there in Isaiah that we've just sung back to God, Derek Thomas addresses us, be honest, Have you ever felt that God doesn't care about you or else he would not have treated you in the way that he has? Trials can make us lose sight of God's majesty and cause us to feel sorry for ourselves. Some of God's people in Isaiah's time could not square suffering with his love. If God loves us, they thought, there should be no problems in our lives. Feeling down and a bit depressed is hard enough as an individual. However, when a whole community is feeling down and questioning God's love, then this is particularly dangerous. Who is going to pull you up if everyone around you is in as bad of state or worse than you? In this chapter it appears that almost the entire Old Testament community is in the doldrums. They apparently have been and are in a state where unbelief has the upper hand and their common complaint is either God doesn't even know what we are facing or he doesn't care. Israel is shaken by extreme trials sent to her by her God. Almost the whole nation is questioning God. Now remember that not everyone in the nation church was converted. There has been a history of idolatry that God is going to punish with a Babylonian captivity. Isaiah tells King Hezekiah that a remnant of Israel is going to be saved. Still, It is bad news for believers and unbelievers alike to hear that their nation is going to be carried away and resettled in Babylon. Everyone is down. But should the true believers be down? The way God dealt with depressed believers in Isaiah's day was to talk about eagles. You may feel like a bedraggled sparrow, but if you pay attention to what I'm saying, you will mount up with wings like eagles. Well, what's going on with Israel at 700 BC? Sennacherib has come, Hezekiah has responded in faith, one of the few, along with Isaiah. There's the dealing with Sennacherib, but there's the news of the captivity. What's our passage this morning? Well, it's Isaiah 40, verse 27, but let's get the context with verse 1. Comfort my people, says your God. They're going to be carried away to Babylon. The remnant is going to be saved. You need to comfort them. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned. that she is received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. A voice cries, in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up and every mountain and hill will be made low. You know these verses. And you know how they are a prophecy of John the Baptist to come. John the Baptist born six months before the Lord Jesus Christ. And he is going to announce the way of the great Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's get more context. Verse 12. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked out the heavens with the span? The cubit, their measurement. Span. God takes his hand and he says, oh, the heavens, there are about so many spans. Doesn't even go up to his cubit measurement. Enclose the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains and the scales and the hills in a balance. Who has measured the spirit of the Lord? Who's found out what his power is? or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as dust on the scales. Behold, he takes up the coastlands as fine dust. Now our text. Why Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, my way is hidden from Yahweh, and my right is disregarded by my God? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the heavens, the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. 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, choice, 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. So let's look back here. They're saying our way is hidden from the Lord. He can't do anything about this situation. But where do we see God's intervention back in these earlier chapters? Well, number one, that Hezekiah is trusting in the Lord, and he goes up and he prays, and Isaiah says, because you prayed, such and such happens. We see God's intervention with Sennacherib's fall and his death. But most impressively here for Jerusalem is that a whole army of 185,000 men is wiped out by one angel. Hezekiah's healing, if we had read that chapter, miraculous. And It's not so much a miraculous thing that they will be carried away, but it is God's miraculous intervention that he can give a word of prophecy. This is going to happen. You're going to be carried away. And this is who is coming back. This is the remnant that is going to be saved. And it's eventually, it's all going to work out to one who is a voice that is crying out concerning the great Redeemer who has appeared. If you could go back and talk to Isaiah, what would you say to him? Well, I think one of the things that many of us would say is, what is wrong with these people? What is wrong with these people that they think God does not care and cannot help them? And I have the mirror there to invite you to step in front of the mirror and to repeat that question. What is wrong with this person? That you or I will lapse into times of thinking that God does not care and God does not help. But I've got another picture for you to step into. I don't want to explain this just yet because it's going to become apparent to us if we all live for the next 20-30 minutes to get to this point. But I'd like you to step into the picture in order to steer the ship during a storm when the questions of God's