Today all over this troubled world New Covenant believers are feeling the strain of a world gone mad and from the human perspective it seems things are out of control as we see Covid-19 rampaging through the nations and totalitarian minded political leaders using this so called ‘Pandemic’ to control people’s daily lives. Of course the sanity in all of this is that we know that God still has everything under control, and He does you know!
We see the United States, the so called bastion of the free world, now plagued with an incompetent Presidency and government that is seeking to violate all and every spiritual, moral, ethical and Biblical standard as we see the left-wing socialist minded politicians seeking to bring the people of America under a form of totalitarian control. Not only is this happening in America but also in Australia, New Zealand, in Europe and Great Britain and wherever you have a history of freedom and democracy and a Judeo-Christian heritage.
It is a time when the prince of this world and his hordes from Hades are wreaking havoc in the world and especially wearing down the saints of the Most High God as these fallen wicked principalities in the unseen spiritual realm prepare the way for the man of sin and his vast empire to come. Within the western democracies our freedoms, our democracy, our right to free speech and freedom to worship is being eroded by those within the so called hallowed halls of political power. For most of the people in this world right now it is unemployment, lack of basic necessities, riots, political unrest, increasing earthquakes, famines, plague, rumours of wars and apostasy within wider Christendom unparalleled in past history. As for persecution and martyrdom of the faithful Body of the Messiah it is the same. In this century New Covenant believers are being persecuted more than at any other time in history and that on a global scale.
The apostle Paul spoke about what it would be like in the nations in the last days. When writing to his young protégé Timothy he said; “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days” (1 Timothy 3:1). In the Greek text it literally reads “times of stress” and then goes on to list the marks of a world estranged from God and in rebellion against His laws and Commandments given to man for his own spiritual and social well-being. It is written around what people love. The list starts with lovers of themselves and ends with lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God (2 Timothy 3:1-4). The list not only relates to those in the world but also to those within wider Christendom having a form of godliness but denying its power to change them deep down on the inside (Vs.5).
Right across the world in every nation many New Covenant believers to a greater and lesser degree are feeling suppressed, tired, spiritually fatigued, persecuted, and weary of the spiritual battle they have to fight every day against the dark powers of spiritual wickedness and principalities in high places as well as against the pleasures and possessions of the world, against the temptations of the flesh, and against the wiles of the devil (Ephesians 6:10-12) (1 John 2:16).
All over the world many of our faithful brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus are struggling to see God still at work in the trying circumstances they are facing every day, especially as they see society spiralling out of control, governments and society in turmoil and Covid-19 ravaging the earth with its lockdowns, vaccination mandates and with totalitarian political despots enforcing their own brand of despotism and control on vulnerable people suffering under the burden of daily life.
As faithful New Covenant believers we are not immune from the same afflictions and trials experienced by those who as are yet unsaved. Now in the book of Isaiah Chapter 40:27-32 God speaks to His people Israel to encourage them at a time when things looked dark for them and it seemed that God was not at work and had forsaken them and was not considering their plight and they were labouring under a tangible sense of abandonment. Not only is it applicable to Israel at that time but also prophetically it can be applied to us as New Covenant believers spiritually grafted into the Commonwealth of Israel who are experiencing a sense of despair and wondering at times where God is in our changing and turbulent circumstances.
Today we are no doubt living in the very last of the last days. We are constantly being challenged mentally, emotionally and spiritually in our faith and at times tossed on the wild sea of adversity that God uses to sanctify all of His precious saints that He dearly loves and also to get them to set their minds on things above related to their citizenship in heaven and not on earth in this present evil age (Colossians 3:1-4).
With these things in view let’s now look briefly at Isaiah Chapter 40:27-31.
(Vs.27) “Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my cause is disregarded by my God”?
It can often prove to be a setback in our walk with the Lord when we find ourselves in a situation where we have been seeking to faithfully serve the Lord yet find ourselves in a dark place with no seeming light at the end of the long dark tunnel. At such times fear and despair kick in like a scary spectre coming at us in the dark. If anyone experienced dark places in his life it was King David, who experienced times of deep depression and despair yet encouraged himself in the Lord when he writes; “If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,” Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You” (Psalm 139:11-12).
God sees everything and because He inhabits eternity He has already planned a way out of the dark circumstances we might be facing right now and what is hidden from us is not hidden from Him, neither has He disregarded us. Through prayer and if necessary fasting, God will bring us out into the light once again. As it is written; “Weeping may stay the night, but joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5b). As it is also written “The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD is enthroned as King forever. The LORD gives His people strength; the LORD blesses His people with peace” (Psalm 29:10-11). True shalom is not the absence of fear but in the midst of that fear having the peace of God which transcends all human understanding. It is a sense of being spiritually filled up deep within the human spirit even though the emotions and thoughts of the soul are being tossed to and fro like a ship being tossed upon an angry and troubled sea.
Let’s remember that the master mariner is at the helm and steering the ship of our lives to its eternal destination. When the Lord Jesus got into the boat with His disciples He probably knew a storm was brewing that these experienced fishermen would not be able to handle. As far as He was concerned He fully intended to get to the other side of the lake with all of the disciples intact! What a great God we serve! Now let’s read on…
(Vs.28) “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable.”
