PART 3 | ALL STRESSED UP AND NO PLACE TO GO
Isaiah 40:28-31 | August 31, 2025
Dr. Mark S. Hartman, Lead Pastor – SCBC
Isaiah 40:28-31 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.
1. WHAT IS STRESS?
A. Stress is any stimulus, real or imagined, that causes our bodies to change.
B. Negative stress is the gap between the demands placed on us and the strength we have in meeting those demands.
C. If You Change Your Thinking, You Can Change Your Responses.
2. THE KEY TO DEFEATING STRESS IS LEARNING TO WAIT. (Isaiah 40:31)
A. Isaiah 40:31 But those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.
1. The Christian life is not only a changed life but also an exchanged one.
2. God takes my weakness and exchanges it with His strength.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
3. 2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
4. Isaiah 40:28-29 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”
B. Psalm 27:14 Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
C. How do we exchange our weakness with God’s strength?
1. To wait on the Lord begins with being still. It means to stop fighting, stop running, stop panicking, stop struggling.
Psalm 46:10 Be still and know that I am God.
2. To wait upon the Lord requires that I choose to be thankful for what I already have.
a. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 In everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
b. 1 Chronicles 16:34 Give Thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.
3. To wait upon the Lord means that I shift my focus from the source of my stress to my dependence upon God.
4. Isaiah 26: 3-4 You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in Yahweh, the Lord, is everlasting strength.
5. If I change my thinking, I can change my responses. Instead of panic, I am willing to get a better perspective of what God has already done for me and now how He will help me through this moment.
3. DEVELOP THE PATTERN OF WAITING ON GOD AND YOUR STRENGTH WILL BE RENEWED. (Isaiah 40:31)
A. Isaiah 40:31 But those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.
B. The eagle does not escape the storm; it simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It rides on the winds that bring the storm.