“Lift Up Your Eyes – The Lord Does Not Faint, Neither Does He Grow Weary”
Sermon for Quasimodogeniti Sunday (Second Sunday of
Easter)
Text: Isaiah 40:26–31
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our
Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear friends in Christ,
Quasimodogeniti Sunday – a strange name, taken from the
Latin introit of the day: “As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of
the word.” Just one week after Easter, we are still rejoicing in the
resurrection. But the world outside these walls does not rejoice. The headlines
scream of war in the Middle East. Economies tremble. Nations rattle their
sabers. And many are saying, “We are on the brink of a world war.”
You feel it, don’t you? Perhaps you check your savings
account more often. Perhaps you lie awake wondering if your job will exist next
year. Perhaps you fear for your children – not just their future, but their
tomorrow. The news feeds our fear. And fear, if we are honest, makes us look
down – at our empty hands, at the shrinking numbers, at the darkening horizon.
But God’s word today commands us: Lift up your eyes.
1. The God Who Counts the Stars (v. 26)
“Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He
who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness
of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing.”
Isaiah speaks to exiles – people who had lost everything:
their land, their temple, their freedom. They looked at the power of Babylon
and thought, “The gods of our enemies have won.” Sound familiar? Today’s
“Babylon” is global instability, the missile strikes, the oil prices, the stock
market’s cruel mood swings.
But the Lord says: Lift up your eyes. Look
at the stars. Can you count them? No. But God can. He doesn’t just know their
number – He calls each by name. The same God who keeps the universe from losing
a single star will not lose track of you. Your bank account? He sees it. Your
anxiety? He knows it. Your nation’s fate? He holds it.
The point is not that nothing bad will happen. The point is:
nothing happens outside His numbering. The same God who spun the galaxies into
existence is not panicking about Iran, Israel, or the price of bread. He is not
wringing His hands. He is not caught off guard.
2. The God Who Never Wears Out (vv. 28–29)
“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.”
We grow weary, don’t we? Weary of bad news. Weary of
political brinkmanship. Weary of feeling powerless. Some of you are weary from
working two jobs just to keep up. Some are weary from the emotional toll of
watching the world unravel. And the enemy whispers, “See? Your God is either
weak or indifferent.”
But Scripture says: He does not faint or grow weary. God
does not need a briefing on the latest crisis. He does not need to recover from
a bad night’s sleep. His understanding – of the Middle East, of your mortgage,
of the war plans of men – is unsearchable. That means: you cannot measure how
fully He is in control, even when everything looks out of control.
And notice what He does with His unlimited strength:
He gives it. Not to the powerful, not to the confident, but
to the faint and to him who has no might. That’s
you. That’s me. When you feel you have nothing left, God specializes in filling
empty hands.
3. The Promise for the Waiting (vv. 30–31)
“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.”
Here is the hard word: human strength fails. The young, the
strong, the wealthy – they all collapse eventually. The world’s solutions –
more military power, more economic stimulus, more political maneuvering – will
run out. They always do.
But they who wait for the Lord – not those
who scramble frantically, not those who trust in their own clever plans, but
those who wait – shall renew their strength. The Hebrew word
for “renew” means “to exchange.” You exchange your exhaustion for His energy.
Your fear for His peace. Your small vision for His heavenly perspective.
What does waiting look like? It looks like prayer when you
feel like panicking. It looks like worship when the news is screaming. It looks
like receiving the Lord’s Supper this morning – holding out empty hands for
Christ’s true body and blood, given for you. Waiting is not passivity. It is
trust in action – trust that the risen Lord, who walked out of the tomb, walks
with you through the valley of the shadow of war and want.
And the result? Eagles’ wings – not to
escape the earth, but to rise above it. Running without weariness –
not that life becomes easy, but that God gives supernatural stamina. Walking
without fainting – because most of life is not heroic sprints but
ordinary steps taken in faith, one day at a time.
Conclusion: The Risen Lord Is Your Strength
Dear friends, we gather on Quasimodogeniti Sunday – newborn
babes crying for pure milk. Why? Because we have been born again to a living
hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:3). The
same Jesus who faced the fury of Rome, the hatred of religious leaders, and the
weight of the world’s sin – and who rose victorious – is the Lord of Isaiah 40.
He does not faint. He does not grow weary. And He lives for you.
So when the news terrifies you, do not look down at the
shaking ground. Lift up your eyes. See the stars. See the
empty tomb. See the Lord who counts the stars and calls you by name. He who did
not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all – how will He not also, along
with Him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)
Even if war comes. Even if the economy falters. Even if we
walk through fire. The Lord is your everlasting strength. Wait for Him. He will
renew your strength.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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