The God I Want

Isaiah 40:28-31

February 16, 2025 • Mount Pleasant UMC

One day, Jesus was teaching his disciples, as he often did, and this day the topic was sin and forgiveness. He’s emphasizing the seriousness of sin and the importance of forgiveness by saying even if they sin against you again and again, you should forgive them. And the disciples are standing there wondering how in the world this is possible. I mean, sure, you might be able to forgive someone once or twice, but over and over again? When they keep doing the same thing against you? That’s going to take a lot more faith than any of them have, which is why one of them interrupts Jesus and says, “Increase our faith!” I picture Jesus smiling and turning toward them as he says, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you” (Luke 17:6). Faith as small as a mustard seed. Jesus says, “You don’t need more faith. You can do everything you need to do or want to do with a small faith.” On another occasion, Jesus said the mustard seed is the smallest of seeds that becomes a huge plant (cf. Matthew 13:32). When I’ve been in Israel, I’ve seen the mustard tree or bush, and it is pretty large. And when I ask about the seeds, I’ve gotten different answers as to how small it is. One time I was given a seed that was almost microscopic; it’s probably still in the suitcase I took with me that year because I couldn’t find it when I got back. But the last time I was told these seeds are what become the big bush, and while they are small, I don’t know if they are the smallest. Nevertheless, Jesus’ point about faith is this: you don’t need so-called “big” faith (whatever that is). Small faith will do.

C. S. Lewis once described faith this way: “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it but because by it, I see everything else.” Faith, true faith, should define the way we see the world, the way we interact with the world, the way we try to transform the world. But sometimes we think we need a lot of faith or big faith to be able to change the world, but Jesus also described faith as being like yeast. You don’t need a big amount of yeast in a loaf of bread. The smallest amount will do amazing things, if we put it in the right place. And that’s where we want to begin in this series on “Small Faith.” It makes a difference where we put our faith.

In the Bible, faith is always placed in something or someone (cf. Wright, Small Faith Great God, pg. 26). The word for “faith” in the New Testament means to put our faith “into” something or someone. And it is human nature to direct faith toward something. In fact, it’s built into the world’s design. Our pets, for instance, put their “faith” in their owners to take care of them and to provide what they need. Our children, without even being aware of it, put “faith” in their parents for food, shelter and all the basic necessities. And as adults we will find something or someone to put our faith in. Whatever is most important in our life is the object of our faith and the focus of our worship. Even atheists, who believe there is nothing higher than what they see, have faith in themselves; they are the only ones who have all the answers. Many these days put their faith in politics and the latest politician who promises to do exactly what they think ought to be done. We’ve built echo chambers where we don’t hear alternative ideas and we’ve watched as people become increasingly confident that only their way is right. Politics is our only hope. Others put their faith in one of the three great idols of our time: money, sex or power. One or all of those things become the source of their security and their hope, the focus of all their energy. All of those things (and more, as we will discover) easily become idols in our day.

Biblical scholar N. T. Wright says it well: “We have four-wheeled idols whose worshippers spend all their effort and money polishing them and driving them faster and faster. We have three-bedroomed idols, whose devotees have to keep them spotlessly clean in case visitors should come. We have square idols with silver screens. Some of us have well-bound idols with pages and dust jackets. And like all idols, we worship them because we get pride out of them” (27-28). Anyone else feel the pinch from that? I know I do. I might have a room in my house dedicated to my “Star Wars” collection. Idols come in all shapes and sizes and we worship them because—are you ready for this—deep down, the God of the Bible is not necessarily the God we want (cf. Wright 28). Idols are more comfortable; they don’t challenge us or call us to be different. Idols we easily live with; the God of the Bible makes us uncomfortable.

The same thing was true in Isaiah’s day, some 2,700 years ago (cf. Oswalt, NIV Application Commentary: Isaiah, pg. 41). Isaiah is a somewhat unique book in that the prophet addresses three distinct historical periods through the book’s 66 chapters. The portion we read this morning, from chapter 40, is at the beginning of a part seemingly addressed to those who were taken away from their homeland into exile. Around 586 BC, the Babylonian Empire destroyed the capital of Jerusalem and took the supposedly important people away from Judah to live in Babylon (cf. Oswalt 18; Goldingay, Isaiah for Everyone, pg. 149). It was a devastating time for these people who had always believed God would protect them. Had God now abandoned them? It sure did seem so, and if that was true, where were they supposed to put their faith now?

