Run, Faithful, Run - Isaiah 40:21-31



In the 1995 Academy Awards Picture of the Year, Forrest Gump, Forrest, as a little child starts running to escape some bullies, and as his leg braces fell off and he really started to run, he said, “from that day on, if I was going somewhere, I was running!”  In sections of the movie Forrest is really running, often times for some apparent reason, such as running to Jenny or running to rescue his buddies in Vietnam, but at another point , “for no particular reason, [he] decided to go for a little run.”  The run started to be just to the town limits, the county line, across Alabama, and eventually to the Pacific Ocean.  When he arrived at the Pacific, he turned around and ran clear to the East Coast, then turned around and ran to the other coast again, and then turned around and ran across the nation again—talk about cross-country running.  In the end, when he finally stops, he says, “I had run for 3 years, 2 months, 14 days, and 16 hours.” Once he stops, everyone pauses and gets quiet to hear what profound statement he is going to make.  He says, “I’m pretty tired…I think I’ll go home now.”[i]
For most of my life, I could have cared less about running.  Honestly, running was the furthest thing from my mind.  Now don’t get me wrong…there were plenty of times where I had to run.  I had to run when I attempted to play baseball or basketball—but even then I did not want to run.  I had to run in school—one of the requirements to pass freshman PE in high school was to run a mile within a certain time frame (though I don’t remember what that time frame was).  Raising children, there are plenty of occasions where one has to run—usually to prevent a disaster of some sort.  However, there is only one occasion where I can remember desiring to run, and there was not even time to think about it—all I think I need to tell you is that it involved stepping on a stick at my grandfather’s farm, and looking down to see that stick raise up its head, ready to strike—that day, I don’t think Forrest could have beat me, even after those braces fell of his legs.
Back to Forrest—Three years, two months, fourteen days, and sixteen hours…I can’t imagine running for one hour, much less three years, two  months, fourteen days, and sixteen hours.  Tired, of course he was tired…there is no question that Forrest would be tired after that almost ceaseless running.  At that point in the movie, Forrest was no longer a child, or even a young adult.  He was my age…he was well past the twenty-something and thirty-something time frame…of course he was tired, Isaiah this morning tells us that “Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted….”  Of course Forrest was tired and we know the feeling, we have all been tired at some point.
It’s easy to get tired…getting up…getting the kids ready…going into work…dealing with that co-worker that always seems to be looking for what you have done wrong…having a boss expect one project right after another project to get completed, with deadlines that would need someone faster that Forrest runs to meet…children having to be picked up from school…dropped off at practice…picked up again…groceries to buy…supper to prepare…phone calls to make…meetings to attend…dishes to do…floors to clean…yards to rake…social gatherings to plan…visiting family to prepare for…and it goes on and on and on…go to bed…sleep a few hours…get up the next day and start it all over again….  Many of our children and teenagers don’t have it any better…getting up…getting ready for school…getting to school and sitting through classes all day…getting out of school and going straight to some kind of practice or to a part time job…getting home…eating supper…cramming in some homework before having to return to school for some event or heading somewhere with their parents…getting back home and trying to finish their homework…in between trying to develop friendships or other relationships…going to bed, getting a few hours’ sleep…then getting up and doing it all over again themselves…
However, while it may fit, Isaiah was not talking about to our hectic lifestyles when he spoke these words, he was talking to the ancient Hebrew people.  What were they dealing with?  What was making them so tired?
The Hebrew people found themselves far away from home.  They were not on vacation, though, getting a rest from all their hard labor.  It was not a job or school that had worn them out.  They had suffered because of their sin.  Their refusal to follow God had led to Babylon coming in and devastating and destroying Jerusalem—including the walls that were supposed to have protected the city, and the Temple where God was supposed to be housed.  Many loved ones had been killed.  Those survivors who were hearing these words of Isaiah now found themselves in captivity far away from home in Babylon.  They felt alone, abandoned by God, ready to simply give up because they were so tired, what good was it to try and live like God’s people now.  It would be better to just quit…give up…just curl up in a corner, cry yourself to sleep, and never wake up.