love are thrust into our minds. You are going to be steering the ship. you need to keep the ship at least angled into those crashing waves so that your ship doesn't roll over and sink. But it's a mighty storm. But wonderfully in our picture, you see that there's this brass pipe over here, this post. You can just kind of see it there, but that's very important. We'll step into that later. But for now, let's come to your handout sheet if you'd like and to the outline, Roman numeral one, the professing Christian's complaint. The professing Christian's complaint of God's ignorance and negligence from verse 27. Note the complainer. Oh Jacob, oh Israel, the Old Testament church, the Old Testament church nation, Who are they? Well, they're somebody that has a connection with God. They talk about Yahweh, the covenant-making, covenant-keeping God. They talk about my God. They have at least a professing connection to Jesus Christ, to the God of heaven, at least in our day. In their recent past, they are the Israelites living in Jerusalem during Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem. In the future, they are the Israelites living in Jerusalem knowing that they are going to be carried away into the Babylonian captivity. They are those Israelites that are living in Babylon and wondering what is going on. We have been told that we will live in our land in blessing. It's not limited to that generation though, is it? Sad trials come in every age and they disappoint us, they oppress us. The complainer, a professing Christian, some kind of relationship with God. Secondly, B, the complaint. The complaint, first of all, it's verbalized. It's one thing to think hard thoughts, about God, but this is more than thinking. They are talking about God with their hard thoughts. It's a regular problem. Why will you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel? It's verbalized. It's a regular problem. E.J. Young says it's put in that future tense. because it's something they have been doing, they're presently doing, and they will be doing often in the future. Why will you do this? And then, what is it that they're complaining about? My way, my life is hidden from Yahweh. And my just claim, my right, has been passed over by my God. Derek Thomas says, Isaiah's pessimistic pilgrims were anxious to make a point. God was disregarding their cause, their right. They are making a legal case. They are talking about their rights. They have analyzed their position and they have come to the conclusion that God is not dealing with them fairly. They are being walked on and they are angry with God. Now that's never a good and healthy mental state, is it? When you're annoyed with God? When you are taking God to court? Even the court of your own puny mind. And you're saying to God in the court of your mind, what God is doing is simply not fair. It's not right. Well, what do we sinners rightfully deserve from the thrice holy God? Elizabeth Elliot writes of an incident in her life when a Christian lady began to tell her something along the same lines as these joyless believers in Isaiah's day. A woman had just discovered that she was suffering from a progressive illness that would lead to paralysis, and she was telling Elizabeth Elliot over the phone, it is not fair. And on the other end of the phone, Elizabeth Elliott was thinking about how modern Christians think that it is a matter of their right to be happy and to be free from trial. how wrong this is. Composing herself, Elizabeth began to respond. I didn't weigh in with all of this to the troubled girl on the phone, but I did try to help her see that as a Christian, she might look at things from a different angle. She needed to start from the love of God and understand that love revealed on the cross does not exclude, but always includes our suffering. But what good will I be flat on my back? Came the plaintiff question. So we had to talk about God's idea of good. Very different from mere utilitarianism. God wanted her to trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. The only way she could learn trust and obedience was to have things happen which she could not understand. That is where faith begins. In the wilderness. In the wilderness of me not understanding why God is doing what he is doing. She must hang on to the message of the cross. God loves you. He loved you enough for his son to die for you. Will you trust him? There was a pause. Then I heard the timid little voice say, oh, I'm sure she felt she was just about to enter a waste howling wilderness and she was afraid. I prayed that God would go with her every step of the way and let her know that everything was under control. E.J. Young commenting on the passage says that this kind of mind, this mental state is one of despondency of heart. It's when unbelief has the upper hand. Alexander says there is a skeptical despondency. These people are down. It seems like almost the whole group of them would be down. And they are, in their downness, they are skeptical, they are unbelieving that God is going to be able to do anything to fulfill His promises. Thirdly, C, note the connection. This thinking of God's not able, He's not willing, He doesn't even know, It's not limited to Israel of old, is it? There's a connection between this kind of disposition of heart, of individuals getting down, of group of individuals getting down, and us thinking