Levi Lusko - Holding on When You Feel Like Giving Up
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Isaiah 40, the message today is holding on when you feel like giving up. Holding on when you feel like giving up. They say burnout is on the rise: 76% of American workers say they feel burnt out, higher in Millennials-86% of Millennials say they feel or experience the sense of being burned out. I feel listless, I don’t have energy, I don’t have drive, I don’t want to keep moving forward. I want to talk to you about the causes of and the cure for spiritual exhaustion, the causes of and the cure for spiritual exhaustion, coming from Isaiah 40. I can’t read this whole chapter to you, believe it or not; I’ve cut back on what we’re going to read from it just for the sake of time. But on your own, you can read the verses that I’m not going to be able to read today.
Let’s start in verse one, where it says, «Comfort, yes, comfort my people,» says your God. The voice said, «Cry out!» and he said, «What shall I cry? All flesh is as grass, and its loveliness like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the Lord blows upon it. Surely, the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him and his work before him. He will feed, look at this, his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those who are young.
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, measured heaven with the span, and calculated the dust of the Earth in a measure, weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as his counselor has taught him? With whom did he take counsel, and who instructed him? You think God’s going to ChatGPT for his questions? I don’t think so. Who can teach God the path of justice? Who can teach him knowledge? Who showed him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations to God are as a drop in a bucket and are counted as the small dust on the scales. Look, he lifts up the isles as a very little thing.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the Earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the Earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in? To whom then will you liken me, or to whom shall I be equal?» says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these things, who brings out their host by number; he calls them all by name, by the greatness of his might and the strength of his power. Not one is missing. So why do you say, O Jacob-don’t miss this; this is your part in the text-"Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, 'My way is hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed over by my God? '» Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the Earth neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might, he increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall; but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Can we thank God for his Word, the power, the truth, the light that comes from it? Thank you, Lord. Thank you, God. We ask for you to speak to us, give us a fresh word. God, I pray that you would give us strength through your Spirit as we continue in this season in the life of our church, understanding what it means to open our lives up to the influence of the Holy Spirit, welcoming your wind. Help us, God, to hold on, especially when we feel like giving up. We pray this, asking for you to draw people to yourself who are listening and don’t know you, asking for you to encourage, God, those who need courage, who are losing heart, asking for you to give boldness, asking for you to give us insight, to open our eyes to see glorious truths that are in your Word that can only be discerned by the power of your Spirit.
And we thank you for this moment. Thank you for what a power it is to sit and worship you, to sit and remember you’re King, to sit and declare that you’re God and by inference to realize and remember and appreciate the fact that we’re not. That responsibility is off our shoulders from holding it all together. We get to sit as your kids and enjoy time with you. We pray that this week we would live out of the revelation you give to us, and we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Have you ever bitten off more than your battery could chew? Have you ever spent more than your bank account could allow? Have you ever said yes to more than your calendar could handle? Have you ever used your phone more or depended on your phone more than it had the wherewithal to give you? It’s a frustrating thing to run on red. It is really frustrating to need to look to your tank to have within it what it doesn’t have anymore. Whatever the reason, it’s not really the point. The point is you’re in the situation you’re in.
Like we were in a hotel room; I didn’t realize that the light switch connected to the outlet. So every night, I’d plug my phone in and hear that little chime telling me my phone was charging. But then the last thing I’d do is walk out of the room, hit the light, and every morning I was so confused why my phone wasn’t charging. I was ready to buy a new cable, ready to get a new phone. The problem was a light switch. The problem was I wasn’t putting anything new in. So when I relied on it, it didn’t have anything. I was starting the day out with my phone on red. Already, I was behind the whole day.
It can be that way with a car. Have you ever been in that situation? It seems to always happen at the most inconvenient time, where you go to crank the engine and just nothing. Now this entire car is just this big barrier to the rest of your day going right. You’re like, «Oh, come on.» The battery doesn’t have anything. I remember the first time I got an e-bike. I was so excited; I’m like, «This is it, man!» The first time you ride an e-bike, it’s a smile factory. You’re just like, «Where has this been all my life?» People ask, «Why don’t you road bike as much as you used to?» I say, «Because I got an e-bike and I can get tacos on it!» None of this struggling up a hill anymore.
So for the past few years, with the present exception of this last year-and I’ll tell you more about that in a moment-it’s been mostly the e-bike. My first time I thought, «I’m going to commute; I’m going to ride to work on this thing.» I did the math, of course, to make sure I could handle it, the range was right to get there. What I didn’t factor in is we live in a state that in Spanish means mountains. I didn’t account for the hills. The range was fine, but not the climbing and the descending.
