the events of

what it's going to be like after Judah is carried

off by Assyria, and how God is going to begin

because prior to this he's been talking, Hey, God's bringing

judgment on you, and you're going to be hauled away.

Assyrians are going to defeat you, and the Babylonians are

going to wipe you out coming later. Right, That's what

Micah tell us about. But then once that happens, Isaiah

starts writing about the fact that God hasn't forgotten about you, right, right,

And God's going to love you and take care of you.

And so by the time you get to Isaiah chapter forty,

in verse twelve, it says, who else has held the

oceans in his hand? Who has measured off the heavens

with his fingers? Who else knows the weight of the earth,

or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale?

Who's able to advise the spirit of the Lord? Who

knows enough to give him advice or teach him? Has

the Lord ever needed anyone's advice? Does he need instruction

about what is good? Does someone teach him what is

right or show him the path of justice? No, For

all the nations of the world are but a drop

in the They are nothing more than dust on the scales.

He picks up the whole earth as though it were

a grain of sand. All the wood and Lebanon's forces,

and all Lebanon's animals would not be enough to make

a burnt offering worthy of our God. The nations of

the world are nothing to him. In his eyes, They

count for less than nothing, mere emptiness and froth. To

whom can you compare God? What image can you find

to resemble him? Can he be compared to an idol

formed in a mold overlaid with gold and covered with

silver chains? Or if the people were too poor for that,

they might at least choose wood that won't decay and

a skilled craftsman to carve an image that won't fall down.

Haven't you heard? Don't you understand? Are you deaf to

the words of God, the words he gave before the

world began? Are you so ignorant? God sits above the

circle of the earth. The people below seem like grasshoppers

to him. He spreads out the heavens like a curtain

and makes his tent from them. He judges the great

people of the world and brings them all to nothing.

They hardly get started, barely taking root. When he blows

on them, they wither. The wind carries them off like chaff.

To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?

Asks the Holy One? Look up into the heavens, who

created all the stars. He brings them out like an army,

one after another, calling each by its name. Because of

his great power and incomparable strength, not a single one

is missing. Oh Jacob, how can you say the Lord

does not see your troubles? Oh Israel, how can you

say God ignores your rights? Have you never heard? Have

you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the

creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary.

No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He

gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.

Even the youths will become weak and tired, and young

men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in

the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high

on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary,

and they will walk and not faint.

Yeah, so, Isaiah forty thirty one. For many, many years

was my verse. It wasn't my life verse, but it

was like a verse that I always kept in.

My little bookmark in my Bible. I had it on

my keychain, I had it on a little card on

my mirror. I just loved that verse, and still do obviously.

But after a while, you know, you're like, Okay, come on,

enough of Isaiah forty thirty one.

Wow, you know so, yeah, sick of it?

Yeah, I'm sick of that verse. Yeah.

Wow, obviously, but God's left it in the Bible for

twenty seven hundred years.

Yeah it's important, yeah, a little bit.

But anyway, Isaiah forty thirty one is obviously a very popular.

Uh verse, but those who trust in the Lord will

find new strength. They were sore, high on wings like eagles.

They were running oku weary they walk and not faint.

Uh and uh those who trust in the Lord. Now

another version would say those who wait on the Lord.

Right. And the version that I learned was weight on

the Lord.

And what's interesting about that is that there were two

interpretations or definitions of the word wait.

Did you know this?

The original language could be interpreted as weights as waiting

and timing, but I could also be wait, as in

a waiter waits on you, right. So it's so I

thought I found that very interesting because those who wait

upon the Lord shall renew their strength.

Uh it.

You know, we don't really know how you know, the

writer interpreted it. Maybe the writer wanted both meetings to

be true. But you know, as you wait on the

Lord and it's timing, the best thing to do is

to serve the Lord, right, right, So so I think

about that.

With keep serving while you're waiting, Yes, keep waiting while

you're waiting.

Yes, wait wait while you wait, right because because it's like,

you know, we we wonder about.

God's timing so much of the time in our lives, and.

We're waiting for him to, you know, whatever whatever it

is that we're praying for, whatever it is that we're

waiting for, you know, unfolding. There's a lot of people

they questioned God's timing. They're like, God, what you know,

this isn't the timing. My life right now is playing

out in different timing than I wanted it to be

played out. So what should I do? And so great

advice is wait on the Lord. He's not going to

let you down. He's going to bring about, you know,

great things when he brings it about. So instead of

just being impatient, just continue to serve him and wait

on him as we wait on him. And what great advice.

Yeah, that that idea of waiting and waiting, you know,

the serving side of waiting and then the patient's side

of waiting, I think is incredibly difficult for us. But

there was this idea. I can remember. I had a

professor who challenged me. I think it was in my

I repeated my sophomore year in college because I left.

