Where Is Comfort

Introduction

Good morning. It’s good to see all of you here this morning. it’s been a little while since I’ve been up here, so I’m a little nervous. I hope you’ll bear with me. And I think my nerves are getting to me in my sleep. I don’t normally have dreams at night, but last night I had a dream. I had a dream that our new podium was height adjustable. >> [laughter]

>> Make of that what you will. But it’s good to see you here this morning, especially if you’re visiting. We’re We’re glad you’re here. if you’re visiting for the first time and you’re in the area, please know I’m not the normal preacher, but you should come back next week when Brent is here. We recently celebrated Abigail’s seventh birthday. It’s something that we are incredibly thankful and grateful for.

Because it was never supposed to be, at least according to the experts. We took her and did something that we don’t normally do. Normally we have a birthday party for her at our house, but this year we did something a little bit differently. We got rid of the crowds. Sorry, Jacob and Stephanie and kids. And we took Abigail to the Natural Science Museum, a place she’s never been before, and it was great. We walked

Around for 3 hours, which was really great for her. She doesn’t normally put up with things for that long. and my back handled it okay, picking her up and putting her down and picking her up and putting her down. And she loved it. We showed her everything and she had a ton of fun. And as thankful as I am for the time that she’s been given, this

Can be a tough time of year for me. I wasn’t going to cry, and I apologize. There are a lot of memories that I wish I could just not remember. For the first 4 months of her life, she was basically a vegetable. She didn’t know what was happening or going on around her. We didn’t know how long she would live. She was very sick. She’s had to go through some really difficult things in her life.

Times when we felt like the bad things were never going to end. And there are some days, especially this time of year, when there are certain social media platforms that will remind you about your memories that I wish I could just snap my fingers and make those things go away. They are dark times. Times that I wish we had never lived through. But the thing is, as I consider my life

And some of the struggles that we’ve been through as a family, I know that I’m not the only one. I know that my family is not the only one who has gone through challenges. Far be it for me to think so much of myself to think that I’ve gone through things that are worse than what you’ve gone through. Surely there are others, even here, who have gone through difficult things or dealt with tough times.

As I’ve gotten to know you over the past several years, especially the past couple of years as we’ve been able to be here more often and Abigail has not thrown as many fits, I’ve gotten to know some of you and it’s become more apparent over time that I am not special. That I am not unique in the fact that life has difficulties. >> [snorts] >> Pretty much everything has everyone has

Gone through or is going through their own challenges and dark times. Some of you are dealing with the recent loss of people you love. Some are dealing with issues in your relationships. Maybe it’s with your children or it’s with your parents or with your siblings or with your grandparents. >> [snorts] >> Some of you are dealing with financial stresses.

Some jobs you don’t like or that aren’t going well or not paying the bills. Some are dealing with tremendous life changes and going through new chapters that you never anticipated. While others are dealing with changes or issues in their health or the health of people that you love. >> [snorts] >> Some have been through incredibly

Difficult things. Some have yet to endure those tough challenges. And some may very well be going through their darkest days right now as we worship together this morning. >> [snorts] >> One of the first places I tend to go when I’m dealing with the difficulties of life is Isaiah chapter 40. We’re going to spend the majority of our time there this morning only taking one

Quick detour. And there’s so much in this chapter that can bring us peace and optimism. And for me personally, it helps me feel like I can actually get through whatever it is that’s in front of me. Verse one of Isaiah 40 says, “Comfort my people,” says your God. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for

1. God Knows the End from the Beginning

All her sins.” >> [snorts] >> Through Isaiah, God says, “Comfort my people.” But where is comfort when we’re in the midst of dark days. King Hezekiah probably had an idea of how we sometimes feel when we’re in the thick of those difficult challenges in life and to really I think understand where Hezekiah was coming from and some of the difficulties that he was dealing with.

In Isaiah chapter 38 in verse 1, we’re told that Hezekiah was deathly ill. As you go through that chapter and you get to verse 5, God tells Hezekiah that he has heard his prayer. We read that Hezekiah was crying out to God and he was desperate for God to intervene, for God to help. And God tells Hezekiah in chapter 38 verse 5 that he has heard his prayer. God says that he will add 15 years to his life, not that he will heal him.

