## 💡Big Idea >- ### Takeaways and Next Steps - ## 📖Bible Passage >[!NOTE]+ Scripture >Why do you say, O Jacob, And speak, O Israel: “My way is hidden from the LORD, And my just claim is passed over by my God”? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on 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. ## Points - what is the message of the book of Isaiah? - God’s people will be strong only as they fear the LORD (not the world) - those who fear the world, will be brought into darkness yet will be given a chance to return to the LORD - How does Isaiah address God’s people in chapters 40 and 41? - God hears us and will bring comfort, restoring us from fear to faith. - see Isaiah 41:14,17 - How does the LORD through Isaiah analyze our fears? - v27: they feared that Israel’s suffering was hidden from God, - Either God doesn’t know or God doesn’t care about our suffering. - God couldn’t be all good or else he wouldn’t let us suffer. - Or God couldn’t be all powerful or he would have overcome our oppressors by now. - There are many truths that are beyond our understanding. We can’t fathom why God would allow us to suffer so. - The disciples were on the ship in the storm in [[Mark-04|Mark 4]]. - In fear they asked Jesus “Don’t you care that we are all about to die?” - How does the LORD through Isaiah lead us out of our fear and into faith? - Isaiah teaches us that we are becoming confused about God’s character. - He teaches that God really does care. - We must continually preach the Gospel to ourselves again and again. Reminding ourselves of the truth. - Here Isaiah reminds us to look at the truth in scripture. (Isaiah 40:28) - What does Isaiah say to us? - v28 - The LORD is the everlasting God - This means that God works on a completely different timetable than us. - We want an answer now, but God is building an answer that will last forever. - The LORD does not faint nor grow weary - We NEED rest, but God does not. - This means that God’s patience will always outlast our’s. - Even the most mighty of people, Olympians, Navy Seals, brilliant geniuses, all faint and grow weary. - But God renews the strength. - Who does God renew strength for? - Those who **wait on the LORD**. - To wait is not to be passive, doing nothing. - To wait on the LORD, is to be prepared, ready to act, yet waiting for the LORD to prepare the way - SEE: [[Ps-37#v1|Psalm 37:1-8]] - His understanding is unsearchable. - So where do we get off saying to God, “I won’t believe God until I understand Him” - What does he say about God’s glorious character ## Application --- ## Further Study - --- ## 💬Discussion Questions 1.