He Will Not Grow Tired or Weary Isaiah 40:21–31; 1 Corinthians 9:16–27; Mark 1:29–39

Grace, mercy and peace to you, from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

We’re going to talk about how God will never grow tired or weary of helping us. This is based on our Old Testament reading from Isaiah 40: 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. 29 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.

If life is a race of sorts, a marathon, as the apostle Paul compares it to in 2 Timothy 4, I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race… if life,  since life, is a test of endurance, it stands to reason that we might grow weary, or become tired at times, exhausted even. 

The troubles of life, and the temptations of the world, can bring us down and wear us out, and leave us lagging behind.

There is that train we call time, that marches forward, moving steadily and constantly into the future, slowing down and waiting for no one.

The good news is that our God is ahead of time; He’s eternal so He lives in the future, just as He lives in the present and the past. 

He knows what waits for us, the troubles and the joys. He knows how He will bless us in all circumstances. He already knows it… He has it all planned out.

What are the things in life that we might grow weary of, or might wear us down? 

A job, a heartache, an injury or illness, conflict or discord, or just, after a number of years, life in general?

But as Isaiah reminds us, we can grow weary even when we’re young. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall, he says.

 

We can grow weary of something because we’re bored with it, or we might feel trapped by it, or stressed by it… it might require expending such a huge amount of emotional energy, that we find ourselves drained and exhausted... and that’s when we might be tempted to give up… or to give in.

The fallen angels and the devil, and the fallen, sinful world, and our own fallen, sinful nature, would try to wear us down with temptation after temptation, until we wave the white flag and give in to the love of sin, and fall out of faith and salvation.

But thanks be to God, His Son never gave up and never gave in; He didn’t surrender the mission He was sent to do; He didn’t wave the white flag, didn’t give in to the devil’s extreme temptations, as we’ll talk about in a couple weeks, on the First Sunday of Lent.

No one was ever been tempted so greatly as Jesus was; but He endured. He didn’t sound retreat, and head back to Heaven, to leave us alone, lost and condemned, with no hope of redemption.

In the series we were watching for Bible Study last Fall, Season 2 of “The Chosen”, in one episode it showed how completely exhausted Jesus was after hours and hours of healing and ministering to people.

While His ministry was extremely demanding, and must have been exhausting, physically and emotionally, yet spiritually, He never grew tired or weary of doing His Father’s will, because He is the Father’s true and only Son, very of very God, as we confessed earlier in the Nicene Creed.

Isaiah says, 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.

Although Jesus was intensely tempted by the devil, and by all the powers and influences of evil, yet He never failed to do His Father’s will; He never grew weary of being the holy and obedient Son of the His holy, Heavenly Father.

Because of loyalty to His Father, because of His love for his sisters and brothers, for us… and because of His divine and holy power, Jesus remained strong in faith and love to finish the task of winning our forgiveness, our everlasting salvation.

He fought the good fight, He finished the race, and He rose and received all the glory of His Father. Now He lives in the eternal splendor and divine majesty He so richly deserves, and that we will see and rejoice in on the blessed day of our arrival home. 

When Jesus, as a man, grew tired and weary on earth, He prayed… He spoke with His Father, and His Father responded, and the Holy Spirit uplifted, and assured, and sustained Jesus. 

There were times, like after His temptation in the desert, and after His prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane, when His Father sent angels to minister to and encourage Jesus, so He sends angels to keep and encourage us.

The angels reminded Jesus of the glory and joy that awaited Him, and that He was indeed doing what needed to be done for the world, what only He could do.

His endurance is our salvation; His steadfast love and perfect obedience are our redemption, and our example to follow, especially when we grow tired or weary in this fallen world of trouble and temptation.

Isaiah promises us that the Lord, 29 gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 

Whatever the situation or circumstance of your life, God has the power to bring you through. 

Our troubles don’t always go away, sometimes they persist, but neither does our Heavenly Father go away from His faithful children, nor Jesus, our Friend, nor the Holy Spirit, our Helper. 

Given the choice between having troubles and God with us, and having no troubles and God away from us, I’ll take the troubles every time… because God with me is greater than my troubles… and God away from me, in the end, is nothing but trouble, everlasting disaster.

With our faith and hope in Christ, though our mind and body grow weak, our spirit will soar.

Isaiah says, 31 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.

Never grow weary of God’s Word, and His Sacraments for you, and His presence in your life. With Him your life is on an upward projection, an upward journey.

And as our Lord has come alongside us, let us come alongside others, who might be worn down and weary, and offer to them words of encouragement, and deeds of kindness and love. 

There are wings that will lift them up, the love of Christ for them, and us, and the power of the Holy Spirit to come within, and give us hope again.

Let us end with these words of encouragement from the following chapter of Isaiah, Isaiah 41, verse 10:  

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 

And as He uplifts and upholds you, as on eagles’ wings, His peace, which passes understanding, will guard your heart and mind, in Christ Jesus, who is our strength, our hope, and our comfort in all things. Amen.