When you go up, you have to work harder, and this bike weighs 75 lbs and has one gear. Without any battery in it, you know what it is? Terrible. With ten miles to go from church, I am just huffing and puffing and pedaling. Why? Because I was running on red. The same thing can happen in our souls.
Now just context-wise, we are several hundred years from an event that is going to happen in the nation of Judah. Jacob, Israel, Judah-these are all different ways to describe different parts of God’s people throughout the Old Testament. The Jewish people were selected as this special people to be brought out from Egypt, to be brought out from all the other nations, to be uniquely given singular promises, special promises that involve Jesus Christ coming to this world. To this day, God still has special plans and promises for His people, the Jewish people. When Jesus returns, it will be to Israel. But throughout their existence, they would at times turn their back on God and drift from following God, not putting anything new in their spiritual batteries, and get depleted and make bad decisions. One of the things that God had promised them would happen would be captivity-they would be taken into captivity if they drifted from Him.
Isaiah is one of the prophets who was talking not only about the events that were going to happen hundreds of years before they did; the Jewish people in the tribes of Jacob wouldn’t be taken into captivity until 586. He’s ministering several hundred years before that, in the 700s. Yet he’s not only talking about events that are going to come to pass, but here’s a beautiful thing for you to just hang on to: he’s also going to tell them what they need to do about it when they get there. He’s telling them what they need to do about problems they wouldn’t even be in for hundreds of years. The Babylonian Empire that would take them into captivity doesn’t even really exist in its superpower state yet, and God is already speaking about Babylon’s fall as though it were certain and about God’s plan and promise to bring back the Jewish people to the promised land as he would.
That’s a rough overview of the book of Isaiah. He’s been described as the Paul the Apostle of the Old Testament because of the way he writes. Reading Isaiah is a bit like reading the book of Romans, in its majesty, beauty, and command of theology. In fact, Isaiah has been called the Bible in miniature. This is a fun little Easter egg; this isn’t going to be on the test for you. The Bible has, of course, 66 books: 39 books composing the Old Testament, 27 books composing the New. Similarly, the book of Isaiah has how many chapters? 66. The first 39, the focus is on condemnation and judgment coming as a result of turning away from God, turning from His plan, inviting in judgment, inviting discipline into the nation of Israel.
That’s what we see in the first 39 chapters of the book of Isaiah, much like the Old Testament is there to be the law-not so we can say, «Yay! I’m going to stand before God based on the deeds of the law,» as though our big standard was the Ten Commandments and all we have to do is just keep the Ten Commandments and we’re going to be good, because on Judgment Day, we’re going to stand before God, and as long as we’ve done more good than bad, we’re fine. If that’s how you think the Bible goes, you’re in for a huge reckoning because based on the keeping of the law, not one person will be justified; Scripture says so. The purpose of the Old Testament, the purpose of these first 39 books of the Old Testament and first 39 chapters of the book of Isaiah are not about us being able to flex before God because we’ve kept some list or code of commandments, but in fact, they are a mirror meant for us to see our true condition. That condition is, in a word, fallen. That all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Heaven is not a place you get into when you’ve done more good things than bad things; Heaven is a place you are kept out of if you have ever done a single bad thing, and that is a massive problem for every single one of us, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That’s the purpose of the law-that we would despair, that we would recoil in terror and go, «Oh my God, what’s to be done? There’s no way I can save myself; I am doomed; I am in a massive problem.» And then God, having you where he wants you, swoops in with the New Testament because the law came through Moses, but grace and truth through Jesus Christ.
What do we find? We find the 39 books of the Old Testament followed by the 27 books of the New Testament that are all about Jesus. The law gives us our need for Him, and then the New Testament supplies the answer to that need when we get Jesus Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God, come to die for the sins of the world. Since it was appointed for man to die for the sins, Jesus Christ was willing to die on our behalf-not only as though he were us, but also willingly taking that place as a substitute on the cross, experiencing drinking down the wrath of Almighty God in our place.
That’s why the second half, which we are in because 39 chapters in Isaiah line up to the Old Testament and 27 chapters starting with chapter 40, going to chapter 66, are all about the power and the wonder of what it means to have Jesus as our strength. To have Jesus as our source! As a little Easter egg, as a nod to the fact that in chapter 40, we are sort of in Isaiah’s New Testament section and not his Old Testament, what’s the first word out of his mouth in verse one? Look at it: «Comfort!» While the emphasis on the first part is condemnation and conviction, the emphasis in the second phase, this New Testament of his book, is comfort.
