 The story is told of a policeman in Chicago. He was a Christian, but he was going through a real difficult time, a time of great trial and trouble and adversity. He happened to be on duty one cold winter night there in Chicago, and he was called to the scene of a downed power line. He was to secure the scene, and so when he arrived, that is what he did. But once he had secured the scene, he just stood there in awe and amazement at what he was seeing. There was a downed power line that had draped itself across the branches of an icy tree, so much ice, ice all over the tree. And he just stood there looking as 10,000 volts of electricity were pulsing through the line, and that line was shooting out sparks. It was crackling and popping, and all of the sparks were flying out in the icicles of that tree. And as the lights of the sparks went out, it was passing through those icicles, and he was sending out a rainbow of colors. It was like the tree was alive with color and brilliance, and he stood there astounded at what he was looking at. He had never seen anything so powerful. He had never seen anything so incredible. He had never seen anything so beautiful as what he was looking at. But in that moment, the Lord whispered to his heart, and God asked him. He said, am I not more powerful than what you're looking at? Am I not more incredible than what you're looking at? Am I not more beautiful than what you're looking at? He asked him, am I not more powerful than anything you can imagine? Am I not more incredible than anything you can imagine? Am I not more beautiful than anything you can imagine? And will I not help you with all of the troubles and all of the trials and all of the difficulties you are facing? And that man said in that moment, a peace just came over his mind and a calm just came over his heart and all of his cares and all of his worries and all of his concerns, they just began to fade and to vanish away. You see, in that moment, that man had been comforted by God's awesome greatness. And what that electrified tree was to that man, Isaiah chapter 40 is to you and to me and to God's people. For when you look in this chapter, you will see how powerful God is, how incredible God is, how beautiful God is, and your cares and your concerns and your worries in light of who he is and what he can do will vanish away. As you read Isaiah chapter 40 over and over and over, you will discover, as many of God's people have, that there are two key verses, verse one and verse nine. Before we study through this great chapter, let's look at these two key verses so you can see what the whole of the chapter is all about. Verse one, comfort, yes, comfort my people says your God. Comfort, comfort, comfort, comfort. That's important in the Hebrew language in which Isaiah was writing. When you wanted to emphasize something, you would repeat it. If you wanted to say something was very good, you would say it's good, good. If you wanted to say something was very red, you would say that's red, red. If you wanted to say that someone was very strong, you would say they are strong, strong. If you wanted to say that someone was very wise, you would say wise, wise. And when God wants his people to be comforted, he tells his prophet, say to them, comfort, comfort. Now it's good when you comfort me, and it's good when I comfort you, but the ultimate comfort isn't in another person. The ultimate comfort comes from God because the Bible says that our God is the God of all comfort. And that's why the second key verse in this chapter is verse nine. Notice what it says. O Zion, that's a description of God's people, where they are, O Zion, you who bring good tidings, that's us, get up to the high mountain. O Jerusalem, that's another description of God's people, that's where they live, the city in which they live. O Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength, lift it up and be not afraid. Get to the highest place you can and say as loud as you can. What? Well, say to the cities of Judah, say to the people of God. What? Underline it, circle it, put a star by it. Behold your God. If you want to be comforted in your trouble and your trial and your difficulty, then what you need to do is lift your eyes from above what you're going through and behold your God. Look to your God. Marvel at your God. Stand in amazement at your God. Be astounded at your God. And when you do all those things you are going through, you will see how small and insignificant they are and all of your cares and all of your concerns will just vanish and fade away. There is no chapter in the Bible that so magnifies God, that so exalts God, that so glorifies God. And as you read this chapter over and over again, you will discover, like God's people have, that there are seven things about God in this chapter that show His awesome greatness. If you happen to have a piece of paper and a pen, I would highly encourage you to write these seven things down. In fact, they're so important you could write in your Bible if you want, because then you can go back to them again and again and again. And then you can take the things you've learned today and you can share it with others. Seven things about the comfort that comes from God's awesome greatness. In Isaiah chapter 40, the first thing that we see about God, write it down, is that our God is a pardoning redeemer, a pardoning redeemer. That's what you see in verse one to five. Look there at what the Bible says. Verse one, comfort. Yes, comfort. My people, says your God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned. For she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Comfort my people. What comfort comes to the people of God? Well, the comfort in knowing the warfare has ended and the iniquity is pardoned. Now God is not speaking here of an earthly warfare. The