And that God will deliver Hezekiah’s people out of the hands of Assyria. And this sounds like all good things. Aside from maybe wanting to be healed from your sickness instead of only being given 15 years. But that takes us into chapter 39. Where the son of the king of Babylon sends a group of people to Hezekiah with letters. Essentially as a way of acknowledging Hezekiah’s sickness and then kind of a

Get well soon offering. And Hezekiah takes these this group of people from Babylon. He takes them around and he shows them everything in the kingdom. Everything. Things that you would not normally show visitors from other kingdoms. He shows them their storehouses of gold and silver and spices. He shows them the extent

Of his kingdom’s weaponry. And in verse 2 of chapter 39, it says there was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.” Then Isaiah appears in verse five and says to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts. Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and that which your fathers have stored up to this day shall be carried to Babylon.

Nothing shall be left, says the Lord, and some of your own sons who will come from you who will you will for whom you will father shall be taken away and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” This should have shaken Hezekiah to his core. “What have I done?” you would think Hezekiah would say. “I can’t believe I just gave away everything,

All of the intel, all the information. They know where everything is. They know what everything is. How could I been so foolish?” Then verse eight, Hezekiah says to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my days.” And that brings us back to chapter 40 and the search for comfort. Knowing that your people

Will be going into will be captured by Babylon surely had to give Hezekiah pause. Surely he had difficulty sleeping at night. But when we are looking for that comfort and we are looking for that peace in our lives, we can find it in part because God knows the end from the beginning. It’s probably these first few verses of chapter 40 and think, “Well,

Sure, of course these people would have peace because what does it say in verse two? Verse two says, “Her warfare is ended and her iniquity is pardoned.” If all the bad stuff is done, then sure, comfort would be a natural result from the ending of those bad things. Surely it’s easy to feel at peace once all the bad stuff is over. But in my studies for this lesson, it seems there’s some differing opinions about when this was written and how you

Might interpret it and I don’t want to dismiss those things or pretend that they don’t exist. Some writers and commentators would hold that these phrases are prophecy about the future, that there is a future state in which God’s people will be done with their warfare and their iniquity will be pardoned, that they will be things that will happen in the future. This could make sense because those who have a reprieve from

2. God Knows Better Than We Do

Hardship aren’t usually the kind of people who need to be comforted. Others see this scenario being such that the warfare had ended and the iniquity had been pardoned, but that God’s people were still dealing with the consequences of the rebellion and decisions that got them into that place to begin with. Have you ever gone through some sort of challenge and you are convinced that you know the

Solution? And maybe you don’t actually tell God, “Well, God, look, we just need to sit down and I need to lay it out for you and if you’ll just do this and this and this, I’m telling you the problems will be solved. I don’t know why you haven’t thought of this before.” You ever try to barter with God and say, “Well, God, if you’ll just do this, then I’ll do this and then you can do this thing over here and then tada, it’s all

Fixed.” Maybe you’re looking for a job and you say, “God, if you would just let this interview work out. If I could just get this job, my life would be so much better.” Young people, maybe you have prayed, “God, this relationship would be so great if you would just allow it to happen. We get along so well. They’re such a great person. There’s no

Downside.” Or maybe you or someone you love dearly is dealing with health issues. And you’re saying, “God, I know there doesn’t seem to be a way out, but I can tell you, if you will just let this treatment work this time. It would only be good things. If you just let it work, everything would be good as new, and I would praise you, and I would thank you, and I would

Tell everyone how good you are. If you would just do this thing for me.” Because we think we know better sometimes. All the while, in the midst of those challenges, neglecting to acknowledge God’s own will and his desires for our lives. Sometimes even refusing to acknowledge that he sees the end results and he knows what’s best. Sometimes we wish that what we wanted

Was what was best so that we could get what we want. And in a way, that’s kind of what King Hezekiah did. He didn’t really seem to care what happened after him. He just wanted the things that he wanted, and if he could get those things, then his life would be just fine. In chapter 38 of Isaiah, going back to verse two, then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord.

