Isaiah 40:27-31
I was in the US from August 30 until September 9 for the wedding of my nephew and a memorial service for my mother. The week before I returned, I was at the home of my wifeâs parents west of Boston in Massachusetts. We sat in their screened porch each lunch looking out at the green of the lawn and forest behind them, eating sweet corn and tomatoes just picked from the garden. As I contemplated coming back to Rabat I was filled with apprehension and dreaded having to return. I did not want to come back to Morocco.
Why? Was it because I miss seeing the color green and am tired of the brown of Morocco? Thatâs true, I do miss the green of New England but that is not why I did not want to return. Was it because I miss the sweet corn and tomatoes of the late fall? I do miss this season but that is not why I did not want to return.
The reason I did not want to return to Morocco was that I had run out of gas, emotionally and spiritually and I did not have the strength to fulfill the responsibilities I carry in Morocco.
This year has been a very stressful one for me. It started in the spring with the deportation of Deon Malan, the pastor of the church in Marrakech, and continued on with the ongoing concern of Christians about what was happening in Morocco. Normally summers here are slow with many of the members of the church being away for part or all of the summer. But this year I was surrounded by crises. It seemed everywhere I turned someone else was having a major struggle.
I persevered and God was good to me in granting me the strength to carry a candle safely through the storm. I was able to go from situation to situation, listen and be of some help.
But then at the end of the summer, a week before I left for the US, I crashed. I came to the end of my resources and was depleted. In that last week we had two days of strategic planning for the Village of Hope and I participated in those meetings although I was not all there.
The evening after the first day of the strategic planning, while I was having supper with a friend, I received a phone call from Annie telling me my mother had died.
We returned to the US. I spoke at the wedding of my nephew and the next day we had a memorial service for my mother. I am grateful God sustained me for that time, but then I sunk into a head cold, no energy and no enthusiasm for returning to Morocco.
I found myself in the situation where I could respond to some need around me but it was as if the battery had developed enough charge to beep the horn but not start the car. I had enough for the moment but nothing more.
How did I get to this point? There are those who say I am doing too much. With my involvement in the Village of Hope and the new church association, lâEglise Protestante, as well as being pastor of RPF, some have told me I have too many responsibilities and need to cut back.
I really do not believe this is the problem. There are many in the world who do far more than I do, who carry much more responsibility than I carry. It is true that I need to have more people come along and assist me in what I am doing, but to reduce my responsibilities would not solve the spiritual crisis I am facing.
The problem is very clear to me. For too long I have been operating on my own strength and relying on the faith of others to get by. I wake up in the morning, go out to exercise, come back and rest on the hammock and pray about the day that is coming, who I will meet, what I need to do. I ask for wisdom and help. I come in to shower and sit down at my desk, turn on the computer, check emails and I am off and running. I read the Scripture for my preaching and I may read a chapter or two in the morning, but I have lacked for a long time a dedicated time to sit and be present with God.
God has graciously sustained me but finally allowed me to come to the end of my rope to get my attention.
Annie sent me an email from her devotional reading with this quote from Oswald Chambers. You can find it printed in your bulletin.
We imagine we would be all right if a big crisis arose; but the big crisis will only reveal the stuff we are made of, it will not put anything into us. âIf God gives the call, of course I will rise to the occasion.â You will not unless you have risen to the occasion in the workshop, unless you have been the real thing before God there. If you are not doing the thing that lies nearest, because God has engineered it, when the crisis comes instead of being revealed as fit, you will be revealed as unfit. Crises always reveal character.
The private relationship of worshiping God is the great essential of fitness. The time comes when there is no more âfig-treeâ life possible, when it is out into the open, out into the glare and into the work, and you will find yourself of no value there if you have not been worshiping as occasion serves you in your home. Worship aright in your private relationships, then when God sets you free you will be ready, because in the unseen life which no one saw but God you have become perfectly fit, and when the strain comes you can be relied upon by God.
âI canât be expected to live the sanctified life in the circumstances I am in; I have no time for praying just now, no time for Bible reading, my opportunity hasnât come yet; when it does, of course I shall be all right.â No, you will not. If you have not been worshiping as occasion serves, when you get into work you will not only be useless yourself, but a tremendous hindrance to those who are associated with you.
The workshop of ministry munitions is the hidden, personal, worshiping life of the saint.
Do you see yourself in this? I look at my schedule and list of things to be done for the day and so I skim a few chapters of the Bible, pray a quick prayer and then get on to the real business of the day. I respond to emails. I prepare for meetings. I write sermons. I do all the things on my list that need to be done. And in the process I drain, bit by bit, the reservoir of strength available to me until one day the crisis comes that exhausts all I have and I find myself in a spiritual muddle.
Benjamin Franklin in the time of the colonies in the US wrote: In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes. Let me add another item to his list – crises.