How does the New Testament of the Bible begin? John the Baptist, if you read chapter 40, you’ll see he begins with «Make straight the way of the Lord,» someone coming to set things up. How does the New Testament end? A new heaven and a new earth-read Isaiah chapter 66, all about God’s promise to usher in a new heaven and a new earth, that because of Jesus, all things will be made new. We have the promise of restoration again-not my sermon, just awesome. I want you to have your bearings on the historic part of the book of Isaiah where you are as we jump into Isaiah chapter 40.
The Jewish people aren’t even in captivity yet, but Isaiah is writing in particular this portion to be a time capsule for them to be able to break glass when they need comfort. The Holy Spirit knew in advance that there would come a day when they would feel like giving up, when they would need to be told, «Hold on, even though you feel like giving up.» For we know that when they did get to captivity, they were so smug, so confident they would never be taken. Why? Because of the temple. They had this sense that there was sort of a «free pass» because they lived in proximity to the temple.
It would be as foolish as someone thinking, «Because I live in an American cowboy-type lifestyle, I’m somehow good with God;» that I’m somehow «Faith, Flag, and Family» and that somehow proximity to the temple means I’m good, like it doesn’t matter how you live, doesn’t matter that you’re not living like Jesus is the Lord of your life, doesn’t matter that you truly do not have the fear of God in your heart, but just because I was born American and I like John Denver, that somehow that makes me okay with the man upstairs. That was the smug self-deception of the Jewish people: «The temple, the temple- we’ll never be in trouble.»
They were dragged in chains to Babylon, and they were so discouraged and defeated when they got there that they did the exact opposite thing that they should be doing in their consequences. They put down their worship instruments; the text says this in the Book of Psalms: «We hung up our harps and refused to sing the song of God in a strange land.» God, working through the prophet Isaiah, knew there would come a day when you would feel like giving up on worship, and you wake up hung over in this reality that you never wanted to be in in the first place. Just know that I’m still good, and I still want to hear from you. I still want you to sing to me; don’t hang up your harp- pick it up and worship more than ever before.
But he deals with the subject of weariness in particular in this chapter. The subject of weariness is one that is pertinent and germane to all of us because we go through seasons where we just feel exhausted, just exhausted. Do you feel that? Does that resonate with you? It’s just like, «Man, I am just tired to the bones.» The word «weariness,» which comes up twice in this text, speaks of, in Hebrew, exhaustion- not from any one thing, just from the difficulty of life and the reality of the daily grind. We can end up there, we can end up where our batteries are just depleted. Where’s the money gone? Just one transaction at a time. Where’s the bandwidth in your schedule? Where did it go? One appointment at a time. Eventually, you’re going here and there at miles an hour. You just look up one day and you’re like, «Wow, I am running in the red. I am here,» and that is the worst feeling. Because here’s the problem: you are meant to be a blessing to people all around the world. One of the first things we think needs to go and the first thing we stop thinking of in times of lacking margin is generosity.
Have you ever been on a road trip and you’re like, «Dang, I don’t know if we’re going to make it to this next gas station?» What do you do? You turn off the AC. You’d open the windows, but you know that would screw up your aerodynamics, so you’re just sweating with the windows closed and the AC off. I’ve been in it so bad. I’m like, «I want to listen to the radio.» I’m like, «Does that mess with the gas mileage? I don’t know, but we’re not messing around-be quiet. Does talking mess with the gas mileage? I don’t know, but we’re on fumes.» Everyone hold still; we need to just be thinking aerodynamic thoughts.
And the thought of giving something to someone else, helping someone else? «I can’t stop! I need to keep the momentum going; I need to keep the inertia going here.» Because you’re not going to be generous; you’re not going to be the blessing you are meant to be when you’re barely getting by yourself.
What do we mean when we say spiritually exhausted? What do we mean when we say running in the red? Here we go: we’re talking about being run down, edgy, and discouraged. Have you felt that before-running in the red? This is not where we want to be. When we’re here, we’re going to feel like giving up. We’re not going to be living the vitality that Christ wants us to experience. He said, «I came that you might have life and life to the full!» You know when it’s like, «Crank the AC, wind the windows down! Someone stop, we need someone to help. Someone needs to be pulled out of the ditch; someone needs to be encouraged and prayed for.»