God is apparently not aware of my trials and my difficulties, the trials and difficulties in my marriage, with my children, my poor health, my lack of work, my schooling situation, my friendships, my church, my future. God is apparently not interested in giving me what I legally deserve. I deserve better than what I'm getting at work. I deserve better than what I'm getting at home. I deserve better than what I'm getting at church. What is the sense of having a God if he is ignorant, ignorant of and negligent concerning my difficulties and my rights? Well, we need to be aware of this thinking. We need to be aware that a lengthy trial is all the more dangerous. Think of the irony of that situation where King David, he's been running and hiding from King Saul. He doesn't want to do anything against King, and he gets worn down by it. He decides it's time to go over and live with the Philistines. What a crazy thought. What a crazy thing to do. But it's not hard to see us doing something like that, depending on the arm of the flesh. Then add the gray rainy days of winter and they can make our problems look all the darker and all the more severe. And so as we begin this next year, we need to caution ourselves against thinking that there is no cure for my despair. There will be no solution that comes from God. Heaven is silent. Heaven is ignorant. Heaven is negligent. As you look at the passage, you can say, what's wrong with these people? 185,000 soldiers wiped out by one single angel. And they've got the nerve to say that God doesn't know what's going on, God doesn't care, and he's not able to address the situation. At least I have an excuse in my day for questioning God. They did not. Whoops. Don't go there. Roman numeral two, the prophet's correction. First of all, the complaint, now the correction by God's true character and work. Derek Thomas again, God rebukes the despondent for wrong thoughts about God and wrong thoughts about ourselves. God is great and we are not to forget it. But that means that he has not abandoned us any more than he abandoned Jacob, his Old Testament church. Christians who think that God has left them high and dry have cause to be ashamed of themselves. For such a thought deeply dishonors First of all, A, God's true character. God's true character in verse 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 go weary. God is eternal. And this tells us that God as the everlasting God is above all the little problems that come into our world. Those things that stress us do not stress the eternal God. He's gonna be here. John Wesley's favorite text was, God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God is immutable. and his love is everlasting. And if we just limit ourselves to the book of Isaiah, we are told God's love is everlasting. His covenant is everlasting. He makes Zion, his people, an everlasting splendor. He makes her a new Zion robed with everlasting light and causes her to rejoice with everlasting joy. When pressures are threatening to bend us out of shape, we are to recall that these threatening pressures to us, in a sense, mean nothing to God. Further, not only is God everlasting, God is self-sufficient and faithful. He is Yahweh. He is the Lord. Thirdly, God is creator, the creator of the ends of the earth. Not only me, everything right here, but everything to the furthest recesses of the earth, everything to the furthest recess of the universe, wherever that furthest recess is, God is creator. God is omnipotent. He makes this point by God, neither faints nor is weary. There's no situation that is too difficult or complex. This is not what you want to hear your doctor say. Well, your situation is complex. Oh yeah, okay. You don't have a clue. All right. We appreciate our doctors and all the skill that they have. But my point is, there is no situation that God needs to refer it to a higher specialist. He does not grow weary. His energies are never spent. And this is why Jesus, as God, calls us to rest in himself. Come to me, all you who are weary and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Jesus is strong, and we love that about him. but he's also approachable. He's the shepherd who is anxious to carry our load and he bids us to come and rest in his house. When Sennacherib's Rabshakeh is taunting those locked in Jerusalem, These Israelites were convinced that God had forgotten them, that God didn't see, that God doesn't care about my rights. Further, the true character, God is omniscient. His understanding is unsearchable. We forget this too easily. They're saying God doesn't even know. God didn't even get the latter yet that explains my situation. No, God's understanding is unsearchable. You and I can't comprehend it. And God often, often, often does not tell us what he is doing. And many times more, he doesn't tell us why he's doing what he is doing. And the point is, even if God did tell you every why involved in what he is doing, you wouldn't understand it. Because you and I are man, he is the creator. We have finite minds, he has an infinite mind. God's ways are incomprehensible. And in God's thinking, you and I don't need to know all of the details. In God's thinking, all you and I need to know is that He is God. He is a good God. He is an all-knowing God. And He is an all-powerful God. God is looking for us to trust Him to be God in the midst of the trials. And God is going to get us through the trials without being dependent on our advice and counsel to Him. I'm not saying we do not pray. But God knows what He's going to do. And God is going to be able to get us through the trials without him coming to us and saying, can you help me out with this? My battery's a little low. I need a little power from you. It's not been too long ago that we were there in Romans 11. Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways. For who has known the mind of the Lord and who has been his counselor or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid from him for from him and through him and to him are all things to him be glory forever. Amen. God's true character. That was A. Now B. God's true work. He gives power to the faint and to him who has no might. First part of verse 29, God is the giver of strength. Latter part of verse 29, God is the giver of great strength, of abundant strength. and you see the contrast that is developing. Verse 28, God does not faint nor grow weary. Verse 29, there are individuals that do faint and grow weary. It's not God, verse 28, but God is the one who helps them, who gives them strength and gives them more strength. Thirdly, C, our embrace. What is your present experiential assessment of God's character and work? I'm not asking whether or not you know what the God of the Bible is like. I am asking you what you presently feel and are presently living out as far as God being absolutely sovereign and God being absolutely good. Do you harbor real thoughts of God? Are you perhaps even mad at God for something that has happened? And he goes, well, I'm just frustrated. Okay. Just frustrated with these circumstances. Where did those circumstances come from? from the all-inclusive will of God? So when we are frustrated, it's really a nice way for us to cover up that we're angry with God for what He is allowing to happen and what He is ordaining to happen. Do you presently love God as the good and the powerful God? Do you embrace that if God told you all of the whys, you still wouldn't be able to comprehend it? Instead of being annoyed at God for his failure to remove our troubles, we need to have a larger view of God. Think of Jerusalem, that long, narrow, little city in David's time. And there they are, and 185,000 Assyrian soldiers are around them. That's all I see. They don't see that one angel that we're told about. But that one angel represents God. Represents God's goodness, his faithfulness, and his power. Their lives are extinguished. Paul pleaded three times. May this thing be taken away from me, this affliction that you've sent. But God said, no, I kind of like it on you. And said, I'm going to give you the grace to rise above it. Let's be careful when we pray, say my teen, make my spouse to be self-giving instead of selfish. Sounds a little selfish, doesn't it? Give me this kind of house, give me this kind of health. They're legitimate petitions as long as they are conditioned with, and yet not my will, but your will be done. The complaint, the correction, and now Roman numeral three, the contrasting conclusion of failure and success. The failure of the flesh, verse 30, And the success of faith, verse 31. First of all, A, the failure of the strongest of man, verse 30. Even the youths shall faint and be weary. And the young, the choice young men, shall utterly fall. Who's gonna get through this trial? Who's going to be able to endure when there's 185,000 Assyrians? Well, it ain't going to be some old man like me. It's going to be some youth. And not just any of you. It's going to be the choice young men. Those men who have been trained in the military. That's who I'm going to put my money on. And what is their end? It's no good. They're going to faint and they're going to be weary and they shall utterly fall. Who's going to be able to endure repeated disappointments? Who's going to be able to endure when there is a lover's betrayal? Who's going to be able to endure when there's a situation of a child of God that is chastised by God and yet he's running away from God? Is it going to be a trained young soldier? The point here in verse 30 is the answer is not to be found in the strongest of man. That's the arm of the flesh. And Jeremiah teaches us, cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. Now, we need to see this ongoing contrast. Was it there in verse 28? God's not the one who faints and God's not the one who gets weary. Verse 29, God is the one who gives grace, who gives strength and more strength to those who are fainting. And now in verse 31, we're seeing but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. Come with me now to be the success of Jehovah's waiters. You can word that two ways, Jehovah's slash waiters, somebody waiting on God. or just the ones who are waiting and they belong to Jehovah's. So Jehovah apostrophe S, waiters, whichever you prefer. Verse 31. Notice the description of their believing confidence, who wait for the Lord. And the Hebrew word here, wait, has a sense of twisting and stretching. And it's a word that interestingly is also used of rope. I still, when I hear this, my mind goes back to days on the farm. Large pigs who were needing to do a medical procedure on. One rope on the front, up on this post. One rope on the back leg, up on this post. I'm holding the pig. I know the sound of that top rope that is moving and is