The condition of the world in which we live is struggle. Paul wrote in his epistle to the church in Rome:
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. (8:22)
Whether it is the world, the flesh or the devil, a crisis is going to hit you one day. If you have had crises in the past, expect them again in the future. They may come in different shapes and sizes, but they will come. Someone you love will die. Someone you trust will disappoint you or betray you. A friend may tell you she wants to divorce her husband. You may be unjustly accused. You may be seriously tempted. It may be one large crisis or a number of smaller crises but they will come.
Your life may be placid and serene or you may be going through some crisis at the present time. Open your ears, pay attention because even if everything is going fine right now, a time will come when you will need to hear Godâs wisdom that comes through this sermon. Crises will come. Are you prepared? Are you preparing?
I found myself, in this light, thinking of Elijah in the Old Testament. You remember his story, perhaps? He was a prophet for God in Israel at the time that Ahab was king and Jezebel was his wife. God used Elijah to inform Ahab there would be no dew or rain until he spoke the word. And it did not rain for two plus years at which point Elijah met 450 prophets of Baal in a confrontation to see who would prevail, Baal or God. God prevailed and Elijah led the execution of the 450 prophets of Baal, gave the word to Ahab that it would rain and in the downpour that followed, the power of the Lord came over Elijah and he ran all the way to Jezreel, the winter capital of Israel.
This is amazing. A power encounter between God and the forces of evil at a level rarely experienced. What a pillar of strength Elijah was! But then look what happened. In the text from I Kings 19 that we read, Jezebel threatened the life of Elijah and Elijah who had faced down 450 prophets of Baal fled for his life and hid in the wilderness.
What happened to Elijah? I know that it is presumptuous for me to critique Elijah. Elijah along with Moses were the two men from all of Old Testament history who appeared with Jesus in their heavenly glory on the Mount of Transfiguration. For me to critique Elijah is like me who can jog a few laps around the Hilton foret critiquing the running form of Hicham El Guerrouj, the Moroccan runner who picked up a couple gold medals in the last Olympics. But here I go.
Elijah ran out of gas. He had enough to get him through the confrontation on Mt. Carmel but not enough to face the confrontation in Jezreel.
Elijah came to this crisis with enough to get him through Mt. Carmel but not enough to get him past Jezebel. Elijah had faith enough in God to get him past the 450 prophets of Baal and King Ahab, but not enough faith in God to get him past Ahabâs queen.
If you were to meet Elijah in the wilderness, saw him lying there, you might get off your camel and sit down to share a sip of water and talk. As you heard his story and he opened up to you his emptiness, perhaps these verses from Isaiah 40 would come to your mind to share with him and encourage him.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
We love those verses. When I ran the Boston Marathon nine years ago, friends gave me these verses to encourage me. (It worked for the first 29 kilometers but I must say I was looking for the eaglesâ wings in the last 13 kilometers.)
These verses are a great encouragement to those in need of spiritual strength, but look at the verses preceding them and the way we begin to refill the empty reservoir is revealed.
Why do you say, O Jacob,
and complain, O Israel,
âMy way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my Godâ?
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
Isaiah begins with the picture of Israel complaining about the spiritual muddle in which it finds itself.
âMy way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my Godâ?
Isnât this the way it is with us? We sit and mope and complain about our situation. We ask where God is and why he is so distant. If we keep a journal and are honest, we write about how God has abandoned us and left us to our own devices. God has let us down. If God is so concerned with this world and so concerned that I have a part in it, why has he left the scene?
But then Isaiah delivers a gigantic slap across the head to get our attention. Do you not know? Smack one. Have you not heard? Smack two.
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
Isaiah gets our attention and then reminds us of the grandeur of God. Here is where restoration begins. The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. This is where we begin to refill the reservoir that will allow us to face the crises that will certainly come. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
Let me tell you how I have begun to work my way back, to refill my depleted spiritual reservoir.
I have been rereading the Susan Howatch novels about Starbridge Cathedral. In the third of these, Charles is in a deep spiritual crisis and receives advice from a spiritual director:
He is encouraged not to pray extemporaneously, making up the prayers you pray at the moment. His director tells him:
âat present you want to be very careful that your prayers arenât merely a flurry of words which will mar the inner stillness you must cultivate in order not only to maintain your equilibrium but to receive the word from God which will undoubtedly come.â
I found this very helpful because when I tried to pray, I found myself unable to say anything but Christian cliches and platitudes. I had so little strength that I needed help to get going again. But what should replace the prayers I make up as I go? In Susan Howatchâs novel, Charlesâ spiritual director advised him to:
Try cutting down the ex tempore prayers to the essential intercessions and concentrate on one or two formal prayers which you can say very slowly, thinking hard on each phrase. The Collects are always helpful and no doubt you have your own favorites prayers which you can use … Then try to allocate at least an hour a day to your reading; when one reads one has to be very still and very quiet. Try to take an hour early in the morning when thereâs nothing to distract you.
This brought my mind to a book of Puritan prayers a friend gave me a year ago and which I have used for some of our services this year. There is a section that has a morning and evening prayer for each day of the week and as I have been reading them this week, I have been impressed by the way each of the prayers begin. Like Isaiah 40, the prayers begin with a picture of the grandeur of God. Let me give you some examples.