Where we’re not living in that not enough, we’re living in that more than enough, that overflow that rivers of life are running out of our hearts, where we’re able to be in the moment. So what do we do when we’re in those situations when we’re feeling run down? What do we do? «What do I do, Levi, when I feel like, ah gosh, I just-I can barely hang on here?» I’m going to give you a matrix to process that feeling of burnout through. It’s going to be a four-fold matrix; you’re going to want to draw all these things down. You’re going to want to run your situation through this grid.
First of all, you have to interpret it correctly. So important: What conclusion do I come to? How do I interpret this feeling of being run down or running in the red? How do I interpret it correctly? The first thing I want you to do is come to this conclusion: It’s not a bad thing that you’re feeling the way you’re feeling. It said young men were going to fall. Earlier in the text, he said all flesh is as grass, and the grass has a life cycle to it. It gets cut down; it eventually gets brown and withers. Is it a bad thing that grass withers? No, that’s what happens to grass. Are we going to be super distraught and discouraged every time a wildflower falls? Oh my gosh, no! It’s what happens to it. And buddy, you’re grass; you’re a wildflower, and so you do not have all the power in the world. That’s the point of this passage-that he does.
He never has to ask for help; he never has to ask for directions; he never runs out of things, but you do. So interpret it correctly. This is hard for us because we would love to think that we are superhuman, but you’re not. This is why we make such bad decisions when we feel those feelings of burnout, when we feel spiritually depleted and spiritually exhausted. When we’re starting to feel that sense of being run down, we come to the conclusion that something has gone wrong. But let me just encourage you: If you’re spiritually depleted, it could just be that it’s because you did something right, not that you did something wrong.
After all, didn’t Paul the Apostle say, «I am poured out like a drink offering?» What do you feel like when you’ve been poured out? Like you have nothing else to give. You feel empty. Let me tell you, I feel poured out so often. I feel poured out in ministry efforts. I feel tired doing what God’s called me to do, and if things are going right, you’re going to feel that too. There’s a tension to it. You think about David. David grew faint fighting giants. David said, «My heart and my flesh cry out.» Paul the Apostle himself said in the first letter he wrote, in the second letter he wrote to the Corinthians, the first chapter, he said, «I want you to know Ephesus was hard.» Ephesus was so hard that we eventually despaired even of life itself.
It’s hard sometimes doing what God has called you to do. Should you come to the conclusion then that you need to change careers? «See you; it’s hard.» No, doing what God has called you to do is supposed to be hard-jot this down: picking up your cross was never meant to be easy. Jesus said, «Deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow me.» If you feel today like, «I don’t know, it’s so hard; I feel like I’m carrying a heavy cross,» then wonderful: you’re doing it right. If you feel poured out, if you feel like your flesh and heart cry out, if you feel discouraged even a little bit, Jeremiah got so discouraged following God that he said, «I don’t even know if I want to do this anymore; I just feel burnt out.» And then he said, «The Holy Spirit came upon him like fire inside of his bones,» and he grew weary of holding it back.
So don’t interpret it incorrectly when you feel the feelings of being run down. Don’t expect that the weariness is somehow a signal or a sign to you that you’re not in the place where God intends for you to be. You might say to welcome the wind; instead, we ought to welcome the weariness. Welcome the weariness, because the weariness is often a sign that we used the old strength that He gave to us, and it ran its course. That doesn’t mean that you did something wrong; that means you did something right. It just means now you need to get to new strength, and God has that for you. We’ll talk about that in a moment, but I also have to say in passing that God’s not going to give you new strength if you’re not using the last strength that he gave you. Some of you, the sermon isn’t, «You need to be encouraged.» Those of you who feel like letting go, some of you say, «Everything’s so easy all the time.» You need to actually get in the game a little bit and start putting yourself out there to serve others and start using the gifts that God gave you to the point that you will feel tired so that God can refill your tank, because the fuel goes bad in the tank if you just let it sit there. You get water in your carburetors; you’ll mess up the engine. Fuel that just sits there too long gets gummed up.
The Holy Spirit’s power in your life is not so you can show off; it’s so you can show up. It’s not so you can flex; it’s so you can bend and serve. It’s so that you can use that energy, use that power, feel exhausted, and come back to the Father so He can give you new power. For some of you, it’s gummed up the engine just to have this Holy Spirit power in your life, but you’re not doing anything with it. It’s like a bodybuilder; it’s like, «I have all these muscles, but what are they really doing?»
