Have you not heard?

Passage for reflection: Isaiah 40: 21 - 31 

“I believe in the sun even when it is not shining. And I believe in love, even when there’s no one there. And I believe in God, even when he is silent.” 

These words were written by a Jew trying to hang on during World War II. It was a desperate and dangerous time to be Jewish and the unknown person who wrote these words was proclaiming a word of hope where hope seemed dead.

These words could have been written or spoken by the prophet Isaiah trying to offer a word of hope to people who were desperate and whose faith was in trouble. Jerusalem was razed and sacked by Babylonian soldiers in 587 BC. 

The temple was destroyed, and the leaders of the community were taken to Babylon. The words of the prophet Isaiah, “Even youths will faint and be weary and the young will fall exhausted” may have reminded them of the forced march to Babylon.

Their faith was in danger. It felt as if God had deserted them, but the prophet tried to remind them of what they knew but seemed to be forgetting. “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 strengthens the powerless.” “Even youths will faint and be weary and the young will fall exhausted;” but then comes a word of hope and inspiration, “But those 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.”

The people of Israel had to adjust their understanding of what God was up to when the Babylonians took them into exile. They felt abandoned by God. But the prophet asks them to remember and reframe their experience, so they can live in confidence and hope as they will face restoration and more change. 

These words I read are helpful: 

“Isaiah relays the good news that the end of exile is in sight, although the people cannot see it yet.” They have not yet been told that they will be free to return home and to make new choices for their lives. Isaiah reminds them of experiences they have known and can build on: God is powerful and gracious. God who created still holds creation. God can free them and bring them home. ... The prophet asks the people of God to remember and ponder what they once knew about God’s action in their lives and to reconsider how they build on their trust in God.”

 We need to look beyond what we think we see, to what truly is, and what can be. We need to go beyond the chaos of the present, to step aside and to spend time with God building that relationship. We are reminded to open our eyes and our hearts to what only God can offer. There are times when we need to be intentional about this, but there are also unexpected times when we can experience God’s presence and promise in ways we didn’t imagine.

It’s sometimes about going through the motions even when we think nothing will happen. On days we don’t feel like praying, we need to pray more, on days we don’t want to read the Bible, we need to open it more, on days when we are too weary to go to that zoom service or make that phone call to someone in need, we need to be made aware our being with others even on a screen and down a phone line matters. For me attending evensong in a c of e church reminds me of the importance of regular time finding God. For me hearing and sharing in the same words day after day, words that have been said for centuries, gives me space to think of other than my weariness and problems. Working hard to find God when we think there is no God can be a transformative moment. 

For God breaks into his world in ways we do not expect and in his time, the right time. And for now, we are called to be his people, getting on with it in expectation. 

Once there was a town where one day all the clocks stopped working. No matter what the people tried, they could not get them going again. Though many in the village were handy, no one understood the inner workings of the springs and dials, the gears and pendulum. Because they were off the beaten path, many years passed until a traveller who entered the village was found to be a watchmaker.

Quickly the town became abuzz, each resident bringing their clocks to him and lined up, hoping this stranger could fix them. But each one went away, disappointed. After many long winters and wet summers, their clocks were too rusted to repair.

Yet, among all the heartbroken residents, there was one person who did get good news – the watchmaker could fix her clock. Soon everyone gathered around this lucky time teller, asking her secret. Why could the watchmaker salvage her clock and no other? “When our clocks stopped, I didn’t know what else to do,” the woman said, “so I kept winding my clock each morning as if it worked.” 

Isaiah is telling us that waiting, also translated hoping, in the Lord is when we expect His promises to strengthen us and empower us rise above the distractions and difficulties of this life. We must trust in God. Without trusting that He will never fail, we become weak and disheartened thus plunging us deeper toward despair. Patiently expecting his deliverance is our remedy from the afflictions and tribulations of this earth. 

Remember Longfellow on Christmas Day hearing the church bells ringing? 

On Christmas Day, 1863, the sound of bells ringing moved him to write, spurred on by his sorrow at the state of humankind:

And in despair, I bowed my head:“There is no peace on earth,” I said, for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men.”        

And yet hope won out as he penned the fourth verse:

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: “God is not dead, nor doth not sleep;The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth, good will to men.”

Just as the eagle soars above the mountains we too can experience freedom to fly higher than conflict, aggravations, negativity and strife. God can and will strengthen us, shift the wind in our favour, and give us the spiritual vision needed to understand from a different position. We must worship vertically and expect help from above. Too often our worship and hope are affected by horizontal circumstances that dampen our praise and shorten our patience. Look up and allow your strength to be renewed, ascend to new heights with wings like eagles, and we will see God at work again. 

“I believe in the sun even when it is not shining.

And I believe in love, even when there’s no one there. And I believe in God, even when God is silent.”

This passage has always been important to me. Sometimes we just need a reminder we don’t face stuff alone. I remember preaching on it at my testimony service in 1999 at Heaton Moor Methodist Church in Stockport prior to ordination. My congregation in Mossley had taught me this hymn. I still love it.

Lord I come to you
Let my heart be changed renewed
Flowing from the grace that
I have found in you
And lord I have come to know
The weakness I see in me
Will be stripped away
By the power of your love

Hold me close let your love surround me
Bring me near draw me to your side
And as I wait
I’ll rise up like an eagle
And I will soar with you
Your spirit leads me on
By the power of your love.

Lord unveil my eyes
Let me see you face to face
The knowledge of your love
As you live in me
Lord renew my mind
As your will unfolds in my life
In living everyday
By the power of your love.