“Empowered By God”

Isaiah 40:21-31

“By the rivers of Babylon – we sat down there and wept when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung our harps… How could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” Those words from Psalm 137 are the lament of the Israelites exiled in Babylon. They remembered the glories of Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon. But Jerusalem had been sacked and the Temple lay in ruins.

But still they remembered – and grieved. They were a devastated, defeated, and deported people clinging to proud memories and swearing never to forget Jerusalem. And deep within them burned the fires of unrequited vengeance. They didn’t just want things to go back to the way they had been. They dreamed of revenge: “O daughter of Babylon, you devastator! Happy shall they be who pay you back what you have done to us! Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!”

Such feelings were probably prevalent early on, but as the years rolled by their anger turned into the hopelessness reflected in verse 27 of today’s text: “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God.” After almost sixty years their anger toward Babylon had turned into an underlying resentment toward the Lord. How could an all powerful God be too helpless to deliver them? So they believed, forgetting, of course, that it was their own disobedience, unrighteousness, and injustices that had landed them in exile.

Then God raised up a prophet who reminded them of God’s power and omnipotence, who reminded them in words similar to the ones the Lord spoke to Job just who was in charge of the universe. “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 grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.”

Have some faith. Have some trust. God put you here. God will take you home. Yes, you’re in exile. Yes, you are powerless as the world understands power. Yes, you are weak in terms of your abilities to bring about your own deliverance. But stop feeling sorry for yourselves. Let go of your angers and resentments. God is about to do a great thing not because he hates Babylon, but because he loves you. It’s not about getting even. It’s not about vengeance. It’s about deliverance.

So hear and believe this: “He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless… those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up on wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Have you not known! Have you not heard?” And later on, in chapter 43 the prophet told them to forget dreaming about the good old days, for the Lord was saying, “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it?”

Mark’s Gospel tells us of how Jesus healed Peter’s mother. Hear verse 31 of today’s Gospel reading: “He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.” Let’s focus on the words “and she began to serve them.” What does that mean? It means that she got up from her sickbed and immediately began fixing supper.

And that’s important, why? In his commentary on today’s Gospel lesson Johnnie C. Godwin wrote, “The fever left Peter’s mother and she began to serve Jesus and his disciples (probably by preparing dinner). Her service was a sign of a complete cure. When a fever leaves a sick person, the person usually remains weak from the fever. But when Jesus healed the hurting, he completely healed them.”

God doesn’t do things half-way. When Jesus healed somebody they were healed. When the Lord got ready to deliver the children of Israel from their Babylonian exile he delivered them. He kept his promise. He gave his people the strength and power they needed. He lifted them up out of captivity. It was as if they really had been lifted up on the wings of eagles. Peter’s mother jumped out of bed and started cooking. How? The Lord gives power to the faint. Those who wait on the Lord, those who trust him, shall renew their strength. Jesus saves. The Lord delivers.

Sometimes we forget that. Sometimes we look out at our world, or ponder our nation’s economic condition, or reflect on the modern church’s loss of power and standing in our culture. And then we sink down into a feeling much like that of Israel in exile. How can we sing the good old songs? The good old days are over. And so we mutter to ourselves those words from today’s text, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God.”

On a personal level I’ve found myself muttering those words a lot lately. Not about my ministry at Grace. You guys are a bright light shining through the darkness of our denomination’s falling membership and failing optimism. I mutter those words in terms of the state of ordained ministry in this day and time. Pastors used to be respected in our culture. The Presbyterian Church used to speak and the culture listened. I came out of seminary with the assumption that thus it would be with my ministry. That’s what I signed on for.

That’s not what I got. In terms of our standing in culture, we Presbyterian pastors might as well be in exile. It’s not so much that the culture doesn’t listen to us as it is that the culture doesn’t even know we exist. And when they do listen it’s as if we’re speaking a foreign language. The biblical, theological, and liturgical language we were taught to speak is mostly unknown in our culture.

How do I feel about all that? Discouraged. Believing some days that retirement cannot come quickly enough, while at the same time feeling betrayed by the very system I have answered a call to serve. Sad. Depressed. Longing for the good old days. Wishing things were different. In essence feeling sorry for myself.

And yet I hang in there. Why? You guys have a lot to do with that. I find myself renewed here. I receive strength for the journey here. But what about the Presbyterian Church (USA)? Not so good. Still I’m a company man, so to speak. The church may leave me. I will not leave it. Sometimes I think of myself in terms of Jeremiah; buying a piece of land just before Jerusalem fell, investing in a future that might never exist, knowing that the supposedly good old days were never coming back.

That, my friends is an act of either stubbornness or faith, or maybe just a stubborn faith. Have I not known? Have I not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He is about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do I not perceive it? Well, to be honest, some days I don’t.

But the Lord, you see, is always about re-creation and redemption. He’s not bringing back the good old days, so I might as well resign myself to the Lord’s advice: Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. Don’t look back. Look forward.

But to what am I looking forward? I really don’t know. All I know is that underneath my discouragement, depression, and self-pity I really do believe that the future is in God’s hands. I take seriously the words of Jesus, who has promised us that his church will withstand even the gates of hell. I believe the words of Paul about the fact that, if God is for us, no one can be against us. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. I’m not denying reality. I’m trying to look beyond it.

Just like forty other people from around the United States I have come back from last week’s Transformation Summit in Louisville with hope for the renewal of Christ’s Church, especially that chunk of it we call the PC(USA). The summit itself was metaphor for what might happen. Confined to a hotel, surrounded by the after affects of a horrendous ice storm, not sure that we were even going to be able to get out of that place, I found shelter not only from nature’s storm, but also from the storm of discouragement brewing in my heart.

As we studied together, prayed together, fellowshipped together, and sought together the wisdom of God’s Word, we were transformed into a community of hope and action. We covenanted to pray for one another and the transformation of our denomination. We agreed to form networks of like-minded people around the church. We are not naïve. The only promise we have is that of God to redeem his people.

We have no idea the shape this redemption will take. Will there be a Presbyterian Church (USA) in twenty years? Maybe. Will it be different? Definitely, else it will be dead. But that’s not the point. The point is trusting God to do what God does, trusting God to keep his Word, trusting the Lord Jesus to triumph against all that is ugly and evil; including our own lack of faith.

Have we not known? Have we not heard? Yes we have. Jesus heals people and they jump out bed and cook supper. The Lord gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless. Those who trust in the Lord shall mount up on wings like eagles. God is moving, to where I don’t know. I just know that I’m committed to the journey and hope you’ll join me on it. Amen.