Secondly, analyze carefully. We’re giving you a matrix to process your feelings of being run down through. Analyze it carefully. What does that mean, Levi? I’m saying that we’re not going to jump to the conclusion that we did something wrong, and that’s why we’re feeling this way. It might just be that things are exactly as they were supposed to be, and we used that power. But we would be crazy if we didn’t pause to consider, «Is there anything I’m doing that’s making it more difficult or making me more prone to exhaustion than needs to be?»
I told you a moment ago, I mostly ride on an e-bike these days, but my son Lennox saw my road bike and said, «Dad, what’s that?» He was fascinated by it. He’s gotten all enamored with the idea of riding road bikes with me, and so we’ve been going out and hitting the bike trails. He’s all excited about it, and you know, it’s got me excited, of course, with his excitement for it. But we were mostly picking really flat rides; I wanted him to have proof of concept. You want to go to a stocked pond when you first take your kid fishing, you know what I’m saying? You want them to be catching and not just trying. That’s fun for a four-year-old; no, I wanted to have proof of concept here.
So it was mostly flat rides, but he was getting a little high in the saddle, big for his britches, so it was time for a little humility. He said, «I’m really good at it; I don’t know why you’re complaining about it and saying you wish you were on your e-bike, Dad.» I was like, «Alright, bud, time for you to have your difficulty raised from green to blue.» Here’s a photo of him right after he threw up, which is a rite of passage for a cyclist. You’re not a road biker if you haven’t had beer cans thrown at you, if you haven’t had someone trying to slap your butt out of a rusty pickup truck on an old country road, and if you haven’t vomited, you’re not even a cyclist!
So we’re going up this hill, and it wasn’t that bad; some of you are giving me those looks-call CPS, tell me to settle down. It was a moderate hill though, and he got a little wobbly looking a little white, and then he said the cutest thing: «Dad, is it legal to puke on public land?» I said, «I think it’s fine.» So man, he went for it. I was laughing so hard, and that was right when he punched me in the ribs. We were having a moment. Clover got the photo.
Anyhow, I was thinking about it: it was a good grind, but it really didn’t seem like it was all that hilly for him to be reacting like this. I went and examined his bike, and oh my gosh, he had engaged one of his brakes and shoved it over; the brake had been rubbing the whole way. I went to spin it; the tire went like half an inch, and I spun the other one; you know, it went forever.
Here’s the thing: how in your life do you have the brake engaged? Yes, the hill’s bad, but really, we don’t need to be like at the point of throwing up last year’s lunch! How are you making it more difficult for yourself than you need to? I’m not going to answer it for you because I’ve got my own list, right? We all have, of course, seasons and times in our life doing what God has called us to do, with the Spirit He’s called us to do it with at work and in our families, and in the various trials that we’re all going through. It’s going to feel like too much, but we have to also ask the hard question, «Am I making it more difficult?»
I’ve heard it put this way: how am I being complicit in my own suffering? How am I bringing in the wooden horses into my life? It could be through what you’re watching; it could be through toxic relationships and people in your life. It could just be the simple mechanical things of not getting the rest you need to get. You’re choosing other things to say yes to instead of sleeping and being at your best.
We do have to analyze carefully the ways that we are making, here we go, unwise choices. Part of this has to be an audit of our self- talk because after all, we speak to nobody more than we speak to ourselves. I came across a quote by the late Martin Lloyd-Jones, who said, «Most unhappiness comes from listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself.» Ooh, that’ll preach! When we listen to ourselves, we get that big old laundry list of all the things that are hard, all the things that are bad, and the «woe is me.» That’s what comes from listening to ourselves.
But we need to get better at doing what David knew to do when he said, «Come on my soul, don’t you get quiet on me! Hope in God! Trust in God! Come on, get that lion out of your lungs!» We have to get better at coaching ourselves and speaking to ourselves and not being critical, not being negative. So we’re going to analyze our lives. What goes into seasons of being perhaps less bright- eyed and bushy-tailed than we ought to be? It could be just as simple of a decision to say no to more things and say yes to the best things and give your best yeses out first! I’m not going to tell Jenny, «Sorry, you know, there’s no time for a date night this week.» I’m not going to tell the Lord, «Sorry, there’s no time for you.» I’m not going to say to my children, «There’s not time for me to be there to listen to you.»
