The Vast Power of God

Have you ever gotten home after a long day and just wanted to collapse into bed. It seems like at different stages in life I’ve had that, a few times this week I have just wanted to collapse in bed after a long day.

I know many of you have experienced that level of weariness. Many of you more often than me I’m sure. In those tired times this I have blessed in studying Isaiah 40 this week. This passage has helped to expand my view of God and his expansive power. And I found that as my view of God expanded, my troubles seemed to shrink. The circumstances didn’t seem so big. Intrusive thoughts didn’t seem as destructive, because I knew my God was bigger and sufficient for me in every moment.

I pray that this morning each of us would get to know...

Proposition: The vast power of God is sufficient for us when we are weary.

We experience weariness, exhaustion, moments when we just don’t know what to do, we just don’t have any of the answers, and if that was the end of the matter that would be seriously discouraging. But it is not. Our God does not grow weary. He has vast, immense power. To help us during every stage of our life, every season of our life.

The vast power of God is sufficient for me when I am weary.

God what is your power like?

1. The power of God is immeasurable. Isaiah 40:12-13

Isaiah 40:12–13 ESV

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel?

4 Pictures of His Power

He can hold the waters in the hollow of his hand.

How much water is on the earth 370 quintillion gallons. That is a 370 with 18 0’s after it. We can hold about half a cup. Yet God can measure the waters in his hands. This is giving human qualities to God. God does not have form, yet we speak of him seeing with eyes and measuring with his hands. It is to help our minds comprehend spiritual truths about who He is.

When we think of God measuring the water in his hands it helps us grasp His sheer power. Try this one on for size, the next part of verse 12...

He can measure the the heavens with a span.

A span was a measuring tool like a yard or foot or inch. A span was the distance from one end of your thumb to the end of your pinky, on average 9 inches or so. God measures the universe like this. 550 Septillion miles across by the way. That is a 550 with 21 0’s after it. And our all-powerful God eyeballs it with the span of his hand.

So from the first example to the second. God’s magnitude amplifies. God is not changing size. The scope of His power is unlimited.

The end part of verse 12...

He can put all the dust in a basket.

Like when we get a 20 gallon bucket we can measure out the amount of dirt we have or the water we have in the bucket. God knows how much dust is on the earth.

He can weigh the mountains and hills on scales.

Good scales are specific and accurate. God knows exactly the weight of the hills and mountains.

God’s magnificent, unfathomable, immeasurable power. Let it strengthen and encourage you as you perhaps look at tasks or situations in your life that seem unbearable or impossible.

Guess what else is in God’s hands, His people. John 10:28

John 10:28 ESV

28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

When we answer the call and place our trust in Jesus, His blood covers us. We are now in his loving hands. God is not so big that he doesn’t see you. We are nestled in his loving hands.

Our immeasurable God cares intimately about us.

Isaiah 64:8 ESV

8 But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.

God takes an intimate interest in us. The God who holds the waters in his palm, can measure the universe with a span, took the time to fashion and mold you in the whom, Psalm 139. And he takes the time to fashion and mold you now. Are you letting him mold you?

The power of God is immeasurable. The scope of it is something we will never fully understand. The power of God is also...

2. The power of God is independent. Isaiah 40:13-14

Isaiah 40:13–14 ESV

13 Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? 14 Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

Everything we know was taught to us. After college for the summer I went home and my mom did an “internship” trying to teach me how to cook. And I think relatively successfully. But that was learned. The skill of raising cattle, teaching children, painting vehicles, making food, raising children. All of those things we learned, and the best way to do that is to learn from others. God isn’t like that. He doesn’t need a mom internship. He doesn’t need a college degree to do this or that. He didn’t need to work under another for any period of time.

He goes to no one for council.

There are a number of people in my life that I will reach out to for advice. I need it. He does not. His power was not gained, His power was not bestowed upon Him. He is powerful. From eternity past to eternity future. There is nothing we discover that is new to Him.

No one can teach God something new.

His understanding is eternal.

His justice is eternal.

Nothing can change God’s mind.

What a humbling, difficult thing to say is I don’t know. I don’t know. What are you going to be doing in a year? I don’t know. How are you going to be able to afford that? I don’t know. How is God going to provide for this ministry or that ministry? I don’t know. How many kids are there going to be at VBS? I don’t know.

For all the uncertainties in life, this passage reminds us that God knows. His power is not dependent on anyone or any bit of knowledge being shared with Him. He knows. He cares. He will provide.

Matthew 6:25–34 ESV

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

God sees and cares for the birds. God adorns the flowers with beauty. God will care for you, it may not be health and wealth. But I can rest saying I don’t know, because my God does know. I can find peace in knowing God is powerful. And he doesn’t depend on me or anything else to obtain that power or knowledge. No one taught Him justice, He knows it. No one taught him knowledge, He has always had it. No one illuminated His understanding, He already has it figured out.

The power of God is immeasurable and independent.