I got kicked out of one school and had to

go to another school. So I had to remake some

classes that didn't transfer between the two schools. And it

was a prank. I thought it was funny. They didn't

but anyways cost me a lot, cost me a scholarship,

all those things. I've told that story before. But so

I was redoing some classes. I had a professor who

challenged me, and he said, listen, there's two ways to

look at your preparation. You can think that you are

preparing to eventually go into ministry, or you can prepare

while you're in ministry. And he said, I think that

the best way for you to live your life is

to start. Because you know you're tempted to think of

yourself as a student, and as a student, then your

free time, the way that you're doing your life, you're

not taking your ministry seriously, and that might be, you know,

part of your thing. So be in ministry while you're

preparing for ministry, right, And which is great advice, right,

be the man while you're trying to become the man

is kind of the idea, right, act like the person

you want to be, right someday.

And so if you're practicing to be a chef, cook, yeah,

that's right, just continue.

To don't just read books about cooking, right whatever, don't

just sit in classes about cooking. Become a cook, right, cook.

And it's kind of the same here that if you

want to serve the Lord someday, if you want God's

blessing on your life someday, start living like you're serving

the Lord today and living in God's blessing today. Right.

That's that's kind of the flip side of those two things,

because he said, hey, listen, in real life, how it

works out. Even young people when they are hitting a

wall emotionally or spiritually, they lose their strength. Even young

people run out of gas at a certain point. And

he said but you need to wait on the Lord.

You need to be trusting the Lord, you need to

be serving the Lord. And when you're doing those things,

the both sides of that waiting on the Lord, he said,

that's when God's going to give you the wings to soar.

And so we tend to think, God, I need you

to do a miracle and then I'll serve you. And

God's like, do it, serve me and I'll do a

miracle in you, right, and that's when you're going to

really soar.

Yeah, that's great.

I love it. I love that whole thing. And by

the way, hey, the way that Isaiah just spent the

last twenty nine verses telling us how great God is. Yeah,

he seems like he's worth serving, don't you think?

Oh yeah, sure, big fan, big fan, big fan, big fan.

So do you not think of Maybe you don't. But

I can't get the song on my mind because my

redeemer lives. Oh yeah, yeah yeah. So the verse twelve

is where you started. Who else has held the ocean

in his hands? That's one of the lines in the song.

Right, no, my redeem.

There you go.

It's that song, right, People love it when you sing

and well, I'm just saying that's the song, right, So

and so the verses in there are just amazing, and

they're just great verses. Who has held the oceans in

his hands? In other words, what that chapter is saying

is it's saying, go ahead, pick a god, Pick a

god that exists among the earth that is greater than

our because there is none.

There's there's no offering that you can make.

You can burn every tree on the planet and every nation,

it won't be big enough.

Right, He's held the oceans in his hands. He spoke

before creation. Right, Are you deaf? Are you dumb? That's

what it says. Have you not heard? And the picture

is unbelievable.

He calls the stars out like an army, and it's

a vast army of infinity, and he knows every single

one of them and calls them by name.

It's like, who can do that?

We are still not able to see all the stars?

No?

Right, right, We're still looking out trying to be able

to yes, and God just marches them out like his army,

naming them by name.

Now, did I tell you? Did I ever tell you that?

Luis Giglio gave me the perspective about life on other planets.

I know it sounds random, but it's not.

He gave me the perspective that forever changed my thinking.

So what people always say is their life and other planets,

and there's been no proof, even though the government, you know,

had a couple of guys recently sit on some you know,

testimony witnesses and said, yeah, there's evidence of something, and

you know whatever, I don't know.

Whatever do you.

Watch so many YouTube videos?

Well that was sort of a national thing. That was

sort of a national thing, right anyway. So the point

is is that whenever you consider life and other planets,

I think the argument is is there room in the

Bible for life and other planets? Now, it does say

in Genesis chapter one that God created the planets and

the hosts of them plural, So I think there's room

for that. But until I see an alien, you know,

in the flesh, I'm not going to believe it. I'm

just not going to do it.

So then people always.

Say, well, wait a minute, there has to be you're

sort of a fool if you think that this entire

universe exists and life doesn't exist outside of this world,

And it's sort of a big controversy, how can God

create or how can it be created without life? It'd

be so self centered to think we're the only things

that exist.

That's just ludicrous.

And so Lui Gigli at one time addressed this entire

argument by saying this, what if God created the universe

to demonstrate his greatness, just to remind us of how

big he is and how small we are? Because, after all,

that's what God did. God in his creation, even on

the planet, has demonstrated how big he is and how

small we are. So what if God created the universe

because how big can he have to create something to

demonstrate his greatness? I mean, the universe still wouldn't be

big enough to demonstrate his greatness, right, So what if

it's one big billboard to show us that we are

his prized creation and that He is just so vast

and to remind us how much.

We are in need of and are dependent upon him.

And if you think of the creation that way, it

makes sense, doesn't it.

Well, yeah, Romans tells us that there there's multiple places

in the Bible that say the heavens declare the glory

of the Lord. That's literally, the heavens are and it

was talking about the heavens is talking about space. It's

not talking about the place heaven is talking about heavens.

It's talking about space. All of creation is there as

a billboard that God exists. That's right, That's that's what

it's about.

And did you did you also catch that it says

the circle of the earth?

Yes?

Do you think that that's uh, that's a nod to science.