rubbing on the wood. There's something about that, this twisting, this stretching that is going on, and so here's our figure. It's you, it's me, stepping into the picture of the helm of the old ship. And you need to be steering that ship on an angle into the wind to keep from being capsized. But it is such a furious storm, you're worried about being washed overboard, and that's not gonna be help to the other people that are on the boat. So in your waiting, your waiting is not going down into the galley of the ship and having a Coke. Your waiting is staying there at the helm of the ship and you are guiding it and your waiting is such that you are tied to that pipe. So you will not be washed over. Here's the picture of our waiting. It is an aggressive waiting. Lamentations 324. The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in him. The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Derek Thomas again. But we must remember that God does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men. He doesn't do it just to bring pain to you. We must wait patiently. We are not to become impatient with God's ways with us. We must not start to accuse God of any mismanagement. There are times when it is the best policy to shut our mouths. That's not me, I'm just quoting. I wouldn't say that to you. One should wait quietly for the salvation of God. There are difficult times that come not only to these believers. Think of David. Think of David when he comes back to Ziklag after the Amalekites have come and kidnapped his family, the families of his men, burned the city, and they come in, but it gets worse. Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no more power to weep. Now David was greatly distressed for the people spoke of stoning him because the soul of all the people was grieved. They're gonna do it to Moses. They're gonna do it to David. God sent the calamity. But somebody needs to be blamed. But doesn't that trouble you? For the people spoke of stoning him. Next verse. But David strengthened himself, and the Lord is God. Believing confidence. Secondly. Little two, the description of their progress shall renew their strength. It speaks of, well, I have this measure of strength, but it's going to be exchanged for another strength in the context that you've got this little strength and you're gonna get more strength for it. And it's a whole thing of a growth in grace. It implies that there is a original condition of weakness or lack of strength, but those who wait on the Lord are going to get a new deposit of strength. After all, he's not the one who faints or grows weary. He's the one who gives strength and the one who gives more strength to those who are fainting and growing weary. Shall renew their strength. Let's not be just flabbergasted and washed away out to sea because there is a trouble on us. Let's look to God and believe that his word is true. He will strengthen them as they wait upon him. Now notice three figures illustrating their progress, a little number three. Three figures illustrating their progress. First of all, they shall mount up with wings as eagles. There's this effortless flight of the eagle. I still remember being there in Israel as we were touring around and seeing all these steep little valleys. They call them wadis. And if you want to get from here to there, no, I can't get there. Because each one of these pews is a steep valley. And so I got to go out here and come up around. Oh, that I could be a bird, David sometimes says. If I could be like this eagle that just rises up to the heavens. Proverbs 23.5, they fly away like an eagle. Proverbs 30.18, the way of an eagle in the sky. Three things too wonderful for me. Job 39.27, does the eagle mount up at your command and make its nest up on high? If he does it at your command, why don't you command yourself to go up there? With apparently no effort, the eagle mounts high into the sky, so the people of God will mount out from the depths of their griefs and difficulties. They will not stumble, falling to the earth, because they have no strength, but rather with the ease of the eagle, they will soar on high. Second figure. illustrating their progress. They shall run and not be wearying. Running is another metaphor for our success in the Christian life. We'll not only fly like the eagle, maybe it's different times, maybe it's different people, some will fly, some will run, but they'll move on from strength to strength, Psalm 84. The third illustration, they shall walk and not faint. The choice young men will faint. They will grow weary and fall to the ground. The best of what we get from man is going to fail, but God does not faint. He does not grow weary and he gives strength to those who otherwise would. Maybe we don't always soar like an eagle. Maybe we don't even just keep running on like that Ethiopian marathoner. Maybe all we do is walk. My friend, walk. And be glad you have not fallen to the ground in exhaustion. John Bodney knew the Christian life is not glamorous, but he knew the importance as well of moving forward. Alas, responded Mr. Feeblemind, I lack a suitable companion. You're all energetic and strong, but as you see, I'm weak. I'd rather choose to come along behind, lest by reason of my many infirmities, I would be both a burden to myself and to you. I am, as I said, a man with a weak and feeble mind, and I'll be offended and made weak at