people of God in Isaiah's day would continue to face political enemies and earthly enemies. This is talking about the warfare between sinners and God. Because we have broken God's law, it makes us God's enemy. It makes us at enmity with him, at war with him. But here's the comfort, the great comfort of the ages that the warfare can be over when the iniquity is pardoned. But you see, God cannot pardon iniquity just because he's feeling good or God's having a good day. So I guess I'll just ignore that sin. Listen, no, sin can only be pardoned when a payment for the sin is made. And that's why this important phrase, everyone look at it in verse two, she has received from the Lord double for all her sins. You say, Pastor Deliria, I don't know if I like that phrase. It sounds like God is being unfair. That because she had sinned, she deserved to pay this much, but God's gonna make her pay twice as much. That is not what this phrase is meaning. What this is saying is something so incredible, something so profound that when I tell you what it means, it will always stick in your mind. The word that's translated double here, kephel in Hebrew means a folding. A folding. It's like taking a piece of parchment and you fold it in half. And it became a picture of the perfect payment of a debt. Because on one half, you had the debt that was owed. On the other half, you had the payment that was made. So that when you folded it in half, the debt that was paid was fully paid by the payment that was made. So it was paid in full. There was a folding of the debt. And God says to his people, be comforted because I'm giving you a folding for your debt. Now the people in Isaiah's day, they knew exactly. They knew exactly what Isaiah was prophesying about. Because in their mind, there was a picture. You see what would happen in those days if a person owed a great debt. They got themselves into financial trouble and there's no way they could pay that debt. Their creditors would take them to the gates of the city where the judges were and the judges would write out a list of all of the debts they paid on a piece of parchment and everybody they owed and then they would nail that parchment to the gate of the city so that anyone who walked by would see that person owes all of that. It was so shaming, so dishonoring to that person. And so it is with your sin and my sin. Listen, it's laid wide and open. But then, but then in those days if there was a gracious and loving redeemer who wanted to see that shamed person released from their guilt and released from their debt, they would go to the gate of the city. They would pay in full the debt of that person. They would take that piece of parchment. They would fold it in half and glue it. They would write the name of the person on the outside and say, paid in full and nail it back to the gate. And that is what has happened for you and me in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He perfectly paid that debt. Oh, I like the song we used to sing. I like the song we used to sing. He paid a debt. He did not owe. I owed a debt. I could not pay. I needed someone to wash my sins away. But now I sing a brand new song. Amazing grace. Christ Jesus paid the debt that I could never pay. You say, when's that folding going to happen? When's that doubling going to happen? Glad you asked because let's read on. Verse 3, here's when it's going to happen. And crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh will see it together for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. When's the folding going to happen? When's the perfect payment for the sin debt going to happen? It's going to happen when there's this voice crying in the wilderness. Now, if you read the Bible, you discover that in Matthew, in Mark, in Luke and in John, all of those Gospels quote this passage from Isaiah chapter 40 and say that it refers to John the Baptist. He was the forerunner. He was the herald of the king that was going to prepare the hearts of the people for the arrival of the king who was going to make the payment. And that's why in verse 5, the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all flesh will see it together. Remember John 1.14, the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. The glory as of the only begotten of the Father. Oh, our God is a pardoning redeemer because he was going to send our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to make the full payment for our debt. In the Lawsians chapter 2 and verse 14, it says that God has removed the handwriting against us. Jesus has done in having nailed it to his cross. In John 19 and verse 30, remember when Jesus was hanging on that cross, he said, it is finished. One word in Greek, the word, tetelestai, tetelestai, literally means the debt is paid in the New Testament times when there was a person who was indebted. At the end of the bill, when the bill was already paid, they would write there, tetelestai. What the folding was in the Old Testament, tetelestai was in the New Testament and Jesus said, it's been folded. It's been fully paid. I like the words of the old hymn, it is well with my soul. I especially like the verse that says, my sin, hold the joy of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Oh my soul, how many would praise God this morning that our God is a pardoning redeemer. But how do you know he's going to pardon? Well, I like how verse 5 ends. Praise the Lord. The mouth of the Lord has spoken it. That leads us to a second thing we see about God in this chapter. He is not only a pardoning redeemer. Listen, write it down. He's an ever-living truth teller. An ever-living truth teller. That's what you see in verse 6 through 8. Notice verse 6, the voice said, cry out and he said, what shall I cry? Now this, all flesh is like grass and its loveliness is 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 the Lord endures. Oh, that's so good. I have to just read it again. