Advent Midweek, Renewal of Strength 2011
Advent Midweek
December 14, 2011
Text: Isaiah 40:30-31
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”? 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 to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 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.
Max Cleland was in his early twenties when he volunteered for duty in Viet Nam. One month from the end of his tour, he found himself in the battle of Khe Sanh. Once he had to jump out of a helicopter and saw a grenade at his feet. Thinking it had fallen off his own gear, he reached to pick it up. There was a blinding explosion. He was taken by chopper to a surgical hospital forty miles away. He should have been dead. His right arm and both legs were gone. He had shrapnel wound in his windpipe. He clung to life by sheer will power. For the next eighteen months he was in and out of hospitals. He was assured that he would never walk again. He was glad to be alive but glad of little else. And you thought you were having a bad day.
Max Cleland recalls the worst moment for him. It was when a former girlfriend had come to see him and have lunch. Approaching a crossing, Max pitched forward out of his wheelchair and into the gutter:
I flailed helplessly like a fish out of water, lying in the dirt and cigarette butts. Two men rushed up and lifted me back into the wheelchair. My companion was almost hysterical, crying over and over, “I'm sorry, Max! I'm sorry!” The shame and embarrassment of the spill seared me like a burn that continued to throb. I couldn't forget the first time I met her. I was twenty-four, and I stood six-feet two inches tall. Now I was in a wheelchair. I thought, “Is this all that's left for me—to be hauled around like a sack of potatoes for the rest of my life? No! I'm not always going to be helpless. I will need a lot of help from God, family and friends, but I'm going to make a difference in this world.
Max Cleland returned to his hometown of Lithonia, Georgia, learned to walk with artificial limbs, learned to drive by adapting his car and set up his own apartment to live independently. In 1970 he ran successfully for the Georgia state senate, in 1977 he was named head of the Veterans' Administration and in 1996 became a United States senator from Georgia.
It has been said that each one of us is handicapped in some way. For some of us the handicaps are obvious—Max Cleland without legs, arm, in a wheelchair. We can readily see those handicapped with deformities, with debilitating illnesses. We cannot so readily see those who are wracked by worry, who cover their pain, who look good on the outside but are nevertheless disabled within. Many of us have disabilities that others cannot see.
Every human society considers weakness a bad thing. We admire the talented, the wealthy, and the successful, as the world defines success. We reward the strong. We all want to be on the winning team.
But what about you? Are you weary? Are you tired?
If you are under pressure, if you face obstacles that look too tall to climb, then the prophet Isaiah has words of encouragement for you this evening. He writes: “God is the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.”
In this world, even those who are winning today, will be losers tomorrow. One day, you’re on the top. The next day, you’re at the bottom. Even the best of the best know that you can’t win always. No matter how skilled your are, no matter how good you are at what you do, you can hit a homerun every time at bat. Some days you strike out. So to really succeed, you have to find strength somewhere besides your talents, skills, money and accomplishment.
Like Isaiah says: “Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord will renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be wear; they shall walk and not faint.”
The Bible does not give us answers as to why it was that Max Cleland landed on that grenade. I cannot tell you why one person gets cancer, another loses his business, and someone else fights clinical depression. But we can say that our troubles can be opportunities for us to come closer to God.
We can even learn to be thankful for our weaknesses because it is often God’s way to do great things through humble people. Remember that when the Son of God came to save us, He didn’t come on a white stallion. He came as an infant, nursing at his mother’s breast. And it was through the humiliation of the cross, naked and beaten, that He gave His life as the payment for our sins.
Our weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities are opportunities for God to reveal His grace and His glory. As we are weak, we come to know that Christ is strong. As we triumph over our adversities, we are empowered by God working in us. St. Paul could also say, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” We may all be handicapped or weak in some way, but we also have a mighty and powerful and loving God. We are strong in Christ. In Jesus’ name. Amen.