REASON TO BE STRONG

Isaiah 35: 4-7

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Tomorrow will mark the fifth anniversary of that calamity we remember simply as 9/11. That day we faced calamity and challenge as a nation. We watched horrified as planes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City; again as a plane crashed into the Pentagon and listened with shocked ears as we heard of the plane crashing in a rural Pennsylvania field, thwarting a terrorist attack on some other target. In the midst of the horror and the shock, we gathered as God’s people looking to Him in His Word, seeking His direction, His comfort and His hope.

I told you then of my friend, a pastor on Long Island, who found himself in Manhattan an impromptu chaplain to the police and firemen that day, blessing them as they went into the towers and praying with them as they came out, assuring them of God’s presence in the midst of that horror.

Isaiah speaks of a time in Judah’s history similar to our 9/11. While not facing terrorists, Judah was facing a horror. King Ahaz had invited Assyria into the mix of the geopolitics of the region with Israel, Judah and Egypt; King Hezekiah was left with the challenge of leading Judah through the mess of the consequences of that invitation as the Assyrian armies of Sennacharib laid siege to Jerusalem. The word from God that Isaiah spoke to Judah at that time of crisis is the same our God speaks to you and me today: Be strong, do not be afraid. Be courageous, your God is involved. He will come and save you.

These words are for you and me a call to hope as we face not only national calamity but also personal calamity. These words give you and me a reason to be strong as we stand face to face with the challenges with which our God meets us with, even in the midst of calamity. We have—in Him and His promise—a reason to be strong.

Calamity always seems to grab our attention—and certainly it did five years ago as we watched again and again the replay as the towers fell—and brings us to teeter on the brink of despair and fear. This is not only true of our national calamities like 9/11 or regional ones like Columbine; it is also true of those personal calamities. These are those moments when everything seems to be crashing down around us at the news of incurable disease in our bodies or the death of someone deeply loved or the rupture of family and marriage or of change in your job. Isaiah speaks of hands being to weak—even to clasp in prayer—and knees being too weak to stand or even kneel in God’s presence. These are those moments when despair and fear can loom larger than faith and hope and we wonder what God has in mind.

There was certainly calamity facing the people of Judah as Isaiah spoke this word from God. The armies of Sennacharib had marched across the countryside like locusts, driving the people to Jerusalem and destroying everything that was left behind. If Jerusalem fell to Assyria, God’s people might indeed find themselves discarded on the ash heap of History along with all the other peoples consumed by the Assyrians. What was worse, they had had God’s prophets warning them for years of coming judgment unless they returned to Him. What was the Lord up to?

God was speaking His promise through Isaiah: Be strong, do not fear. Be courageous. I will come … to save you. These words were spoken to assure and to call His people to trust not in their walls or even their status, but to trust Him. This was not the first time God’s people had heard these very words.

After Moses died, the people thought they faced calamity in the wilderness. Moses had been God’s appointed leader and spokesperson for a generation. They stood on the banks of the Jordan with the task of conquering the Promised Land—who would lead them? Even Joshua, the one appointed to that task despaired. The Lord spoke these words to Joshua—several times to call him to trust and hope.

King Hezekiah used these same words to rally Jerusalem as they cowered behind the walls. He quotes Isaiah as he calls his people back to trust and hope in the Lord. You can read his very stirring call to faith in 2 Chronicles 32. These words promised that the Lord would not destroy but rescue. He comes to save us, Hezekiah and Isaiah promised. And so He does.

Isaiah’s words speak of God coming with vengeance upon His enemies. We learned about such a vengeance in Luther’s explanations to the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, that God hinders and stops His enemies of sin, death and the power of devil and all those who would block His will from being accomplished. Therefore, Sennacharib was no match for God. What about us when we in our sin and brokenness become God’s enemies? Does He carry out His vengeance upon us?

This is where Isaiah’s words about God’s saving us are fulfilled. He carries out the punishment Israel deserved—and that you and I deserved—not on His people, but upon His Son. All of those judgments upon sin that promise calamity are carried out on Jesus. Jesus carries them in His body and He hangs on the cross. His death is in our place and His resurrection shows that the Father accepted the payment. God’s way of dealing with the calamity of His wrath was the cross and His way of dealing with the calamity of death was Easter. He is strong and victorious in calamity and His strength becomes our strength. Our hands can clasp together in prayer and our knees are made strong that we can stand on the Rock of our Salvation.

Our God comes and saves us in Jesus. He is involved with us in Christ so that we can see things reversed. We can have hope in what seems to be a reason for despair. We have reason for comfort in the midst of what seems to be calamity. We have a reason to be strong, as His strength strengthens us and as His heart joins ours and we are encouraged.

This is not the only message and result God’s word has for us today. The words Isaiah speaks appear other times in Israel’s history. Calamity often brings with it challenge. God sometimes opens opportunities that we have not planned for and we think ourselves unready and unable to meet those challenges. God’s people needed reassurance and guidance as they faced challenges then, and we can learn from them.

In Deuteronomy, Moses delivers what becomes his farewell sermon. The people are poised on the edge of the fulfillment of God’s promises. Canaan lies before them, the reality of everything they had hoped for and of what God had promised. What would it be like? How would it happen? Questions no doubt echoed through the camp as they considered this challenge. Moses called them to faith and to faithfulness with these same words: Be strong and do not be afraid. Be courageous, your God will be with your wherever you go.

Later in 1 Chronicles, the story of David’s commissioning his son; Solomon to build the Temple in Jerusalem is recorded. Solomon felt less than the task required. How would it happen? What would it cost? David echoes Moses’ assurance: Be strong and do not fear. Be courageous, your God is with you.

What challenges lie before us? What challenges lie before you?

We have already talked about those that face us as a nation, what about those that face us as a congregation? As we prepare to talk about the 33 Days of Stewardship, we think of the stuff of doing the ministry our Lord has laid before us. It is no small task to “reach out, care for and build one another toward maturity in Christ.” There is much to be done and it seems huge and costly. How will it be done?

There are other challenges. For example, since 2000 worship attendance has steadily declined. Why? What can be done to reconnect these folks with Mount Olive’s ministries? How can meet the challenge?

Then there are the opportunities of the future. We stand on something of a Jordan River, looking ahead to those promises our God has spoken being fulfilled. Cross of Christ, our mission congregation struggles to reach the unchurched and dischurched in Southeast Aurora. How will they do that? Today is Rally Day. What new families will the Lord bring to our education programs—through our Early Childhood Education Center—for us to be His instruments in connecting them to Jesus? How will we do it? Listen to Isaiah: Be strong and do not be afraid. Be courageous, your God will be with you. He will come and save you.

What about you? What challenges face you? What opportunities lay wrapped in what seems to be calamity today? How will you make it through them? How will you meet those challenges—not even yet imagined?

Remember the words that echo from Isaiah and the Scriptures and hear God calling you to strength and hope. We have reason to be strong. We have reason to be courageous, even when we cannot see. He promises: Be strong and do not be afraid. Be courageous. I am with you wherever you go.