What a God we have, what a shepherd we have who carries us on His broad shoulders when we cannot walk! All through the Word of God we see that God is the everlasting God who searches and knows us even when we do not know ourselves. He perceives our thoughts from afar. He sees our coming and going. He is familiar with all of our ways, thoughts and habits and personality defects. Even before a word is on our tongue He knows it and what is behind it. He hems us in as He goes before us and stands behind us as our Pillar of cloud by day and as our pillar of fire at night when the pestilence is stalking us in the darkness.
No matter where we go His presence is with us and already there in the situation we are about to face. We cannot go off of His radar! No matter what circumstance or situation we find ourselves in His hand will guide us and His right hand (being our Lord Jesus Himself) will hold us fast! (Psalm 139:1-9). He is also the creator of the universe and we were created for Him and to live in Him and to draw moment by moment the ‘divine sap’ of that indestructible life of the Lord Jesus being the true vine. He made us and saw us from all eternity (Psalm 139:14-16).
When Job was at the end of his great time of affliction he saw how great and awesome God was. He saw His God, who at the command from His mouth slung the whole universe into existence and watched over the great Leviathan as well as the tiny creature in the cleft of the rock. When God had displayed His power and greatness over everything that happens in the universe, in the heavens and on earth Job declared; “I know you can do all things and that no plan of yours can be thwarted!” (Job 42:1-2)
Notice also that the Lord does not get tired or weary as we often do and give up. He remains as a lighthouse ever shining brightly and consistently standing firm on a solid rock to guide the ship of our life sailing on the dark ocean of this world from hitting the rocks and making shipwreck of our faith! What a God we serve! When He decides to do something He asks no man’s permission. As it is written; “Your word, O LORD, is everlasting; it is firmly fixed in the heavens” (Psalm 119:89). Then we are told that His understanding is unsearchable. There is no situation or circumstance He does not know about. He not only sees the problem but also the answer. The blessed Holy Spirit living in us prays for us when we do not know how to pray ourselves. He prays with us, taking hold of the problem that we are wrestling with together with us and He prays in place of us when words fail to express the deepest stirring emotions deep with the soul.
God searches the thoughts and feelings and purposes of the blessed Holy Spirit who is Himself God the Spirit and if God knows all of His thoughts and emotions and His will then God most certainly knows all about us! Added to this the blessed Holy Spirit always intercedes for us in accordance to the will of God (Romans 8:26-27). What a marvellous, sensitive, Divine and loving friend we have in the blessed Holy Spirit! And then we read…
(Vs.29-31) “He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 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.”
When we are feeling at our weakest He is present to strengthen us by the power of his might dwelling in our spirit to increase our power to persevere in the circumstances we are facing (2 Corinthians 12:10). If He knows the number of hairs on our head then He most certainly knows all the finest details of our daily lives. Through praying in the Holy Spirit and by reading the Bible the blessed Holy Spirit will build deep within us the capacity for our faith to develop and grow (Jude 1:20) (Romans 10:17).
You may see young men and women in the prime of their lives going about their daily business and working to feed their dead souls with the pleasures, pursuits and pastimes and fill their bank accounts as they enjoy success in the secular business world but little do they know that their lives do not consist in the things they have and that their fleshly appetites and fallen unregenerate nature crave! As the Lord Jesus Himself said; “Watch out! Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). These drink from the fountain of this world’s pleasures but find themselves thirsting yet again but do not have time to drink from the pure untainted fountain of everlasting life being the blessed Holy Spirit that only the Lord Jesus can give (John 4:13-14) (Luke 11:13). At the end of their self-driven lives these young men and women, the ‘go-getters of their generation,’ are now old and nearing the grave. They are faint and weary, worn out with life and facing an eternity without God, a place wherein lies an eternal fire and a thick darkness that can be felt far beyond all human comprehension.
However, those who wait upon the Lord with expectant faith throughout life will mount up with the wings of eagles; they shall soar upwards flowing and sustained spiritually by the wind of the Spirit. They shall be as a runner that never tires and is still running on the track of eternal life with ardour and vigour when others have long ago given up! They shall walk steadily on the narrow road that leads to life and not turn aside to the right or to the left and onto that broad road that leads to destruction because they are sustained by the God who imparts to them righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit in every circumstance of life (Romans 14:17).
It is interesting that the eagle will take the baby eagle and push it out of its nest high up in the craggy mountain top and watch it fall towards the ground frantically flapping its wings as it seeks to learn how to fly. The mother eagle never takes its eyes off of the fledgling little eagle and when it looks like it will hit the ground that mother swoops down and sweeps it up on its wings and soars back with it to the nest where the same exercise is repeated until the eagle learns to fly. When the mighty eagle comes to die it spreads out its wings and soars upward in full flight looking steadfastly and without wavering towards the sun. Such is the end of a believer’s sojourn in this present world when their spirit flies upwards towards the Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings for time and for all of eternity and even beyond.
As it is written; “Surely He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly plague. He will cover you with His feathers; under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the calamity that destroys at noon. Though a thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, no harm will come near you. You will only see it with your eyes and witness the punishment of the wicked” (Psalm 91:3-8). What a timely and encouraging word from the Lord for the beleaguered saints of God in a Covid-19 stressed out world!