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of the Lord endures forever. In other words, our God is an ever-living truth teller. The grass, the flowers. What's he talking about? Well, you know what he's talking about because you live in Southern California. About a week or so ago, my wife and I went hiking out in the Chino Hills State Park and we're hiking along on one of the trails there and it's beautiful. I mean, the grass is green. It's been raining so much. And there's some poppies out there. Grass and flowers just wait until July. The grass will die and the flowers will fade. And what it's saying is that men are like grass and the words of men are like the flowers of the grass. Men come and go. Their words come and go, but not so with the word of God. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God endures forever. I like how David said it in Psalm 119 verse 160. He says, The entirety of thy word is truth and every one of your righteous judgments endures forever. Listen, this book is no ordinary book. The words of men come and go, but the word of God endures forever and it always tells us the truth. The whole truth and nothing but the truth makes me think of the true story of the well-known 18th century French philosopher and outspoken atheist named Voltaire. Voltaire hated Christianity. He hated the Bible. He went on record as saying he took centuries to build up Christianity, but I'll show you how just one Frenchman, me, can destroy all of that in 50 years. In other words, give me 50 years. There'll be no Christianity. Give me 50 years. There'll be no Bible. Well, what happened? I'll tell you what happened. Voltaire died in 1787 and 20 years after his death. So awesome. The Geneva Bible Society purchased Voltaire's house and used it as a location for printing Bibles. See the grass withers. And the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. John Lee in a great book about the Bible called The Greatest Book in the World said, unbelievers with all of their assaults on the Bible make about as much of an impression as a man with a toy hammer would on the pyramids of Egypt. I like that. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. H.L. Hastings once wrote, the Bible is a mighty anvil and it has worn out many hammers. The hammers of the unbelievers have been pecking away at this book for ages. The hammers are all worn out, but the anvil still stands strong. If this book, the Bible, were not the book of God, men would have destroyed it long ago. The emperors and popes, kings and priests, princes and rulers have all tried their hand at it. The end, they die, but the book of God lives on. The poet wrote, century follows century, there the Bible stands. Empires rise and fall, but there the Bible stands. Kings are crowned and uncrowned, but there the Bible stands. Emperors decree its extermination, but there the Bible stands. The flames are lit about it, but there the Bible stands. Atheists rail against it, but there the Bible stands. Unbelievers predict its abandonment, but there the Bible stands. Listen, Jesus was right when he said, heaven and earth will pass away, but my word will never pass away. Listen, we should give praise to God because our God is an ever-living truth-teller. Amen? But our God is not only a pardoning redeemer and an ever-living truth-teller. He is a loving shepherd. And that's what we see in verse 9 to 11, verse 9. O Zion, you who bring good tidings, get up to the high mountain. O Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice of strength, lift it up and be not afraid. Praise of Judah, behold your God. Behold the Lord God shall come. He shall come with a strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him. This is speaking, is it not, of the Second Coming of Christ, who will come again with his reward to rule and to reign. That's what he's going to come and do. But what is he doing right now? Well, verse 11. He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs with his arm. He will carry them in his bosom and gently lead those who are young, any shepherd who would read that phrase and notice immediately something unusual. Because shepherds in that day, they would pick up one of the sheep, they would pick up one of the lambs, and they would carry them on their shoulders. But you'll notice there in verse 11, he carries them in his bosom. He takes that lamb, he takes that sheep and brings it right in close to his heart. Dear one, I don't know what you're going through today. I don't know what's happening in your life. All I know is that we have a loving shepherd and he loves you so much that as you come to him today, he will draw you in. He's going to put you on his shoulders. He's going to draw you in and bring you right close to his heart. And who is this loving shepherd? No question at all. It is Jesus. You remember John 10 and verse 11, Jesus is called the good shepherd. In Hebrews 13 and verse 20, he's called the great shepherd. In 1 Peter 5 and verse 4, he's called the chief shepherd. He's the good shepherd. He's the great shepherd. He's the chief shepherd. So Psalm 23, listen, it's for you and it's for me because the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. And yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because the good, the great, the chief shepherd is with me. Oh Lord, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You know my head with oil. My cup runs over. Surely. Surely. Definitely. You can count on it. You can utterly depend on this. That God's goodness and His mercy, it will follow me like a shepherd following a sheep. It will follow me today and tomorrow and the next day. It will follow me all the days of my life till I breathe my