“Have You Not Heard?”
Psalm 147:1-11
Isaiah 40:21-31
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
God does not faint or grow weary;
God’s understanding is unsearchable;
God’s love is universal and never-ending.God gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless.
God gives hope to the despairing and encourages the fearful.
God gives comfort to the bereaved and accompanies the lonely.Even youths will faint and be weary;
Even determined and energetic young people
who are longing for their own sense of justice
and working by their own power
for their own vision of peace
will eventually give up,
demoralized and utterly exhausted.But those who wait for God,
the ones who know they need God,
the ones who rely on God,
the ones who work to discern God’s ways,
the ones who seek God’s justice and peace,
the ones who, like Jesus, look for the suffering and the oppressed,
the hungry and the unhoused, the lost and the left-behind
because they understand that is where God is, and
they want to be wherever God is and
wherever God’s love is most needed . . .Well!
God will renew their strength!
They will mount up with wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.
They will receive grace sufficient for the journey.
They will receive spiritual sustenance for the long haul.
They will find community and joy along the way.
They will be transformed and healed as they go.
They will know love everlasting.
Thus ends the 40th chapter of the Prophet Isaiah, and my additions to this text.
And because it is such a beautiful text, because it bears both promise and peril, before I say another word, I invite you to notice how it sits with you:
How do those words land for you this morning?
Is there a particular word or phrase that stands out for you?
How does that passage full of promises make you feel?
Before I go continue, I invite you to honor whatever feelings you are having.
Because we do not read or hear the word of God in a vacuum. We do not hear it as something that has no meaning. We take it in through our minds and hearts, yes, but also through the filters of our own identities, experiences, doubts, and beliefs.
And, yet, precisely because this text is so filled with hope and promise, and especially because life can be hard and our world is wracked by violence, destruction, and immeasurable suffering, we would do well to consider what these words really mean—as opposed, perhaps, to what we would like them to mean.
We would do well to distinguish between the promises of God and the promises of our culture. We would do well to distinguish between the sacred process of living with God and our culture’s focus on outcomes and results.
For far too many of us, the life of faith was framed as a transaction:
Be a good person, and God will reward you with good things. Most of us weren’t told that bad things can happen to good people.
And instead of being taught what it meant to follow Jesus, we were told that if we did all the right things and not too many of the wrong things, we would earn the equivalent of a “get out of hard knocks” card in this life and a holy hall pass to the afterlife.
And even though we know that’s not how it works, even though we know that we don’t have to earn God’s love and that everything we are and have is by God’s grace, even though we’ve developed more nuanced understandings of the spiritual life, we live in a transactional culture. We live in a world focused on—actually, obsessed with—results and outcomes.
So when we hear “but those who wait for God . . . ,” there’s something deep down within us that thinks, “Oh, okay. I just have to be patient. I just have to trust God. And then I’ll get what I’m waiting for. Then God will answer my prayers just the way I want. Then everything will be okay. It says so right there.”
But, oh, beloveds, it does not say that. And because I believe that what it actually says is much better than that, let me try to be clear:
This beloved reading from Isaiah does not say, “But those who wait for God will live happily ever after.”
It does not say anything about outcomes or results; rather, it speaks about who God is and what God’s will do with us and for us.
The text doesn’t say, “And the good guys will win.” It doesn’t say, “And those who wait for God shall have all their problems solved.” This passage doesn’t even say, as does so much of scripture—including the psalm we just heard—that the wicked will get their due and the mighty will be cast down, though it does make a stark contrast between the creative and redemptive powers of God and the insignificance of the earth’s human rulers.
What it does say is that God will always be with us. What it says is that Spirit will give us what we need to make it through.
Jesus is was pretty clear about the challenges of this life and the risks involved in following his way of engaged, empowering, justice-making, healing, uplifting, and unconditional love.
“In this world you will have trouble,” he said, adding, “But be not afraid. I am with you until the end of the age.”
Which is to say: No matter what happens, I will be with you through it all. I am with you even now.
The words of Isaiah are directed to exiles, a people who had long feared they had been abandoned and forgotten by God.
And who among us hasn’t felt that way at one time or another?
There may be some among us feeling that way right now.
Because of serious illness, significant struggles, and deep pain. Because of loss and grief. Because of so much evil in the world. Because we are so tired, and so tired of waiting for things to be better or different. Because we are tired of having our hopes dashed by some person, political party, elected official—or church. And so we are tempted to give up on God, if God is even there. We are ready to go our own way and do our own thing under our own power and smarts.
And to all of us, God speaks tenderly, saying:
Don’t you know? Haven’t you heard?
Just look around at this world I made: Isn’t it absolutely amazing? Doesn’t it just beat all? I made it, and I made you—in love and for love. I want the best for you, all humanity, and all creation.
That’s what I’m all about. And, no matter what, I will never give up on you. I will never leave you or forsake you. I will never withhold my blessing or power from you. My power to bless and transform never goes out. I will never give up on the plans I have for you and all creation. I will never get so tired of human sinfulness and rejection that I close my heart to you. Neither my love nor my capacity to heal and transform will ever wear out.
Even the youngest, fittest, and best among you will eventually get tired and be unable to go on without my help.
But those of you who realize you need me. Those of you willing to try to trust me. Those of you willing to wait for my love to bear fruit, those of you willing to partner with me in this love-and-healing business—well, you are in for an amazing ride.
You will know deep joy and a peace that makes no sense. By the working of my Spirit, you will see newness you could have never imagined. By the power of my love, you will experience belonging and healing, meaning and purpose and a divine power.
You will rise up on wings like eagles. You will run and not get tired. You will manage to walk all the way home, and not lose heart.
Because I—in the fullness of my body, in the good works of my hands and feet and hearts, and in the beauty and resilience of creation—I will be with you every step of the way.
Fear not.
