EXPERIENCING GOD’S
SUFFICIENCY:
OUR COMFORT AND STRENGTH
(God’s Prescription For
Depression)
Isaiah 40:9-31
How are you today?
Are you getting tired and weary?
Are you in need of
encouragement?
Do you want to experience
God’s comfort?
Good news!
We don’t have to bear our
burdens alone. We can find hope,
encouragement and strength in
God. We can know the reality of
God’s comfort through the
Scriptures.
But the encouragement of
Scripture is not simply
designed to make us feel
better or just remove our pain.
God’s comfort is designed to give us
wisdom to see the bigger picture, a
better perspective on our
circumstances; to understand His
enduring purposes; and to know
God’s sufficiency in the midst of our
inadequacy.
1. HIS PRESCRIPTION ANNOUNCED
(Isaiah 40:9c,10a)
“BEHOLD, YOUR GOD!”
ESB, NKJV
Isaiah is saying,
“Think about the nature and
works, the attributes and
actions, of your God.”
“Let your mind dwell on Him.”
Psalm 40:1-10
ALWAYS FOCUS ON WHO AND
WHAT GOD IS AS YOU FACE
THE DIFFICULTIES OF LIFE,
WHATEVER IT MAY BRING.
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
(Helen Lemmel, 1922)
O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow
strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
“GET YOUR EYES OFF ON THOSE
CIRCUMSTANCES.
GET YOUR EYES ON YOUR GOD.
BEHOLD HIM, YOUR GOD REIGNS!”
HEBREWS 12:1-3
2 COR. 4:16-18
2. HIS PERSON PROCLAIMED
(Isaiah 40: 9c, 10-11)
a. He is a Personal God
who cares - He is “your
God” (vs. 9c).
Phil. 4:19-20; 1 Pet. 5:7
b. He is a Deliverer and King “who will come with His arm
ruling for Him” (vs. 10a).
Josh. 5:13-15
Matt. 16:27
JESUS WILL ONE DAY RETURN
TO BRING PERFECT PEACE TO A
SINFUL AND LOST WORLD
(REV. 19:11, 15-16).
c. He is a Rewarder “Behold, His reward is with
Him …” (vs. 10b).
Heb. 6:10
1 Cor. 15:58
d. He is a Shepherd who
tenderly cares for his people “Like a shepherd He will tend
His flock …” (vs. 11).
Psalm 23;
John 10:11;
1 Peter 2:25; 5:4
3. HIS POWER DECLARED
(Isaiah 40:12-26)
a. His greatness is limitless—
God is omnipotent (vs. 12).
b. His wisdom is
unsearchable—
God is omniscient (vss.13,14).
c. His authority is
absolute—God is sovereign
(vss. 15-17).
Ps. 103:19; 115:3;
135:5-6
d. His being is
incomparable—
God is infinite (vss. 18-25).
e. His might is
unchanging—
God is faithful (vs. 26).
4. HIS PEOPLE REBUKED
(Isaiah 40: 27-28A)
Question 1 (vs. 27): Why do
you say, O Jacob, and complain,
O Israel, “My way is hidden
from the LORD; my cause is
disregarded by my God”? (NIV)
THE TRIALS AND PRESSURES
OF LIFE, NO MATTER HOW
SEVERE, ARE NEVER AN
INDICATION THAT GOD HAS
FORGOTTEN US OR IS
UNCONCERNED.
Questions 2 (vs. 28): “Do
you not know? Have you not
heard?”
Isa. 29:13; Matt. 15:8-9
Heb. 3:7-8
5. HIS PROMISE PROVIDED
(Isaiah 40:28b-31)
a. Know who is in charge “The Everlasting God, the
Lord, the creator of the
ends of the earth” (40:28b).
b. Rest in God’s
Omnipotence “He does not become weary
or tired” (40:28b).
c. Trust God who knows
what He is doing “His understanding is
inscrutable” (40:28c).
d. Realize that God cares and
wants to strengthen us –
“He gives (a habitual practice of
God) strength to the weary, …”
(40:29).
e. Learn to submit to the Lord –
“wait on the Lord (40:30-31).
“Wait” means “to trust, hope,
or have confidence in.”
Originally it meant “to twist,
bind.”
Personal and Practical
Implications of Beholding God:
a. “We will gain new strength.”
b. “We will mount up with
wings like eagles.”
c. “we will run and not get
tired.”
Daniel 11:32b
“…but the people who know
their God will display
strength and take action.”