In the verses leading up to what we read this morning, Isaiah puts four possibilities before the people, four realities (idols) that call for their (and our) worship. They might put their faith in the empire, in other nations. I mean, who wouldn’t be impressed with the power and the wealth of the nation of Babylon? They were the world’s rising star and had, after all, just destroyed Judah’s capital city and carried off many of the inhabitants. Maybe the empire was the place to put their faith. Don’t we do the same thing? We look at the geopolitical realities and think if we can just get the right people elected or put apparently religious people into office, everything will be fine. Our nation is strong and has endured for nearly 250 years. It will always be here; it will outlast everything. And Isaiah says, “The nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales” (40:15). The nations aren’t worth putting our faith in because, no matter how long they have lasted, they are small potatoes.

  Well, then, what about the gods the Babylonians have? After all, the Babylonians won the war; it must be because their gods were more powerful than their God. The Temple built by King Solomon, the beautiful building that they were so proud of is in ruins, still smoldering above the once-proud skyline of Jerusalem, while the gods of Babylon are being carried in a triumphant procession. The Babylonian gods are celebrated and their God seems silent. Maybe it was time to switch teams, change gods. Isaiah seems to almost laugh at that idea. He reminds the people that the “gods” of Babylon are made out of metal or wood, and if wood then out of wood that won’t rot because how embarrassing would it be if your god rotted away? And then, Isaiah says, they have to be careful about how they set those gods up because you don’t want your god to fall over (40:19-20). The gods of the Babylonians are nothing but wood and metal and gold and silver, and while their images might last for a while, they will not endure forever.

Okay, how about the rulers of the nations? Surely these powerful leaders can be trusted, maybe even worshipped. There are many examples all throughout the ancient world where the king or emperor or pharaoh were actually worshipped by their people as gods. I’ve been to Caesarea Philippi and to Ephesus where altars were set up to worship the Roman emperor. Maybe the Babylonian rulers should be the object of our faith. Maybe our own rulers should be as well. If you read anything on social media, you can see how dangerously close both the right and the left have come to that sort of thinking. Isaiah says, “You think those rulers are impressive with their power and their laws and their royal robes? They are barely in position when they are swept away.” He compares them to “chaff,” which is the worthless part of the grain that is blown away by a strong wind. Isaiah says the “princes of this world” are “nothing” (40:22-24). They are certainly not worth our worship.

Well, then, maybe something that lasts a bit longer would be worth putting our faith in. How about the planets and stars, those mysterious bodies up in the sky that we can see but don’t understand? There were a lot of ancient cultures who turn those things we can see into gods. We know today that the pull of those bodies interacting with our own planet cause tides and seasons and all sorts of things; they do affect our world in various ways. But are they worthy of worship? Some do today by trusting in their horoscope, believing that the planets and stars and times of the year somehow control their destiny. But Isaiah says those things are created; they didn’t come into being on their own. More than that, they have no power on their own (40:25-27; cf. Goldingay 149-150).

So where do we put our faith? Or, to put it another way, where should we plant our mustard seed? Because it matters what or who we place our faith in. The object of our faith determines the quality of our life.

After pointing out the uselessness of all these other gods, all the idols, Isaiah then points the people back to their God, the one true God, the God revealed by the Scriptures. Isaiah seems a bit sarcastic as he says, “Do you not know? Have you not heard?” (40:28). How could you not know? This is your own God we are talking about, the one who you believed dwelt in the Temple in Jerusalem, the one who has been with you since time began. How have you not heard about him? And then Isaiah goes on to remind them what this God is like.

He is the “everlasting God” (40:28). This is one of the characteristics about God that is the hardest for me to understand. I mean, I can understand someone who existed from the beginning of time to the end of time. My brain can sort of comprehend that. What blows my mind is someone who existed before time began and who will still exist after time ends. One of the reasons God is sometimes represented by a circle is because he has no beginning and no ending; he is everlasting. If that doesn’t blow your mind, you’re not thinking hard enough about it. I’ve had a lot of times when kids will ask me some variation of the question, “Who created God?” And I try explaining that no one created God, that he just is and always has been. I usually get blank stares and I want to say, “I feel the same way!” God is everlasting, unlike any of the other things the people are tempted to worship.

