Trinity Sunday: 22nd May 2005
Introduction
As a Reader I could guarantee being asked to preach on two Sundays of the year, the Sunday after Christmas and Easter. Probably number three would have been this Sunday i.e. Trinity Sunday – after all who understands the Trinity? I was tempted to invite a guest preacher for today but having had two in a row for the last 2 weeks I thought better of it. In the event I discovered that one of the set readings for today is one of my all time favourite passages of Scripture – Isaiah 40.
Are you feeling weary and worn out? Are you one of the many people who goes to their doctor complaining of TATT – being tired all the time? Sometimes we are tired and worn out because of the energetic pursuit of that ever elusive good life. At other times we are overwhelmed by the cares and anxieties of this world. This was the case for the people Isaiah was addressing. They had been in exile for years – maybe nearly 70 years – Jerusalem had been captured, the Temple was in ruins and it felt as if God had abandoned them. No wonder they were faint and weary.
What do you do under those circumstances, when you are worn out? Do you fix yourself a pick-me-up? Snack a Mars bar? Have a “power nap”? Isaiah offers a very different remedy: “Those who wait on the Lord will find new strength”. They will soar on eagle’s wings, they will run and not grow weary, walk and not faint. An obvious 3 pointer.
Note the order, the opposite to what one might picture: a man with a hang glider first of all walking, testing out his “wings”, then picking up speed and running before launching off the cliff. Scripture starts with soaring, what do we understand by that? The Celtic saw this as seeing with God’s eyes, getting his perspective. The Israelites had forgotten who God was “Don’t you know that the Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of all the earth”. Are you feeling worn out and weary? Weighed down by trials and tribulations? Does it feel as if God has abandoned you? Time to remind yourself of the “God-ness” of God.This leads on to the second aspect of soaring – how do we most readily remind ourselves of the true nature of God? – through worship. Week by week we urge and encourage one another “Lift up your hearts, we lift them to the Lord”. I cannot begin to count the number of times my own world-weariness has been remedied through worship as I lift my heart and voice in praise to God.
My younger brother reckons it was this verse which sustained him when he ran the London marathon. How good it would be to run an not get tired. Obviously Isaiah is not talking about physical running here, so what is he talking about? Maybe he is thinking of running in God’s commandments that David refers to in Psalm 119.
Or perhaps he has in mind the race referred to in Hebrews 12 or Philippians – having the goal of a life in Christ. Often when we are tired and weary it is because we have lost sight of our primary purpose in life – the goal of becoming more like Jesus.
Having started with soaring and moved to running we now come down to earth with day-to-day walking. How do we sustain our daily walk with God. It is often in the most ordinary events of daily living that we find it hardest to sustain our walk with God. To hear His voice saying “this is the way, walk in it” Isaih 30:21
It is God himself who gives power to those who are tired and worn out, He offers strength to the weak. All of us, young and old alike, will grow weary and faint. If we wish to renew our strength then we must learn to wait on the Lord.