So my best yeses are going to go first, and then if something’s going to get a no, it’s going to be Hulu, and it might be you, but it’s not going to be the best yes in my life! We have to spend our time just like we spend our money-with a budget-so let’s analyze carefully. And then here we go, let’s catch it early. Catch it early, meaning let’s catch the burnout when it’s a baby burnout and it hasn’t become full-fledged and eight feet tall and weighing 275 pounds. Let’s catch these things small. Scripture says catch the little foxes-that’s the book of Song of Solomon. The little foxes would come in and they would eat the tiny little buds before they ever got to really be grapes.
A lot of us never get to the fruit of the Holy Spirit because little things are getting in the way. So we have to catch these things early, before they become massive problems. Well, what would be some of the indicators or the symptoms that you have a spiritual exhaustion in fetal format in your life? I think verse 27 is profound. In verse 27, if you want to look back at it, he has the children of Israel saying, «My way is hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed over by him.» You have God here factiously and hypothetically-remember this is hundreds of years before they even ended up in this dilemma-he has them saying, «We’re here because God has not been good to us.» You see that?
«Why do you say in this hard situation, God doesn’t even see us? God’s not watching us, and God has passed over our claim?» Can you imagine how frustrated you would feel if you got to the DMV and you picked your number, and your number was 57, and they said 54, 55, 56, and then went to 59? Like, «Whoa, whoa, whoa! You passed over my just claim! I was here first!» That feeling of someone crowding in to cut in line is a real problem, right? There’s this mob justice that kicks in where you’re like banding up with people you’ve never even met. «Oh no, that’s not how it works around here!» Maybe in the Netherlands. But just that sense of, «No, no, no! That’s what he’s saying!» They’re going to feel: he’s saying that they’re going to feel like, «We’re in this situation, hanging our harps up on these willow trees in Babylon, far from where God wants us to be, ready to give up on being the people,» because Jew means praise.
You realize that for them to set their harp up, they’re failing to be what they were created to be. They’re not living out of their God -given identity, just like you and I aren’t when we give into the spiritual exhaustion and we give up on following. Maybe we don’t give up purely; we quietly quit. Maybe we’re still there in body, but we’re just going through the motions; we’re not giving our absolute effort; we’re not giving the true version of ourselves. Well, we can catch it early when we start seeing these things creeping up in our hearts. When you start to sense that trials have become maximized and God has become minimized.
When you start to notice as you look at text messages you’re sending and things that you’re saying that there’s a theme of «I’m feeling unappreciated,» I’m kind of noticing some self-pity — there’s a little bit of an underlying current of a victim mentality, and I’m seeking out those who are similarly sympathetic to that spirit, right? Because birds of a feather really do flock together. You will end up-you’ll see this on a team-you’ll end up like this person you have nothing in common with, but when you’re in a bad way, you’re just like, «Yeah, it is bad around here.»
I’ve always thought that; okay, good to see you, Bill! It’s like you never had patience for Bill. Bill always got on your nerves, but once you’re in that critical mode, you’ll start to like seek that out. It was the ten spies all saying, «We can’t go in; the Giants are too big.» They all were banded up together! Like attracts like; life attracts life. Look at it as a warning sign if you’re starting to gravitate towards a bitter person, a cynical person, a jaded person-a person who’s given over easily to gossip-basically, they were running on red because they hadn’t caught it in root form when they thought God had left them on red.
That God wasn’t reading their text messages with a mind to respond, with a mind to act. He had read them but not responded to them, and so He puts this in there as sort of, I think, as an early warning sign. Right? It’s not like you need an engine makeover; you just need the oil changed. But if we can catch it there, we can nip it in the bud and not see it grow to bigger proportions.
And then we need to replenish actively-to actively replenish! That is to say that we don’t wait until we are fully exhausted to rest and wait on God; we do so even when we don’t feel tired. This, I would say, in our organized marriage has become a strength for us that we don’t analyze the week and go, «How are we doing? Do we need a date night?» Right? No! By the time you need a date night, you’re not going to enjoy that date night. You know what I’m saying? By the time we need it, you’ve accumulated so many things and so much distance and so much to process.
So it is in our walks with God, right? Sometimes people make the mistake of saying, «I’m doing pretty good right now; I don’t need to necessarily pray.» I’m not feeling weak; I’m not feeling broken; I’m not feeling tired. No! By the time you feel thirsty, you’re already dehydrated. We drink proactively and preemptively whether we feel like it or not. Those who think they are strong need to say, «I’m actually weak because God humbles those who are prideful.»