last. And then I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. How many here today glad that we have a loving shepherd who should give praise that our shepherd is a good shepherd. But our God is not only a pardoning redeemer. An ever living truth teller. A loving shepherd. He's an all-knowing counselor. He's an all-knowing counselor. Verse 12 to 14, verse 12. Who has measured the waters into hallowed with His hand? Who has measured the heaven with His span? Who has calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Who has weighed the mountains and the scales and the hills in a balance, the waters, the heaven, the dust, the mountains? What's He talking about here? It's talking about what God knows. Who has measured the waters and the hallowed with His hand? The waters refers to the ocean. Question. How many gallons of water in the ocean? Yesterday my wife and I went down to walk on the beach and I'm looking out at the Pacific. And I'm thinking to myself, wow, I wonder how many gallons of water are out there? And then 70% of the planet is ocean. How many gallons of water are there in the ocean? Answer. I don't know. But God knows. He knows. I have a word for that. Wow. And the heaven with His span? Heaven. That's talking about the universe. How far is it from one end of the universe to the other end of the universe? God's span is the thumb to the little finger. It's that easy for Him to measure it. How far is the universe? How wide is the universe? I don't know. But God knows. I have a word for that. Wow. He knows. He measures the dust. When you're cooking, you take out one of those little measuring cups and you scoop it in the flour and you know how much flour you have. How much dust is there on the earth? I don't know. But God knows. I have a word for that. Wow. Wow. He put the mountains and the hills in a balance. How much does Baldy wait? Don't know. How much does Shasta wait? Don't know. How much does Mount Hood and Mount Rainier and Mount McKinley and Mount Everest you put all those together? How much do they weigh? I don't know. But God knows. I have a word for that. Wow. He knows how much water is in the ocean. He knows how wide the universe is. He knows how much dust there is on the earth. He knows how much the mountains weigh. Why? Because He knows all things. That's why Isaiah goes on in verse 13. God says, Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord? Or has His counselor taught Him? God's asking you a question. And the answer to the question is no one. So write it in your Bible. No one. Who's God's counselor? Nobody. He goes on. With whom? Verse 14. Did He take counsel and who instructed Him and taught Him in the path of justice? Answer it again. No one. No one. And who taught Him knowledge and showed Him the way of understanding? Answer it again. No one. No one. No one. Why? Because our God is an all-knowing counselor. That's why we don't go to men for our answers. We go to God for our answers. His Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not in your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him. And He will direct your path. Listen, if you need guidance today, if you need counsel today, the Lord has the answer to the circumstance and situation you're in. How many glad today that our God is an all-knowing counselor. He is. We should praise Him. But then, number 5, write it down. He's an incomparable ruler. He's an incomparable ruler. That's what we see in verse 15 to 24. Quickly, verse 15, Behold the nations or as a drop in the bucket. And our count is as small dust on the scales. Look, He lifts up the islands whether it's Hawaii or Australia or Antarctica. It's a very little thing to Him. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor it's be sufficient as a burnt offering. What's He talking about? Well, they used to make offerings as a worship to the Lord. They would take an animal. They would put it on the wood. They would burn it up as a burnt offering to the Lord. And they got a lot of their wood from Lebanon, the cedars of Lebanon. And He's saying, listen, if I took all the wood there was and all the animals, it's not a worthy offering. To this great, God reminds me of the line of the great hymn, when I surveyed the wondrous cross, the hymn writer said, were the whole realm of nature mine? That were an offering far too small. Love's so amazing, so divine. Demands my soul, my life, my also. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor it's be sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before Him are as nothing. And they're counted by Him less than nothing. And worthless. Now, nothing's nothing. Less than nothing. And worthless? Pretty small. Verse 18, to whom will you liken God? Answer again, no one. Or what likeness will you compare to Him? Answer nothing. There's no one like God. There's nothing like God. That's why God then mocks those who are idolaters. You have such a great God. How can you make an idol? Verse 19, the workman molds an image. The goldsmith overspreads it with gold and the silversmith casts it with silver chains. Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution, he chooses a tree that will not rot. I mean, if you're going to have a God, at least you don't want to have a rotten God, right? He seeks for himself a skillful workman. Man, if you're going to have an idol, I mean, it better be good looking. You don't want a shabby God, right? He prepares a carved image that will not tarnish. You don't want your God falling over, right? God is mocking the folly of idolatry. Verse 21, have you not known? Have you not heard? As we say in our day, hello? Are you kidding me? How ridiculous could you be? Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not or stood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth in his inhabitants or like grasshoppers who stretches out heaven like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He brings the princes, that's political rulers, to nothing. He makes the judges, that's the judicial leaders. He makes the judges of the earth useless. In other words, compared to God, the greatest earthly king or prince or judge is just nothing at all. Why? Verse 23, he brings the princes to nothing. He makes the judges of the earth useless because verse 24 says, scarcely shall they be planted. Scarcely shall they be sown. Scarcely shall their stalk take root in the earth when he will also blow on them and they will wither. And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble. They're here, listen, earthly leaders are here. And then they are gone, but not so with our sovereign Lord. He is watching over all the events that are happening in human history and he's watching over all the events that are happening in your life. And in my life, oh, what comfort, oh, what comfort we can take for that. The story is told about how there was a cruise ship. It was out in the middle of the ocean and all of a sudden, it was overtaken by a terrible storm. I mean, the waves were huge. The clouds were black. It was raining and pouring and the ship was being tossed to and fro. So the captain ordered that all of the passengers, they be gathered together in the main banquet hall so they could account for everyone and that no one would go overboard or be lost. And as they all gathered there in that room, I mean, you could just cut the worry with a knife. I mean, it was so, all the care and concern people had. And there was one adult, she happened to notice that there was a little girl that was sitting on the floor and she was just playing with her toys, with her dollies and all of her little toys there. And she didn't seem to have a care or concern in the world. The adult looked at this little girl and she said, excuse me, honey. She said, I noticed that you're not all afraid of this terrible storm. You're not all worried about this terrible storm. How come the little girl looked up at her and smelt? She said, oh, she said, my daddy's the captain of the ship and we're going to be just fine, she said. Dear ones, I'm here to tell you that our Heavenly Father is the captain of the ship. Listen, he is an incomparable ruler and we're going to be just fine. Listen, we should give praise to God today that he's the sovereign king of the universe, that he's watching over the world and he's watching over your life. He's watching over my life. But then, then write it down a sixth thing. He's a powerful, a powerful creator. This is what we see in verse 25 and 26. God says, to whom will you liken me? And to whom is my equal, says the Holy One? Lift up your eyes on high and see who created these things, who brings out their host by number. He calls them by name by the greatness of his might and the strength of his power. Not one of them is missing. He's talking about how powerful God is as a creator. He created all things that exist, what you can see and what you can't see and perhaps the most spectacular thing he created for the host. The host refers to the stars. When you look up at the size of the universe, the magnitude of it, and all of the stars that are there, in ancient times they used to think there was only 4,000 stars because that's all they could count with the unaided human eye. But with the invention of our powerful telescopes, they now tell us that there are 10 to the 25th power stars. That's 10 million billion billion stars. An astronomy professor was asked, what is 10 to the 25th power? He said, if I had to use an analogy, it would be the number of grains of sand on the seashore. And God created all of those stars. How did he do it? Well, Psalm 48 verse 5 says, he commanded and the stars were created. He commanded with a word. It's what the theologians call fiat creation. That's the Latin word for it, with a word. I don't know how it happened. I imagine God just said, stars. And there they were. All 10 million billion billion of them. And not only did he create all of those stars, he numbered them. Oh, that one's 1 trillion, so many billion, so many million, 523. He numbers every one. But not only does he number them, look again. Look at verse 26. He calls them all by name. How many names can you remember? 5, 10, 20, 100, 1,000, a million. Could you remember a billion names? Could you remember a trillion names? Could you remember 10 to the 25th power? It ain't no way, no how. It's pointing to the greatness of our Creator I love. I love the song called, how great thou art. The songwriter said, oh Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds thy hands have made. I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, thy power throughout the universe displayed. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee. How great thou art. How great thou art. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee. How great thou art. How great thou art. We should give praise to God today that he is a powerful Creator. But then there's a seventh thing. That comes right down to where you and I are today. The seventh thing about God we see in Isaiah 40 is that he is a strengthening helper. Write that down. He is a strengthening helper. This mighty God wants to help you. He wants to help me. This is what we see in verse 27 to 31. Look there. God says, why do you say, oh Jacob, and speak, oh Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord and my just claim is passed over by my God. What's he saying? He's saying to you and me, why would you ever say, God, you don't know what's going on in my life, really? Why would you ever say, God, you don't care about what's going on in my life? What do you say that God says? Verse 28, have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, El Olam