And at some point, this God who has always been decided to create a world and people and animals and stars and planets and a whole universe. Isaiah says he is the “creator of the ends of the earth” (40:28). All those things and people you are tempted to worship? They were made by this God. Everything you see, whether on earth or in the sky? They were made by this God. He is the uncreated one who made everything that exists. Paul put it this way: “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:16-17). There is no point in putting your faith in a created thing, Isaiah says. God is the creator, and so he is the only one worthy of our faith. “His understanding,” Isaiah says, “no one can fathom” (40:28).

And then, and this may be my favorite part, Isaiah says God doesn’t “grow tired or weary” (40:28). I don’t know about you but I do get tired and weary. Sometimes it’s a physical tired, and I go home in the evening and just crash. And other times it’s a mental or spiritual tired, and I can’t really function or think or do much of anything. That’s when streaming something on TV that doesn’t require any thought comes in really handy! I get tired. I get weary. I bet you do, too. When I think too much about the problems in the world, I get weary. When I focus too much on the things I have messed up, I get tired. But God doesn’t. Isaiah says nothing makes God tired or weary, and here’s the even better part. Not only doesn’t he get tired or weary, but he gives some of his own strength to those who are tired and weary—and he still doesn’t run out! Isaiah says this: “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak” (40:29) so that they can “renew their strength” (40:31). To sum it up in a word, God is strong and he shares that strength with us, and he doesn’t run out of it even then. He is the God who shared of his own character, his own strength, his own essence with his people (cf. Wright 29). And he doesn’t just “top them off” with strength. He increases their power! Our power!

This is the God who is worthy of your faith, Isaiah says. Even though the people may have felt or begun to believe that God had walked away, that God was standing far off while they went through the destruction and exile, the truth is that God knew what they were going through. And God knows what you are going through. “He knows your situation perfectly” (Oswalt 448), and he has a better perspective than you do on that situation. Years ago, we had a small bird named Lightning (because he flew so fast), and he mostly stayed in his cage. But he would climb all over that cage, using his beak to try to find his way out. He seemed to think if he could just maybe get that door open or fit through the bars, he could fly free. To him, the cage was a punishment. What he didn’t see was not too far from his cage was a 35-pound blonde cocker spaniel named Gideon. Gideon often kept an eye on that cage, and if Lighting had ever gotten himself out of the cage, Gideon would have been on him in a heartbeat. We knew that; we could see more than Lighting could and understand more than he did, so we did what we needed to do to keep him safe. That’s sort of like God’s perspective. He sees more that is going on than we do, and even though we might not understand what is happening, he does. Perfectly. He knows our situation, he is not ignoring you, and “he can and will do something about it” in his time (Oswalt 448).

So, Isaiah says, “hope in the Lord” (40:31). Older translations say “wait for the Lord” (NRSV); that’s the way I learned it anyway. When we hear “wait,” though, we picture sitting around, maybe doing nothing, marking time. Maybe you think of a doctor’s waiting room where you keep checking your watch to see how close to “on time” the doctor might be. But that’s not the image the prophet has in mind. “Hope” in the Lord is probably a better translation, because “waiting” on the Lord means to live in a confident expectation that God is going to come work on your behalf. He is not silent and he has not forgotten you. He will give you exactly what you need at the right time to help you to “soar” or “run” or “walk.” As the old song says, he is not late; he is always right on time. So don’t run ahead of him and try to solve your own problems. Work with him and see what he will do (cf. Oswalt 448).

Small faith is patient faith in the God who is revealed in Scripture. This is the God that his own people had forgotten about. This is the only God who is worth us putting our faith in. This is the God whom we should trust. There is no other God like him, and if we want to “soar on wings like eagles,” we should make sure it really is the Lord we are waiting on (cf. Wright 26). And you will know it is this God when you find your strength renewed, when you find your hope rising even when everything around you points the other way. “God shares his own self, his almighty power, with those who wait on him” (Wright 29). So whatever you set your hand to, whatever God calls you to do, whatever is put before you, do it cooperating with God’s power. Soar on wings like eagles, run without getting weary, walk without fainting. Maybe he's not the God we want, but he is the God we need each and every day. Let’s pray to that God.