And said, “Please, oh Lord, remember how I walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. There’s that bartering with God. Like, God, I’ve been a good person. I go to church as often as I can. I don’t use bad words. I don’t watch bad TV shows. I try to be ethical. I obey the laws on the road, except maybe the speed limit a

Little bit. I’ve never stolen from anyone. I’ve never killed anyone. Can’t you just let me have this thing? Haven’t I been good enough? Haven’t I earned it? Or maybe you get desperate and you say, “God, if you really loved me, you would do this thing or that thing.” Hezekiah wept bitterly. Continuing on in verse four, then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah.

“Go and say to Hezekiah, thus says the Lord, the God of your father the God of David your father, I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add 15 years to your life.” This isn’t really the answer that Hezekiah was trying to get from God. And yet it was the answer that God had to give. Because contrary to what we sometimes think, God knows better than we do.

I challenge you to do this. Next time you are going to God with your prayers and your frustrations and your truly challenging times in life, don’t go to him and ask him to give you things or to do things for you, but instead go to him and praise him and thank him for his plan for your life regardless of how it might turn out for you. Regardless of whether his plan aligns with your life the way that you want it to. Put yourself wholly and completely in

His hands to do with you and your life and your future and your difficulties as he sees fit. Not as you would want them to be. We can find comfort in the truth that whether we’re currently going through some difficult thing or whether that thing lies right around the corner because it does. If you’re not currently going through some kind of challenge, beware when you wake up tomorrow.

3. Behold Your God: Capable of Delivering Us

Because Satan is good at what he does. Not only does God know about the things that we’re dealing with, but he knows the end. He is in the end of that resolution and that struggle. Yet God is not simply a passive observer. He doesn’t just sit high on a throne somewhere far out in the universe and say, “I know what’s going to happen to him. I can’t wait for him to find out.”

God is also completely and entirely capable of delivering us through those trials. If we’re going back to Isaiah chapter 40, this time I want to look at beginning at verse 9. When Isaiah writes, “Go up on a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news. Lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news. Lift it up, fear not. Say to the cities of Judah, ’Behold your

God. Behold the Lord God comes with might and his arm rules for him. Behold, his reward is with him and his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms. He will carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young. Isaiah simply says here, if you have doubt about what God is capable of in your life, just behold him. Just consider him and who he is and what

He is capable of doing in your life. Look at him. Understand him. Acknowledge who he is. There’s a song we sing here every so often that comes directly from this chapter in Isaiah chapter 40. And it is entitled Behold our God. Verse one says, “Who has held the oceans in his hands? Who has numbered every grain of sand? Kings and nations tremble at his voice. All creation rises to rejoice.” Verse two says, “Who has given counsel

To the Lord? Who can question any of his words? Who can teach the one who knows all things? Who can fathom all his wondrous deeds?” If you stop to just consider who God is, the reality is you can’t. Not really. We can understand who God is that he has revealed to us, but to try to conceive of a God who has always existed, who is all knowing, and who is all present, your brain will short circuit.

The chorus says, “Behold our God seated on his throne. Come, let us adore him. Behold our king, nothing can compare. Come, let us adore him. But who is he? What is it that we should see or we be or that we should behold? He is really a combination of things that we have difficulty understanding. Verse 12 of chapter 40 says, “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span and

Closed the dust of the earth with a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?” Have you ever cupped any water in your hands? Can you imagine if you could cup the waters of the entire world, the entire planet? God is powerful enough, he is mighty enough to just scoop them up. We, with all our technology and computers and AI, we don’t even know really what’s at the bottom of some of

These bodies of water. And closed the dust of the earth in a measure. I remember living in Florida for 10 years and especially after a man and I started dating and we got married, we would go to the beach. Not because I wanted to go to the beach, but because she wanted to go to the beach. And I don’t mind the beach, I don’t mind, you know, like the bright sweltering sun and the sunburn.

And all of those are great. The salt water in your eyes. What I hate is the sand. I’m a firm believer that you don’t go to the beach and just walk in the sand, you actually have a relationship with the sand because it stays with you. You can’t go to the beach and not come back with sand and have a 5-year 10-year anniversary. Sometimes you don’t even know where all the sand is, where all it’s gotten.

And yet God knows the sand. God knows the dust of the earth, and he can pick it up, and he can weigh it in a measure and a scale. Tell me, who is so mighty that they can simply hold all of the waters in their hands? Who is so much larger than we are that he can simply hold up his hand? The idea of the span is the measure between your

Thumb and your forefinger that God can just hold up his hand and measure the universe. We cannot even imagine an entity so massive and mighty that they can do those things. Yet our God, the God, is able to do all of them with ease. It’s easy for him. Do you think that your troubles are too big for this God?