Monday morning:
O God all-sufficient,
Thou hast made and upholdest all things
by the word of thy power;
darkness is thy pavilion,
thou walkest on the wings of the wind;
all nations are nothing before thee;
Monday evening:
Thou hast made summer and winter,
day and night;
each of these revolutions serves our welfare
and is full of thy care and kindness.
Wednesday morning:
Thy greatness is unsearchable,
thy name most excellent,
thy glory above the heavens;
Ten thousand minister to thee,
Ten thousand times ten thousand stand before thee;
The truth is that I am unable to pray like this but when I pray these prayers written 200 or so years ago, I am lifted up to the presence of God and their prayers express for me what I am unable to express myself. I have begun to have a proper view of God.
I have begun my devotional time this week by praying and meditating on these prayers and then with the comfort of realizing the greatness and wonder of God, I read the Scriptures, listen to some Christian music (right now Graham Kendrick and Fernando Ortega), and pray for those who come to my mind.
I am working my way back. Please pray for me.
Maybe you are like me and in a state where you find it difficult to pray and do any more than skim through a couple chapters of the Bible. If you are in a spiritual muddle or if your spiritual reservoir is being drained and you are getting to empty, then listen to the hope that is for you.
God will speak to you. No matter how discouraged you are, God will speak to you.
In the Susan Howatch novel, the director assures Charles:
âKeep thinking and praying all through the day whenever you can and wherever you are – be on constant alert for that word from God which Iâm sure will eventually arrive.â
This is what happened to Elijah.
In I Kings 19 we read that Elijah came to the wilderness, walked for a day into the desert and then:
He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. âI have had enough, LORD,â he said. âTake my life; I am no better than my ancestors.â 5 Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep.
This is Elijah at the end of his rope. He had no hope. He wanted no more than that he die. He was not reliving the glory of his encounter on Mt. Carmel. He was drained, empty, used up, finished.
But now see what God did for Elijah. Elijah may have been finished but God was not finished with Elijah.
All at once an angel touched him and said, âGet up and eat.â 6 He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.
7 The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, âGet up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.â 8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night.
And the word of the LORD came to him: âWhat are you doing here, Elijah?â
God will take the initiative to sustain you because God is not finished with you. God will strengthen you and if you take the time to sit and be present with God, he will build you up and help you refill the reservoir.
Will you take the time to allow God to refill your spiritual reservoir?
Here is my challenge to you. For the next three months, set aside an hour a day. If that is too much for you, set aside a half hour a day – but not less than that. Set this time aside and spend it with God.
I know the objections. I talked with some people this week about this. If I were to talk with one of the parents at the Village of Hope and challenge them this way, I can imagine what they would say.
I have eight children under the age of five who wake up before I do. I have to help them get dressed, fed breakfast and send them off to school and then begin taking care of the ones who are not yet in school. After this there is all my other responsibility. There are people waiting to talk to me to make decisions about construction, personnel issues, work teams that need orientation and help with the project they are working on. I have to see the local officials about registration issues and on and on and on. I work non-stop all day and at night after the kids are in bed, I am so tired I can barely blink.
I have talked with others in ministry this week who are so busy that they do not know how they will make it through the day. I have felt this way myself most weeks of this year.
There are others with a job that has a fixed time. Teachers need to be at school at a fixed time and the day is full with activities and then there are all the afternoon errands and meetings and getting home to make supper and on and on and at the end of the night, who can sit and read and reflect and be present with God except perhaps in dreamland as they fall asleep in the chair.
I know the objections but I want you to think about this. Isnât it a principle in Scripture that God works when we depend on him and we accomplish with his help what we cannot do ourselves?
When Gideon gathered men for battle God told him there were too many. He kept reducing the number until Gideon had too few men and then led them into victory where it was clear God had brought them victory.
Can we adapt from this to say that God looks at our schedule and says we have too much time to do what we need to do that time? When we take time away from what needs to be done and use that to be with God, then God can help us accomplish what needs to be accomplished.
I am convinced that if I take an hour or two a day to sit and be present with God and listen and intercede, that I will find myself being more productive and more effective in what I am doing.
I could not find the exact quote, but Martin Luther said once that he was going to be so busy he would need to spend twice as much time in prayer that day.
Bill Hybels has written a book titled, Too Busy Not To Pray.
I tell you that you are too busy not to pray. Take the time to be present with God. There is a fear that if you take out that time urgent things will not get done. I think this is mostly a false fear that keeps us busy.
I believe that if we take the time to be present with God, we will become better at using our time wisely. We will be a more fertile field into which God can speak to us. We may hear him telling us to change our priorities. We may receive direction from him that will help us in difficult relationships.
I am very serious about this challenge. Talk to someone close to you and make the commitment to spend ½ hour or one hour or two hours a day being present with God for the next three months. If at the end of that time you have not seen the benefit of taking this time each day, then abandon the effort and consider it an ill-advised experiment foisted on you by your pastor.
I do not think you will regret it.
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II Corinthians 4
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