3. The power of God is unmatched. Isaiah 40:15-18

Isaiah 40:15–18 ESV

15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. 16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. 17 All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. 18 To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?

The nations are inconsequential to God.

They are like a drop in a bucket. I weigh out ingredients for sourdough bread, and I used to be extremely precise to the very gram. It was funny how sometimes I would add a drop of water or a pinch of flour, and the scale would not even move.

For all the chaos that we feel in the World, in our nation, in nations around the world. The most powerful nations in the World are like a drop of water in a bucket. Like the sprinkling of dust on a scale.

Psalm 118:6 ESV

6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?

Matthew 10:28 ESV

28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Again as I read the Scriptures the choice is a no-brainier. Fear and revere all-powerful God or finite and fickle mankind. What can man do to me? They can accuse, bite, and devour your spirit. People can be used of the enemy to do mightily wicked things, cause division and mayhem. But the nations, people are inconsequential to God. We are just wee grasshoppers.

Isaiah 40:22 ESV

22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;

The sacrifices of man are never enough.

We do not have enough power to relieve us of our sin debt.

verse 16-17

North of Israel there was a fertile forested area that was called Lebanon. It was home to many animals. The wood the forests provided for fuel and the animals within the forest, they were not enough to make a consequential, sin atoning for sacrifice before God. Not even the forest and all the animals in it being offered as a burnt sacrifice to God is enough to cover your sins.

There is no one like God.

The nations have inconsequential power. You and I do not have to power or the ability to do enough good. The power of God is unmatched. The blood of an entire forest is not enough to cover your sin. Only the blood of Christ can cover your sins.

This morning we have been reminded of God’s vast power. It is innumerable, independent, and unmatched. And yet, we still try to replace Him.

4. The power of God is irreplaceable. Isaiah 40:18-20

Isaiah 40:18–20 ESV

18 To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? 19 An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains. 20 He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move.

Nothing manmade can compete with God.

Who is like God? An Idol? really? Isaiah is telling the Israelites what they have been doing. Replacing an immeasurable, independent, unmatched God with some wood covered in gold? What? It sounds ridiculous when Isaiah shares it like this. What are you doing? We would never do such things. Anything in life that we put above God is an idol. Our diligence and hard work can become to much. Our family, our politics, our opinions, can be put on too high a pedestal. Even good things, if they start to creep in on our love for the Lord can be dangerous.

Nothing should be taking God’s throne in our lives. No amount of personal freedom is going to leave you feeling powerful. The most powerful men in history were never satisfied. They wanted to conquer more. They wanted more land, more pleasure, more money. No amount of perceived power that we acquire can replace God. No experience, no person, no thing should be creeping in on God’s throne in your heart.

It is not a matter of the question. Israel, how could you do such a thing? Adopting the idols of these false gods, bowing down in worship to them. It is a matter of Joel, is there any idol in your life? Put your name in that question.

The power of God is innumerable, independent, unmatched, and irreplaceable.

5. The power of God is inexhaustible. Isaiah 40:27-31

You are going to run out of energy. You may ask, why Isaiah 40, what drew me here? My mind has been heavy lately. Thinking of moving on. Of my friends in the youth group here. Praying for men and women to rise up to stand in the gap for our young ones. There are times when I feel weary. Titus commands the older men and women to teach the younger men and women.

There are times for all of us that leave us weary. Calving season. The end of the school year. Welcoming a little one into your family. Dealing with interpersonal issues. They leave us weary. We need to be reminded often That God’s vast, inexhaustible power is available to me.

Isaiah 40:27–31 ESV

27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”? 28 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. 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they 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 lie we are prone to believe is that God doesn’t see me, his power is not reaching me. But his power is not like ours. His power is inexhaustible. When we get exhausted emotionally, spiritually, physically. Cry out to the one who holds you safely in his hands and find comfort, finds strength not in yourself, but in our mighty God.

He does not faint or grow weary. He gives power to the faint. That’s me. That’s you. The vast power of God, challenges us to have the humility to say that I can’t do it. I don’t know. But you know what. I am trusting in the one who does know. He has had it all figured out from eternity past.

Conclusion: Find rest for your soul in our immensely powerful God. On those days you are exhausted emotionally, physically, spiritually. When we just want to collapse into bed, collapse into God’s hands. Fall into the arms of your loving God. Hope in him, you will find rest for your soul.

Matthew 11:29 ESV

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

The vast power of God is sufficient for me when I am weary.

Where are you collapsing? Into bed, into lies bouncing around in your head. Are you falling into insecurities about yourself or about what God is doing? God is not done. His power has not been exhausted. He is always working.

We can know amidst uncertainties that God is still the potter. Molding me, calling others to himself. He is vastly powerful. I can hope in him. Where are you collapsing? Collapse into God’s loving arms when you grow weary, in every moment for that matter! If you don’t you will grow weary. Hope in the one who is able to bring you through every season by his magnificent power.

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