God Is Able: Strength for the Weary

Isaiah asks, “Do you not know, have you not heard?” because tired people can forget who God is. The Lord is the everlasting God, Creator of the ends of the earth, and He does not faint or grow weary. People get tired. Families get tired. Churches get tired. Leaders get tired. But God never wakes up unable to deal with another prayer, another problem, another complicated situation, or another broken heart.

The contrast between human limits and God’s limitless strength stands at the center. Before the problem showed up, God was already God. Before the diagnosis, the disappointment, the heartbreak, and the enemy’s plotting, God was already God. After all of it is over, God will still be God. Tiredness cannot be used to measure God’s ability. A person may not see the way, but God has not run out of possibilities. A person may reach a limit, but that limit is never God’s limit.

Isaiah says that God gives power to the faint and increases strength for those who have no might. Weakness does not disqualify anybody from God’s help. Weakness can become the place where God’s strength is discovered for real. The empty Dave and Buster’s card pictures the truth plainly: when there are no tokens left, something has to fill the card again. Human strength eventually runs low, no matter how strong the work ethic, personality, ambition, or perseverance may be.

Paul’s thorn shows that God does not always remove the circumstance. God may give strength inside the circumstance. Grace can be sufficient when the answer is not immediate. God can carry His people through mountains, valleys, tears, disappointment, uncertain futures, and money that gets funny. Public smiles do not cancel private pain, but God sees the crying inside.

Isaiah’s call to wait upon the Lord does not mean sitting around doing nothing. Waiting means trusting, hoping, and staying connected to God while His work cannot yet be seen. The church can wait while planning, casting vision, serving students, feeding people, reaching children, and inviting neighbors. God’s provision is tied to God’s purpose, and God is able to provide what God calls His people to do.

The everlasting God becomes strength for the physically tired, emotionally tired, spiritually tired, and burdened soul. When strength is gone, courage is low, bills are due, sickness comes, or disagreement rises, faith can stand flat footed and declare: God has enough.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Tiredness does not diminish God’s power Human fatigue is real, but it does not mean heaven is exhausted. God is not overwhelmed by the same responsibilities, griefs, and unanswered questions that drain His people. The end of human capacity can become the beginning of clearer dependence on the everlasting God. [54:54]
• 2. Weakness is not spiritual disqualification Isaiah directs God’s strength toward the faint and those with no might left. The need to admit, “God, I cannot do this in my own strength,” is not failure. Some burdens were never meant to be carried through personality, ambition, or hard work alone. [61:36]
• 3. God gives strength within hard seasons Paul wanted the thorn removed, but God answered with sufficient grace. God’s faithfulness is not limited to changing a circumstance immediately. God can sustain a person inside the very place that feels too heavy to endure. [62:58]
• 4. Waiting means staying connected to God Waiting on the Lord is not empty inactivity or passive resignation. Trust keeps planning, serving, praying, and moving in the work God has assigned. God’s timing may be hidden, but God’s provision is not uncertain. [65:13]
• 5. God has enough for what lies ahead Fear often treats present shortages as final verdicts. God’s strength remains sufficient through sickness, bills, uncertainty, and disappointment. Faith answers the problem not by pretending it is small, but by declaring that God has enough.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [44:36] - Gratitude for Those Who Serve
• [45:25] - Serving Families in Grief
• [46:33] - Isaiah 40:28-31
• [48:49] - God Is Able
• [49:08] - Loving God and Still Getting Tired
• [51:16] - The Weight of Weariness
• [54:24] - Strength From the Everlasting God
• [55:14] - God Never Gets Tired
• [58:25] - Strength for Those With Nothing Left
• [62:58] - Grace Inside the Circumstance
• [65:13] - What It Means to Wait on God
• [66:50] - Waiting While Doing Ministry
• [70:04] - God Has Enough
• [77:00] - Invitation to Salvation and Community

Bible Reading

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. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in 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.” [47:08]

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.” [01:03:10]

Psalm 27:1
“The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?” [01:11:13]

Observation questions

1. What names and descriptions of God does Isaiah use in verses 28-31, and what do they show about the difference between God and people? [55:14]
2. According to Isaiah 40, who receives strength from God, and what kinds of human limits are named in the passage?
3. What does Paul ask God to do about his thorn, and what answer does God give instead? [01:03:10]
4. What actions are connected with waiting on the Lord besides sitting still—especially in serving people, planning, and reaching neighbors? [01:06:09]

Interpretation questions

1. Isaiah says that God “will not grow tired or weary,” while even strong young people can stumble and fall. How does that contrast change the way a believer should look at a season of exhaustion? [57:04]
2. God gives power to the faint and increases strength for those with no might. Why might admitting “I cannot do this in my own strength” be an important step of faith instead of a sign of failure? [01:02:13]
3. Paul’s thorn was not removed immediately, but God promised sufficient grace within the circumstance. What might it look like for a believer to receive God’s strength while still facing an unanswered prayer, grief, financial pressure, or uncertainty? [01:03:17]
4. If waiting on God means trusting, hoping, and staying connected to Him, how can a believer tell the difference between faithful waiting and simply avoiding what God has called them to do? [01:06:14]

Application questions

1. Where are you most tired right now—physically, emotionally, spiritually, financially, or in a relationship? What would it sound like for you to honestly say to God, “I am tired”? [50:09]
2. Is there a burden you have been trying to carry through hard work, personality, ambition, or pretending to be strong? What would it look like to bring that specific burden to God this week? [01:02:22]
3. Think about a circumstance you have repeatedly asked God to remove. While you continue to pray for change, what strength or grace do you need from God to walk through it today? [01:03:25]
4. When fear rises around bills, sickness, disagreement, or an uncertain future, what truth from Isaiah 40 or Psalm 27 do you need to speak over that fear? [01:10:39]
5. What is one way you can “wait on the Lord” actively this week—through prayer, serving, making a needed call, planning wisely, or encouraging someone else? [01:06:26]
6. Is there a neighbor, family member, student, coworker, or church member who may be carrying weariness alone? What is one simple way you can show them that they do not have to be strong by themselves? [01:10:14]