Do you worry and lose sleep because of excruciatingly difficult circumstances, and becoming so focused on them that you forget that God is bigger and stronger and infinitely more powerful than whatever difficulty you’re going through? Amanda says that one of Abigail’s favorite songs in class is “My God is so big, so strong, and so mighty. There’s nothing my God cannot do.” And yet we grow up, we become adults,

Our frontal lobe gets developed. We pay bills, we have kids, we enter into 30-year relationships with our houses, and we forget those simple truths that God is capable. Or maybe, as we considered earlier, that you know and you understand, you believe God’s ability, if only he would listen to you and take your advice. God, I know that you’re able, but what you really should do is this thing.

Or you should do this over here. Man, that would really solve all the problems. The solution is right there in front of you, God, and I know you’re capable. Trust me. I believe you. I have faith. It’s not my faith that’s standing in the way. I don’t know why you won’t. If only God would follow my plan, things would be better overnight. Verse 13 of chapter 40,

Isaiah writes, “Who has measured the spirit of the Lord or what man shows him his counsel?” These are rhetorical questions, because the answer to all these questions is no one. Who has measured the spirit of the Lord? No one has. Who what man shows him his counsel? No one. You cannot tell God something he doesn’t already know. You cannot present to him a solution to a problem that he’s not already thought through.

God doesn’t need your piddly little brain to counsel him? And yet, what do we do sometimes? We beg that God would listen to us. That he would hear us. Verse 14, “Whom did he consult?” “And who made him understand?” You didn’t. I have never prayed a prayer to God that has increased his understanding. It’s never happened. “Who taught him the path of justice and

4. Where Were You? Who Do You Think You Are?

Taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding?” How silly of us to sometimes convince ourselves that we might possibly be able to give God good advice that he doesn’t already know or a plan to solve problems that hasn’t already occurred to him. And when I think about some of these verses, I think so much of the life of Job, and this is going to be the one detour we take this morning. Life was going great for Job. We see in

Job chapter 1 that he was he was above reproach. He had so many things. He had a great life. He had a great family. He had immense herds. Life was good for Job. He had it made. This is what we would say in our day and time. Job had it made. Boy, I wish I could make more money and be like Job. He was blameless and upright and then the adversary came and received permission from God to bring trouble and

Torment upon Job. He lost essentially everything. Including all of his kids. And the only thing that remained was his difficult wife. And in chapter 6 of Job, it says Job answered and said, “Oh, that my vexation were weighed and all my calamity in the balances. For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea. Therefore, my words have been rash.” Does this sound

Familiar? Does it sound at least somewhat similar to some of the things that we’ve read so far in Isaiah? Verse 8, “Oh, that I might have my request.” Job says. “And that God would fulfill my hope. That it would please God to crush me. That he would let loose his hand and cut me off. This would be my comfort.” Job says, “If I could just cease to exist, boy, that would be really swell right about now because life is just not worth

Living.” That’s where Job says his comfort would come from. No longer existing. “I would even exalt in pain unsparing for I have not denied the words of the holy one.” And then later, if you go further into the book of Job chapter 38, chapter 38 and verse 4. We read, “Where were you?” This is God saying back to Job, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?”

God’s saying, “How dare you, Job, think that you know better? That you have some sort of higher understanding than me? Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding.” “Who determined its measurements? Surely you know, or who stretched a line upon it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted

For joy?” Job was going through his own terrible, dark time. And because of those difficulties, he lashed out at God from the depths of his emotion. And Yahweh replies to Job in the same manner that Yahweh spoke through Isaiah in chapter 40. “Who do you think you are? And who do you believe that I am?” There are so many more things that we could look at here in this chapter, but

I would encourage you so much to go home this afternoon and read through the entirety of chapter 40. Consider who God is, what he has done, what he is capable of doing in your life today. Whether he is bigger and stronger than the issues, the challenges, the dark times that you might be dealing with.

5. Those Who Wait on the Lord Renew Their Strength

Because in the end, it is he who delivers us through challenges and trials. We need only to wait. And this sounds simple in theory. It almost sounds passive. That we could simply just wait. That we could, like we’re on hold with the doctor’s office or with the internet company.

