“Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.”

-Isaiah 40:28

[Brief re-cap of yesterday’s post: Israel is so completely self absorbed, they claimed that God doesn’t care about their lives. We likened it to young people who accuse their parents of destroying their lives, because Mom and Dad aren’t giving them what they think they need. To sum-up, I was simply commenting on how infuriating that is to me!]

It’s easy to criticize Israel for their doubt and their complaining and their straying, but in reality, we do it all the time too.

Now, I’ll bet you’ve all heard that said before, and maybe you’ve even said it. But I wonder how often we say that, without understanding just HOW true it really is.

Take a moment, (really, take a moment) and just think: Have you ever felt like God just wasn’t interested in answering that prayer, or He just wasn’t around to help with that problem, or heal this hurt, or take care of this need? Have you ever thought or felt like, you know God cares because the Bible says He does, but if you’re honest with yourself, you really don’t feel like He cares at all?

Have you ever felt like God never intervenes on your behalf? Maybe you think things like, “Sure, I might be just like Israel, but THEY had the RED SEA! They had birds falling from the sky, and walled cities falling down!! So they should be blamed for questioning God. But God doesn’t do those things for me. I just have struggles, and then more struggles. No crashing walls, no bodies of water moving out of my way, no enemy armies fleeing before me. I mean, if He did unexplainable miracles like that for me, then I would trust Him!

But the answer always seems to be “But He doesn’t do things like that anymore, so how am I supposed to trust that He really does care, AND that He can actually do something about my problems?”

And that is a real question that many of us face. I face it more than I want to admit, and I can’t say I have all the answers but there is one thing that I know will help … Looking to the Cross.

Now, you’re probably thinking, “Laura, you have got to be kidding me. That is the most unbelievable, cop out, Sunday school perfect answer EVER. We all knew that already!”

…I know. But like I said before, Israel knew too. They knew all about what God had done, and yet, they still managed to accuse Him of forgetting and ignoring them.

And that’s where today’s verse comes in. It’s like He’s saying, “don’t you know Who I am and what I’ve done for you? You should, because there are feasts and sacrifices, and all kinds of other reminders to help you remember. Haven’t you heard about all my ways, and my goodness, and my character? You should have because I sent priests, and prophets, and writers, and psalmists, and kings to tell you.”  For Israel, the “Have you not known, have you not heard,” was the covenant, the Passover, the Red Sea, and the promise of a Savior.

For us, the, “Have you not known, have you not heard”, is so much more. It is the Gospel!  The Cross is our Red Sea, the emblem of God’s power; the proof of a love that never fails, a holiness that never compromises, and a mercy that sacrifices everything!

And just as the Red Sea wasn’t the end of God’s work in Israel, the Cross isn’t the end of God’s work in us!

When I read this chapter, if I take the time to quit reading like it’s a documentary script and actually think about what it means in real time, real life, right now reality, then the truth is flooring. Why? Because it means that the one and only God,  not a god who is a better option than  other gods, but the ONLY real God, has stooped to accepting me, taking care of me, and showing me His greatness. It means that all the power behind the creation of the stars, all the understanding from the beginning of time, all the compassion of a faithful shepherd, all the vastness that can play with islands as a child plays with a handful of sand, all the authority that can laugh at a prince and make a judges verdict like empty babbling, all that power, all that greatness, all that knowledge, all that goodness, can come crashing into my every day life!

That is what this chapter tells us. That is what the Cross tells us. But the question is; yes, I know it, and I’ve heard it, but will I KNOW it? Perceive it, understand it, recognize it from experience? Will I HEAR it?  Hear with attention or interest, understand, agree, yield? Will I let the things I’ve always known and always heard, actually penetrate into my life, through faith?

When we are like Israel, going our own way, struggling to trust our daily issues and problems and hurts to our God, what do we need to do?

Remember what you know, remember what you’ve heard. If you can’t think of anything recent, then go back and start at the Cross!

Then think on this; our God is forever, there’s not a problem He has not seen, not an issue that was before His time. He created everything! An obvious thought, I know. But if He made it, then He knows how it works, right? He does not faint, become overworked, or get fatigued. He does not get weary, and He never gets tired. We do, but He doesn’t … ever.
There is NO possible way to comprehend His knowledge and understanding, HE KNOWS IT ALL.

And not to steal the next writers thunder, but I just want you to see how He uses all this!

 “He Giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might, he increaseth strength.”

Please, let us stand on who He is, and let us trust that all that He is He willingly uses to work in the most daily, most mundane, most boring areas of our lives. And just imagine what those areas could look like, if we would let more of who He is overwhelm our lives.

~Laura Oliverio