Before well in in Columbus's day and a couple of

those other scientists from that time. This was one of

the passages they pointed to against the Catholic Church saying

that they believe the world was round. Was this, There's

there's another one, but.

This is this is when the Catholic Church thought flat.

I thought I thought it was flat at the Yeah, yep,

so that was that I would push back on the

on the use of the hosts of them? Oh yeah,

yeah yeah. So so the Bible in the King James.

So it's the King James that uses the word hosts.

It also calls the God the lord of hosts. It's

a military term, just like this one where it says

he brings them out like an army, one after another.

So he's not he's not talking about hosts on planets.

He's talking about the armies of planets that are out there.

That's the that's it's a military term. He's usually call

my Old Testament.

Nevertheless, we call my Old Testament professor and tell him that,

but he died.

Yeah, yeah, just tell your professor is wrong. So so yeah,

it's a military term. The hosts of them. Remember the

lord of hosts? I mentioned that. Whenever we read here,

it says the lord of Heaven's armies. Remember, uh, the

lord of Heaven's armies is the King James phrase the

lord of hosts. It's the same. So that hosts of

them is a military term.

Yeah, we did say that a couple of podcasts.

Yeah yeah, it's the same phrase. So anyways, Uh, what

a great phrase. I love reading through these things and

and just reminding myself God is beyond my comprehension. And

clearly Isaiah is almost grasping for words, yes, like I

can't think of a you're kind of a person who

speaks in hyperbole. Yes, And Isaiah here is just trying

to make it as big and as grand and as

significant as possible. And then he's like, okay, even the star. God,

God holds the earth in his fingers. It's like a

spec to him, humanity is like dust. It just disappears

when he blows on him, right, even the powerful people.

And he just keeps going bigger and bigger and bigger.

And then finally he comes down to haven't you ever heard?

Don't you understand? The Lord is the everlasting God, the

creator of all. He never grows weak or weary, and

no one can measure the depths of understanding. And then

it's that God that gives power to the weak and

strength to the powerless. Right, Right, So I don't know

what you're going through, but it doesn't have to be

your strength to get you through, right, it's your trust

in that God that will give you strength when you're weak,

and he'll give you power power when you're weak, and

strength when you're powerless. And that when you trust in Him,

that pure trust, that that willingness to say, God, I believe.

It's an expectation.

Trust.

Here is that patient expectation that God's going to keep

his promises. Yeah, when you have that patient expectation, He's

going to keep your keep his promises. He'll give you

new strength and then you'll soar on wings like eagles,

and you'll run and not grow weird and walking not faint.

Yeah yeah, sorry, think of how significant, uh the imagery

would have been back before anybody experienced flight. Right, so

you know they will soar on wings like eagles. Like

it's just a beautiful word picture of something that people

couldn't even imagine back then. Right, you know, we've flown

in planes. Obviously we haven't flown ourselves. But but but

you know a few times what do you mean flown? Yeah,

you just jumped out of a plane, Superman. Well you fell, No,

I fell, I fell, That's all I did. But but

you know, and then he says, you'll you'll you'll run

and not grow weary. Just the idea, I mean, just

that's a whole sermon, right, I mean, can you imagine

a runner that will run forever? Because back then walking

was the most common form of transportation, right, so you know,

to run or walk and not grow weary, to walk

and not grow faint, to sort of like wings like

equals this.

This is the kind of strength that God gives us.

And so it's just almost unimaginable, and so it to

your point, it's that kind of God that gives these

things to us. And Isaia even quotes God himself. He says,

to whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?

Asks the Holy One? So God even asks it, right,

who is my equal? And I love that because he's

not he's not saying this probably, you know, most certainly

not with a sinful, boastful pride for kind of thing.

It's just a matter of fact.

It's a matter of fact.

Right, As a matter of fact, Isaiah just compared to

minygo what do you do? Go make an idol?

Right? Right?

Is that what you do? You carve something, and that

that carving matches the matchless power and expanse and knowledge

and strength of the creator. And then after he references

those craftsmen, that's when he says, God's like, what compares

to me?

Right?

Nobody? Nobody compares to me? Right?

That's wonderful.

Yeah, So I love that phrase that it will soar

on wings like eagles. We have some nesting eagles not

far from our home, and so i'd say once a

week we see the eagles. Right now, they're flying around

and it's amazing when they're soaring. Now, when they're taking off,

you know, when they take off, there's a there's a

lot of work the big animals, right, But it's not

saying when you take off, it's the soaring high on

wings like eagles. It looks effortless, right right, And that's

what God does to us. God puts the wind underneath

our wings.

Yeah.

God's the one that that that lifts us up. And

then you know, when we're soaring like that, it won't

be so much work, so difficult. So are you in

a difficult time? Now? Do you feel weak and powerless?

Now got to lift you up? And he's the one

who keeps you promises be patient.

That's awesome. By the way, I said beaches because that's

the name of the movie.

Yes, I know, midlearner.

Okay, pretty good?

All right, Well, hey, that is just about our time.

What a what an unbelievable chapter. And we will continue

in Isaiah tomorrow and hopefully we'll see you then on

the Bible.

Guys,