28.
Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord,
the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is
no searching of his understanding.
29.He
giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth
strength.
30.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall;
31.But
they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up
with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk,
and not faint.”
The
first time I heard these verses of Isaiah 40 was whilst watching a highly
moving movie called “Chariots of Fire” back in 1981. I was enthralled. Nothing
speaks better to a soulful person like me than beautiful words. They embolden,
inspire, elevate, enlighten…you name it, words do it for me.
The
above-mentioned verses were Isaiah’s attempt to accentuate God’s ability to
empower His people Israel, and in turn, all of us. Preceding these scriptures
is his almost frantic attempt to help Israel understand who God is in verses
22-27. It is obvious Isaiah knew God and had not failed to see His obvious
power and is amazed that others fail to, by asking: “Have ye not known? Have ye
not heard? Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have ye not understood
from the foundations of the earth? “ (v21).
There
is an interesting word in verse 28 that tells us it is virtually impossible for
us to grasp the grandeur of God. Isaiah says: “there is no searching of
his understanding.” That word ‘searching’ is clarified in Romans 11:33 which
says: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable
are his judgments, and his ways past finding out.” In other words, you
cannot fathom God.
I
had an experience some months ago where I came to understand just how much we
do not understand and know God. I was reflecting upon my life one day wondering
how I would feel on judgment day when I found myself in my mind standing in
front of God himself and hearing Him ask me three questions: How did you enjoy
your mortal probation? What do you think you learnt from it? How do you think
you did overall?
And
this is what amazed me. I could not answer. Whenever I opened my mouth nothing
would come out. I realised in that moment that I could not say anything that He
did not already know. I could not lie, I could not tell half lies, I could not
even tell the truth. I understood that He already knew everything about me: my
deeds, my thoughts, my desires, my attitudes, my good moments, my resentments,
my rebellious moments, my likes, my dislikes. As I stood there I felt like I
was transparent before Him and He was looking right through me as if He was
almost inside me, so well aware was He of all that made up what is me. I
could see that we do not understand how inter-connected He is with His children
and mostly, how incredibly powerful He is, which is beyond our understanding.
He truly is ‘unsearchable’ to mere mortals.
If
the concept of God and His existence is this difficult to understand, how do we
come to the ability to have faith that He gives power to the faint, that he
increases our strength and mounts us up with wings as eagles?
When
I used to post on Facebook, I had one lady accuse me of encouraging people to put
their trust in someone whom they cannot even see. She claimed she doesn’t rely
on anyone to help her achieve anything but herself. She saw trust in invisible
power as something dangerous that would surely bring about failure. It is
difficult to explain God to someone. How do you explain the feelings of the
spirit, or the breath that you breathe or revelations you have, or anything of
spiritual nature? Even Isaiah asked on Lord’s behalf: “To whom then will ye
liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.” (Isaiah 40:21)
We
can look at all of God’s creations and come to the conclusion that the big bang
theory is ridiculous, that a greater power must have created everything. Some
people explain God in those terms. I look at myself and ask, how did all that
God saw in me come to be? The body perishes and returns to mother earth but the
earth cannot contain this soulful spirit that is in my mortal heart. It came from someone great who had the power to
create it. It flies on wings like eagles ‘trailing clouds of glory’ to the one
who created it. This to me is who God is.
The
winds of tribulation
Bend
down and lift me to the sky
To
see the tapestry of my life.
I
understand the hows and whys, Father,
But
the pains of mortality drag me to the ground
To
forget your perfect design.
In
my moments of darkness
Lift
me to higher ground
That I might bow
in
praise of Thy wisdom divine.
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