that which others can bear up under. But brother, said Great Heart, I've been commissioned to encourage the feeble-minded and to help the weak. You must go along with us. We'll wait for you. We'll lend you our help. And for your sake, we'll deny ourselves some of the things both biased and practical. Rather than allow you to be left behind, we'll become all things for you rather than have you be left behind. All this happened while they were at Gaius's door. And as they were in the heat of their discussion about this, Mr. About-to-Fall came by with his crutches under his arms, and he too was going on a pilgrimage. Then Mr. Feeblemind said to him, Mr. About-to-Fall, man, how did you get here? I was just now complaining that I didn't have a suitable companion, but you're according to my wish. Welcome, welcome, good Mr. About-To-Fall. I hope you and I may be of help to one another. Mr. About-To-Fall says, I'll be glad to be your friend. Would you like me to give you a crutch? No, I'll wait until I'm lame before I use a crutch. But thank you very much. So they went on their way. Mr. Great Heart, Mr. Honest went out in front, Christiana and her family then next, and Mr. Feeble Mind and Mr. About-to-Fall came behind with the crutches. Thirdly, C, our encouragements for success. Our encouragements for success, first of all, number one, do not let go of God. Do not let go of God because of your disappointments in life. Your disappointment was some Christian. Your disappointment was some Christian church. Don't think that you are doomed to failure simply because you are facing trials. Job faced a couple of trials. He met it. Joseph faced two or three trials. David, Elijah, Daniel, Jeremiah, Paul, come to think of it, any Christian who's ever lived has faced trials. Sennacherib taunts Israel and the situation looks very grim. Wait on God. Do not give up on God, but wait on God. Get yourself tethered to that pole. so that the storm will not wash you away. Don't worry about what people say. Can't they buy a house? Can't they raise a child? Can't they get along with family? What's wrong with these people? Can't they grow a church? Can't they find a minister? The great issue is waiting on God. Getting tethered to the God of eternity, the Creator, the all-sufficient, faithful Yahweh, the Omnipotent One, the Omniscient One, second encouragement to success. Expect God to bless. One or two of you may know that verse in Romans 8. and he causes all things to work together for good. Anybody believe that they know it as well as they need to know it? All things work together for good. Listen to this one from Isaiah 30, verse 18. Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice, blessed are all those who wait for him. Jeremiah 29, verse 11. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Hope is essential. If this is a time that holds no hope for you, then you are in a dangerous situation. There will be a heightened temptation to give up. And maybe someone is at that point even now. If it seems that you're caught up in something, you don't understand what is happening, you find your resolve is weakening, then what do you need to do? Isaiah 40 and verse 26, lift up your eyes on high and see who created these things. He who brings out their hosts by number, calling them all by name. 100 billion galaxies? with approximately 100 billion stars in each one of the 100 billion galaxies, and he calls them all by name. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Thirdly, by way of encouragement, know that you are right with God. This is just not some moral fix-up thing. Believe this, put this principle in place, repeat this seven times every morning. No, this is Isaiah 40 in verse one. It's a prophecy of yes, what they're gonna go through with the captivity, but it's looking out to the future of Jesus Christ. It's looking out in Isaiah 40 in verse one, comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, cry to her that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity is pardoned. It's a prophecy of that one who is to come. That is how our transgressions are forgiven. Not due to our merit. But God taking our sins, putting it on His Son, God taking His perfect righteousness and giving it to everyone who believes in Jesus Christ. Well, my friends, let's have our ear out for ourselves. Are we complaining about God's ignorance and His negligence? When we hear that rising up within ourselves, may God help us to come to the correction, his true character, his true work, and let's reflect on this contrasting conclusion, the failure of the best man and the success of those who maybe they're weak, maybe they're fainting, but their only thing is They're waiting on God. They have tied themselves into God and convinced that God will come at the right time and bless. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for the riches of your Holy Word. Thank you for this passage. Thank you for laying out something of the context of how you so powerfully intervened for a helpless Jerusalem, how you could prophesy of a coming captivity and yet of a divine savior who's going to come after that captivity and take our sins and give us his perfect righteousness. Help us to believe in you from the heart at the start and help us to trust in you every step along the way. We pray that 2024 would be a year that is wonderfully blessed by you, whatever trial we face.