When have we felt like the people of Israel?  Maybe our own sins have wreaked havoc in our lives.  Maybe poor stewardship of our finances has left us with bills that seem to never end.  Maybe gluttony and lack of exercise has left our bodies filled with fat…arteries clogged…heart struggling to function.  Maybe abuse of alcohol, drugs, or tobacco have left our liver crippled, our brain foggy, and our lungs gasping for oxygen.  Maybe unfaithfulness or neglect has broken our families.  Maybe our bitterness has left us alone.  Or maybe, like some of those living in Jerusalem, we find our lives broken, not by our own sins, but by the sins of those around us…maybe even the result of sins committed against us…yet we are in exile too…Those are the times where we may just want to give up…thinking it is too late…it is all over…nothing can be done…and we are tired of trying…we are just tired…we feel like curling up in a corner, crying ourselves to sleep, an never waking up.
In the midst of all of this Isaiah brings God’s word to the people…in the verses prior to today’s reading, we hear Isaiah, “All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field.  The grass withers, the flower fades…surely the people are grass.”  Isaiah is telling the folks, of course you are tired…people get tired…people get worn out…but don’t give up, hear this word from God:
Comfort, O comfort my people…speak tenderly to Jerusalem…she has paid her term…her penalty is paid…See, the Lord God comes with might…his reward is with him…He will feed his flock…he will gather the lambs….Have you not known? Have you not heard?  Has it not been told you from the beginning?  Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?  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 live in…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.  He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.  Even the youths will faint and they young will fall exhausted; but those 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.[ii]
Isaiah tells the folks…Isaiah tells us…don’t give up…it is not over…your sins have been paid for…live for God…be faithful to Him…He is coming…He will give you the strength when you can’t go on any more… “those 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.”  Isaiah says keep on striving, keep on going, God will give you the strength you need.  Get out of that corner and move.  Isaiah is calling out to the people, “Run, Faithful, Run.”
“But preacher, Isaiah says those who wait for the Lord…I want to stay right here in my corner and wait for God to give me strength and then I’ll get up and get going…”
That’s not the kind of waiting that Isaiah was talking about.  The Hebrew understanding of this waiting was an active waiting…it was a “keep on keeping on” kind of waiting…do your work…live faithfully…and God will be there…and will push you through…kind of like a runner who in the middle of a race, doesn’t give up and just stop until he or she has more energy, they push on, and then hopefully, suddenly, that burst of adrenaline, that “runner’s high,” kicks in and gives them the energy to complete the race.  That’s the promise that God gives to His people through Isaiah as they struggled to remain faithful in Babylon…that’s the promise that God gives us as we struggle to remain faithful today.
And my brothers and sisters, where all the Hebrew people had to go on was the words of Isaiah…we have those words, but we have so much more.  They had to simply trust that their suffering and struggle had been payment for their sins, that God had forgiven them, and that they could begin again.  We on the other hand, have witness of God’s loving forgiveness of our sins.  They lived on the other side of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus…we live on this side of it.  We have the promise that through Jesus— “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleans us from all unrighteousness.”[iii]  And if we fill we are struggling to survive not because of our own sin, but because of someone else’s, then we also have these words from Christ Himself, “I have said this to you, so that in my you may have peace.  In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!”[iv] Paul actually gives orders to run the race, “Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize?  Run in such a way that you may win it.”[v]
My brothers and sisters…are we tired?  Have we struggled mightily because of our sin and are trying to break into the freedom that Christ has promised us?  Are we striving to live the faithful lives that Christ calls us to in the forgiveness of our sins?  Let us hear the call of Isaiah, the encouragement of Jesus, the directions of Paul, “Run, Faithful, Run!”  Let us keep the faith…let us wait upon the Lord…and He will lift us up…we will mount up with wings like eagles, we shall run and not be weary, we shall walk and not faint.  God will care for us…God will strengthen us…
This morning we have an opportunity to share in one way that God will strengthen us…through this sacred meal…through Holy Communion…God pours His grace into our lives…it is a grace that reaches out to us…it draws us closer to Him…it moves us to turn from our struggles…it cleanses us from our sin…it gives us the strength to live for Him…this morning, as we receive this meal, let us bring our exhaustion, leave it at the altar, and, as we wait upon God, feel His strength filling us…so that, my brothers and sisters, we may run.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.



[i] Quotes from movie pulled from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109830/quotes .
[ii] Isaiah 40, selected verses…
[iii] 1 John 1:9
[iv] John 16:29
[v] 1st Corinthians 9:24

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