Sermon:
November 29, 1998

Scripture:
Isaiah 40:1-8
Isaiah 40:28-31

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." A voice says, "Cry!" And I said, "What shall I cry?" All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when 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 will stand forever...

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. He gives power to the faint, and to those who have no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men and women shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for 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."

Today is one of those days when I preach what I need to hear God say to me. If it ministers to you at the same time, I invite you to listen in. If it doesn't, then you need to become a pastor so you can preach yourself what you need to hear.

Have you felt dry - like you were withering - even when people tell you that you should be feeling great? Have you ever tasted burnout? It's a combination of emotional, physical, and spiritual exhaustion. It's the cumulative effect of overload. Some of the common symptoms are: bouts of depression, an inability to have satisfying sleep, anxiety, absence of motivation, excessive desire to be alone, cynicism and resentment. The worst thing about burnout is that you do it to yourself!

How does one develop burnout? I got the following rules from Bill Bouknight, for the "coronary and ulcer club." These rules will cause a full-blown case:

1. Your job comes first. Forget everything else.

2. Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays are fine times to be working at the office. There will be nobody else there to bother you.

3. All forms of recreation are a waste of time.

4. Never delegate responsibility to others. It takes time to train, and you can do it better anyway.

5. If your work calls for traveling, work all day and travel at night.

6. No matter how many jobs you already are doing, remember that you can always take on one more.

If that doesn't hit as close to home with you as it did to me, just remember, the holidays are just beginning! We stuff our calendars as full as we stuff our turkeys every year at this time, as if we have extra days or extra energy in the month of December. We hang the greens, attend the programs, send the cards, party at the parties, shop till we drop, fight the crowds, balance the year end stuff, and race right up to the Christmas Eve service here. Then we expect a couple candle-lit verses of "Silent Night" to prepare us for the coming of the Christ child, and a whole new year. And then we say that Christ makes a difference in our lives! We Christians can fill our lives full to the point of not taking any time for Christ himself, especially at Christmas!

Authentic Christians have strong relationships with the Lord - relationships that are renewed every day. Most of us never reach that level of authenticity because we are just too busy. We get too caught up in the world always with us, getting and spending. We lay waste our powers. We neglect our daily relationship with Christ.

A key ingredient in authentic Christianity is time. Not leftover time, not throwaway time, but quality time. You and I can't get what we need on a diet of constant activity, even if the activity is all church related. Comfort and strength come for those who "wait on the Lord." That involves solitude. Decisions that change the entire course of your life usually come from time spent in solitude with God. Why do we rob ourselves of this?

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. He gives power to the faint, and to those who have no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men and women shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for 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. Isaiah 40:28-31

The power in those words! How different our lives might be if we were reminded of them daily! We should write some of these phrases down and paste them all over our houses and dashboards. Isaiah reminds us: "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God will stand forever."

Don't you get tired of just skimming your way through your life? Are you withering or just wandering your way through things? Isaiah had a prescription for the people of Israel and Judah in the midst of much trial, warfare, and wandering away from the Lord. Isaiah's first step is to get the people's focus off of themselves and to remember God and God's perspective. Isaiah's words apply to us as well.

1. Remember God is the source of all comfort, and desires you to know his comfort in your lives. "Comfort, comfort my people, says your God." Relax! Take care of yourself! Eat right, sleep well, take time away, exercise. These things are God's gifts to you and me. "Prepare the way of the Lord." Make way in your life to let God enter in and bring you comfort in the midst of whatever you may be facing, from personal tragedy to the hecticness of the holidays. Jesus himself says: "Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you peace. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28-30. As believers, you and I can experience a peace that the world will never know, because of Jesus Christ.

2. Remember only God lasts forever. You aren't indispensable. "All flesh is grass...the grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever." The world will not fall apart if you don't perform. Each of us will be replaced one day. Instead of worrying about all that, "Wait on the Lord," whose "word...will stand forever." What you spend your free thought time on is really your greatest priority. As you reflect on your own thoughts, are you embarrassed by what you spend your time on? Let God's perspective prioritize your life. Invest yourself where it counts.

3. Remember God has unlimited resources you may plug into. As believers, we are standing on a gold mine. In order to plug in, you need to lay aside your agenda and simply "wait for the Lord." Seek God. Many people will not interrupt a trip to the mall or to the football game for anything in the world. They are so self-centered that they don't recognize when God comes to them. Maybe it's work related. Maybe it's family related. Maybe it's a personal struggle you are having within yourself. You need to lay aside your priorities and wait. Wait. Wait on the Lord for renewed strength. Wait on God for power to face your situation. God hasn't changed. God still speaks to people. God is living and active all around us. We need to wait. Be still. Like Elijah who waited on the Lord in a cave at Mt. Horeb. God met him there and spoke to him in a "still, small voice."

Have you created opportunity in your life to wait for the Lord? Do you do it regularly? Or do you forget God's perspective? Do you forget God's comfort? Do you forget God's unlimited resources available to you?

Remember, if the devil can't make you bad, he'll make you busy. Are you skimming through everything? Are you so busy that you are trying to make it in your own strength? Most of us cannot just drop things that we are involved in; however we can decide right now to take time in our lives to "prepare the way of the Lord, that the glory of the Lord may be revealed." We don't have to be so swamped this Christmas season.

Don't wither as you wander. Allow time to wonder. It may just save you.

Long ago the Greeks had a race in their Olympic games that was unique. The winner was not the runner who finished first. It was the runner who finished first with his torch still lit. Each of us believers carries a torch of faith, hope and love. My prayer is that all of us can cross the finish line with our torches burning brightly!