in Hebrew, one of the beautiful names of God. The everlasting God, the Lord, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. That's the name of God Yahweh or Jehovah. I am that I am. The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth. The word Creator means the something out of nothing God. Don't you know? This is El Olam, the everlasting God. This is Yahweh, the I am that I am. This is the Barakah, the something out of nothing God. And he doesn't get weary, verse 28 says, his understanding is unsearchable. Verse 29, take his power to the weak and to those who have no might. He increases strength. Listen, if you feel weak today, if you feel like you have no might today, you're in a great place because God will give you his strength. He will give you his might. Listen, if you're here today and you think you can make it through on your own, why? Because God resists the proud. But he gives grace to the humble. But to those who come and say, I'm so weak, Lord, I need you so much, God, I don't have any might. I can't handle the things I'm going through. Listen, you're in the right place. You think you can make it? Verse 30, even the you shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. You think you can make it? Listen, God's going to let you go to get to a place where you can make it on your own. Then you're going to cry out to him. Even man at his best will come to the end of his own strength. But verse 31. Oh, verse 31. 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. Say, I want the strength of the Lord. I want the might of the Lord. Pastor Larry, how do I get it? Well, it tells you in verse 31. Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. Now, I want to tell you what that doesn't mean. Then I want to tell you what it does mean. Here's what it doesn't mean. Sometimes people look at the word wait and they think, you know, it's like what happens when you're in the dentist's office, you know. You're twirling your thumbs, waiting, waiting, waiting. Renew their strength. You think it's my strength. Like a glass of water, the water goes down and you pour it in and you fill it up or your cell phone gets low on the battery so you plug it in and it gets charged up. Listen, this doesn't mean if you wait for God long enough, then He will replenish your strength. That's not what this means. The word translated, very important, wait, is the word kava in Hebrew and it literally means to entwine. To entwine. And the word translated renew is the word khalaf in Hebrew and it literally means exchange. This phrase could be translated, those who entwined themselves on God will exchange their strength. Simple illustration so that you will completely understand exactly what God is saying here. Take a piece of sowing thread. How strong is that piece of sowing thread? It's not very strong. You could take it in both hands and snap it in half so easily. But then take the rope that attaches a cruise ship to the dock. Massive things, big around is my waist. And you take that little sowing thread and you wrap it around, you entwine it around that massive rope then all of a sudden that thread becomes as strong as that rope. And God says, if you will just come and wrap your life around me then I will exchange your puny strength for my great strength, so many people trying to do everything on their own effort, on their own strength and God never wanted you to do that. He wants you to do it in His strength. You say, oh Pastor Larry, how do I do that prayer? Through prayer you just wrap your life around God and all of a sudden in that quiet moment your strength is gone and His strength becomes your strength. I like a little chorus called strength of my life. I sing it often. The songwriter says, every day I look to you to be the strength of my life. You're the hope I hold on to, to be the strength of my life. Oh, be the strength of my life. Be the strength of my life. Be the strength of my life today. Be the strength of my life. Be the strength of my life. Be the strength of my life today. How many grateful that our God is a strengthening helper. We should give Him praise. Oh, the comfort of God's awesome greatness when you come with all of your cares and all of your concerns and you crack open Isaiah chapter 40 and you realize that our God is a pardoning redeemer and you realize that our God is an ever living truth teller and you realize that our God is a loving shepherd and you realize that our God is an all-knowing counselor and when you see that our God is an incomparable ruler and you see that our God is a powerful creator and when you realize that our God is a strengthening helper then all of a sudden all of those cares all of those concerns all of those worries they just began to fade away in light of the greatness of who God is. That's what a great pastor, a great man of God named Charles Spurgeon knew. On January 7th 1855 he walked into the pulpit of the famous metropolitan tabernacle in London and he preached to his people that morning an unforgettable message called the immutability of God the unchanging nature of God and in that message he said the following I finish with his words he says oh what an indescribable blessing there is in thinking upon God in musing on the Father there's a comfort for every woe in contemplating on the Son there's a balm for every wound and in thinking upon the spirit there is a balsam for every sore would you lose your worries would you drown in your cares plunge yourself into the deep ocean of God be lost in his immensity and his greatness and you will come forth as from a bed of rest he says I know of nothing that can so calm the swallowing billows of trouble and so still the winds of trial as thinking upon the awesome greatness of God and I wholeheartedly agree how many want to praise God today that our God is an awesome