So it’s in our place of strength-not just in our sense of perceived weakness-that we need to trust God, that we need to wait on the Lord. So don’t wait until it’s at this catastrophic level; be preemptively, proactively replenishing that tank. I’m so paranoid; I’ve had a couple of bad experiences with my phone dying on travel days. I had one time when I was bicycling-all my stories today are bicycle stories. I was in England and I was going to bike to another city to watch a stage of the Tour de France. The Tour de France was leaving; the first three stages were in England that year.
So my buddy got up at 4:00 in the morning, saved a spot. I cycled from York to Harriet, where the stage was, and met him there. I was so excited, but riding my bike the whole way there, I was having to navigate the path with my phone to give me directions how to get there. So I was like, «It’s going to probably be dead by the end of the day.» I brought an extra battery with me to get back home. I was so cocky; when I was there, I was taking pictures of everything, not conserving anything at all because I thought I had reserves.
So then, you know, the next king of England comes; Will and Kate, they land in a helicopter; they show up. I’m like, «Oh my gosh!» I’m filming them, trying to send this back to Jenny. This guy Mark Cavendish, who’s called «the missile,» the fastest sprinter in the world; he crashed right in front of me, and I’m just like filming his bone sticking out literally of his collarbone. I’m like, «Oh my gosh, this is the craziest day ever!» And my phone dies when I’m like, «I got a battery, another battery!» Guess what? The other battery was not charged.
Now I’m like trying to memorize verbal directions to get back to this other British city-twenty- something miles away-or forty kilometers, whatever those weird British people say! Kidding! Kidding! I’m just like, «Oh my gosh!» I had like 10% left on this phone, so I’m only opening up a screenshot of the directions in my photos and then looking at it and trying to navigate. He said there would be a herd of sheep on the left; I’m like, «Everything looks pastoral in Britain!»
You know what I’m saying? I made it-I made it to the city, but I just-I’ve had a couple of those kinds of experiences where I am topping off my phone. Like, I see power-wouldn’t even ask you; I’ll just start taking a little bit of your power, right? I get an Uber; there’s a cord; I’m like, «I’m just plugging that sucker in!» I’m just always topping off.
So it needs to be in your soul. Don’t wait until you’re at a place that you’re in a bad way to begin to replenish. Replenish, replenish, replenish because we don’t want to be run down; we don’t want to be edgy, and we don’t want to live discouraged. This is the kind of running on red that God wants us to do. Amen? Somebody!
We need to wait on God-to wait on the Lord! This really is part two of last week because last week I talked to you about what to do in seasons of waiting. This is not about what to do when God says wait, but how do we reverse it and wait on Him? How do we wait on the Lord? How do we take the feeling of «I’m tired, I’m having a hard time holding on here,» and continue to trust Him? Those are the three things-the three steps: remember, encounter, and depend.
Remember- that’s why he says multiple times, «Have you not known? Have you not heard?» What is he referencing? The whole Old Testament. «Have you not heard?» He’s literally saying, «God has nicknames for all the stars.» Don’t you love that? We give cute nicknames. These aren' t legal names; scientists have done that. The Jews don’t say it three times. He gives names for the stars; it’s pet names. It’s like we would say cutesy- poo — like you’d name a little cute dog, right? Like Wilderness Caviar, like an Ur for a bear. That’s how God names stars.
God leads them out by name: «Hey, Twinkly Butt!» You know? I’m like, «Get out here!» Don’t you see? So remember, a lot of times in those seasons of difficulty and discouragement, the trials have become so big because you’re staring at your trials, and whatever you stare at becomes bigger. Everything else gets blurry.
So, yes, your trial is going to start to look like this massive giant, and God is going to seem distant like a little grasshopper. «God, why don’t you ever answer me? I was number 57; why didn’t you say my number? It’s unfair; you’ve been so good to other people.» But when you stare at God, He comes into focus, and your trials start to look like grasshoppers. You see? So we remember. We remember: «Have you not known? Have you not heard?» Our lives are like grass; we are like wildflowers, but not Him- the Everlasting God-the maker of the ends of the Earth. He never faints; He never is weary. He never runs out of juice; He never runs out of wisdom. He never runs out of power.
Remember who we’re talking about here. Remember who we’re dealing with here. He is God in majesty, God in power. And what do we do when we encounter Him? When we encounter Him, we have the personal experience. Don’t you love the dual position of the majestic power of a God who measures the sand of the Earth in a scale and measures the universe with the span of His hand? And yet the tenderness of Him then saying, «I’m also a shepherd who grabs you in my arms.»