Or maybe you’re going to the DMV to get your license renewed and you’re just waiting, right? You’re just sitting there twiddling your thumbs, trying to find things to keep you occupied until God comes in and does his thing and hopefully it’s exactly what you asked of him and then life is going to be great. But what we see here in verse 31 of Isaiah 40, it says, “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.”

There is a purpose to waiting and it is not simply for God to do his thing, it is because that’s where we find our strength. Waiting is not some passive thing that happens to us, waiting is something that we must do faithfully. Otherwise, it would be easy. I’d tell you what, I’ll go home and I’ll just take naps and I’ll wait for God to just drop a new great paying job in my lap. I like naps. I’m looking forward to this

After I’ve already read Isaiah 40, so I can take a nap. And I’m I’m dealing with money problems, so you know what I’m going to do? I’m I’m just going to pray to God and I’m I’m not going to do anything about it, but I’m going to check the mail every day and see if some magical check shows up. Or whether it’s health problems, a relationship problems, or whatever it is,

We should never mistake waiting for something that just happens to us. It is something that we do faithfully. The point of waiting is not to just allow God an opportunity to swoop in and be God, it is because that is where comfort lies. The comfort lies in having the mindset of the understanding of who God is and what he is capable of and what he knows about our end and our future and we can

Take comfort in that and we can simply wait. And in that we find strength. Because we no longer have to spend our time and our energy worried. You know, if God has the perfect plan for my life, whether or not I like it, that’s a different story, but if God has a perfect plan for my life, you know what I get to do? I get to stop losing sleep at night trying to figure out a plan for myself.

And then beg and hope that God will do what I ask him to do. I can simply wait. And I can use the time and the energy and all the resources that he has blessed me with, whatever they may be, and I can serve him and I can be faithful. Brothers and sisters, if you are going through life stuck in your troubles and frustrated that God has not solved

Them for you or answered your prayer in a way that you want him to, you are wasting your time and your life. God knows. God is capable. Give it up. Let him do what he is going to do. And in the end, it will be better than you could have ever imagined. And I don’t mean I don’t mean that your problems will be solved in a timely manner. We’re not on hold with God where God

Says, “Your call is very important to us.” Just because things will work out in the end does not mean you are going to get what you want, how you want, when you want. If that was the case, Abigail would be a lot different than she is. And your problems would already be fixed. I’d probably be a little bit taller.

When we wait faithfully and we let go of those trials and those struggles and those dark days and we put our faith fully into God and we instead use our lives to glorify him instead of asking for handouts, that is how we renew our strength. Isaiah says, “But they 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.” That is the

Picture of comfort. Someone who soars to great heights, higher than any height they’d ever known. Someone who runs and never gets tired. You can only get there when you can find comfort in who God is. Don’t mistake waiting for something that well, I’m just going to go home and sit in my recliner or turn on the TV and eventually God’s going to do whatever

God’s going to do. No. No, you still have a job to do. There is still work to be done in the kingdom. And if not you because you have something difficult going on in your life, then who? If not me because I have something difficult in my going on in my life, THEN WHO? IF GOD WAS WAITING FOR us to get through all of our challenges before we faithfully served him and trusted in

Him, there would be not a single person here and we’d have no reason to be here. What’s the point? Until God fixes all of my problems, I’ve got nothing to offer him. No, it is exactly the opposite. Because God is capable and God knows how this difficulty is going to turn out, you can take all of those things and you can set them aside and you can live a happy, fulfilled life in him, through him, because of him.

Conclusion

But only if you are in him. If you have not committed your life to God, if you have not accepted Jesus and been baptized into his blood, so that he can claim you as one of his to the Father on the day of judgment, there is no comfort to be found. Your life, your troubles, your trials, they may get better from time to time, but in the end, in the ultimate end, there will be no comfort.

But for those who are in Christ, for those who know God and have committed their lives to him and strive every day to live faithfully, it does not matter how difficult this life gets. At the end of your time, you will soar on wings like eagles, you will run and not grow weary. If we can help you this morning by praying for you, or if you are ready to

Make the commitment to God and believe that he is who he claims to be and find comfort in his son’s blood, we ask that you come to the front as we stand and sing.