We were walking through Rome, and it was 100 degrees, and Lennox got a little touch of heat stroke. I don’t know; he started throwing up. Two times in one sermon, Lennox is puking because it was so hot. It was terrible. So we’re walking through the Vatican, and after like another three hours of art, he says, «Dad, could you hold me?» And I did! This is how I carried Lennox through most of the Vatican. I want you to think about your God wanting you in His arms. That’s how I wasn’t mad at Lennox. No, I wasn’t going to do this for anybody else. Anyone else who came to me could say, «Could I get a ride?» No! But he’s my son. The son has status, and your Father says in Jesus, «You’re my son; you’re my child; you’re welcome in my arms.»
So when we encounter Him, when we get on our knees before Him, when we seek His glory, His presence is a personal presence for you, to pull you into His arms like a shepherd gathers his flock to take care of them. He’s tender. Warren Wiersbe said, «The same God who numbers and names the stars can heal your broken heart.»
And then we depend on Him. We depend on Him! We wait on Him. We say, «God, I’m not relying on my strength; I’m relying on Your strength; I’m relying on Your power.» And what does He say could happen? Eagle wings! I was doing some research. It was amazing to look at the beauty of the eagle. They can see eight times better; they can grip ten times tighter. They can fly and soar up to 10,000 feet in the air. Why? Because they’re not big flappers! You don’t see an eagle. When you think of an eagle, you don’t think of effort; they soar!
They’re able to grab those currents and take them up to 10,000 feet. I mean, it’s amazing! They just ride the wind. They ride the wind like you’re meant to! God doesn’t intend for your spiritual journey to be one of exertion and flapping. That’ll tire you out. It’s like trying to ride with both your brakes on and super glue between the pads and your rim. God intends for you to ride the wind of the Holy Spirit, to mount up with wings, to soar like an eagle, and then He says, «You can run and not get weary.»
He builds towards this big crescendo and then He goes, «And then you’ll be able to walk!» My editor would have been like, «Levi, we need to assess the climax; let’s put eagle last, walk, run, soar!» But maybe Isaiah put it this way because there’s nothing more wonderful than walking with God! Yeah, there are going to be seasons in your life where you get to soar; may they be amazing! And man, there are going to be times when we’re going to get to run for God, but let’s never, ever for a moment lose the beauty and the power of getting to walk with Him. It’s what your soul craves most, and it’s what will supply the power to do whatever else He’s called you to do.
So, Father, we wait on You. You are worth waiting for; You are the treasure and the prize. Our eyes are on You, God! We love You. Show us Your glory, God! Show us not the God of our imagination, but the God that we paint in our pain, the God of creation, the God of redemption! Thank you, Jesus. If you’re here today and you would say, «Man, I’m having trouble holding on. I’m feeling like I’m hanging on by a thread here; I’m running on red here.» If you needed this message, would you say to God, «I want to wait on You, God! I need Your power; I need Your strength?» Raise up your hands; raise up your hands!
If you’re there, listening on Spotify, on YouTube, or Apple Podcast, God sees you-God sees you! God sees you needing Him; God sees you raising your arms to say, «I need to welcome that wind!» And part of that is shedding those old feathers, molting is what eagles do to put on the new. So we’re putting off the old; we’re putting on the new. We’re putting off our self-strength; we’re putting on God’s strength. We’re putting off our own self-control and willpower; we’re putting on God’s power. Thank you, God! Thank you for new feathers growing! Thank you for new strength, God, rising!
And most of all, God, thank you for the reminder of the necessity of walking with You. You can put your hands down, and I want to now invite anybody who is here and you’ve never trusted Jesus for salvation. You’re under the condemnation of the law, and you need to be brought into the comfort of the grace that’s brought by Jesus. If you’re stuck in that old cycle of «I’m trying not to, and I’m trying to be better; I’m trying to change some things,» Jesus invites you by speaking a new and better word into your life of forgiveness because of the cross and the resurrection. If that’s you I’m describing, and you would say, «I want to give my life to Jesus today; I want to be born again today,» in this moment, God will save you if you call on Him.
So say this with me, church; pray it with us: «Dear God, I know that I’m a sinner and I can’t fix myself, but I believe you can. So I ask you now to come into my life, make it your home; forgive me, and help me to walk with you!» In Jesus' name, amen.