Preached at Zoar Chapel, London, on July 20, 1845, by J. C. Philpot
"He gives power to the faint; and to those who have no might he increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall; but those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40:29-31
In order to understand the mind and meaning of the Holy Spirit in these words, we must take a glimpse at their connection.
We find, in the preceding verses, the Lord addressing himself to his people, and speaking to them as deeply exercised in their souls. But what was the source of their exercises? It was this--that their path was so dark and obscure. "Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?" The path in which the family of God were then walking was exceedingly perplexing. Their "way"--that is, the path they were taking--the way of the Spirit's teaching in their conscience--the mode of the Lord's dealing with their soul, was so intricate and obscure, that they could not believe it was a right way.
The Lord had hidden his face from them, and did not show them the nature or reason of his dealings with them. Infidelity, seizing hold of this circumstance, worked so powerfully in their hearts, that they burst forth into this cry, "My way is hidden from the Lord." Surely he cannot see the way I am taking, or he would have appeared sooner on my behalf. "And my judgment," that is, my cause, "is passed over from my God." He neglects to take that notice of me which I seek at his hands; he passes me by as unworthy of his regard; he slights my cause, and rejects my prayer, as though I did not belong to him.
Now, in order to meet these exercises in the hearts of his people--in order to apply a suitable remedy for these workings of unbelief and infidelity--the Lord answers by appealing to their own experience--"Have you not known, have you not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary?" However you may faint, however you may be wearied of him--whatever be your hard thoughts concerning his dealings with you--do you not know, that the everlasting God remains "the same yesterday, today, and forever"--that he is not a changeable God, tossed to and fro like yourself; but that he "rests in his love," and is ever the same--that "he faints not" under the burdens which you cast upon him; "neither is weary" of you, though you are often weary of him? And, with respect to this intricate path in which you are walking, he adds, "No one can measure the depths of his understanding." He knows what is best for you; and though your present path is dark and obscure in your eyes, it is bright and clear in his.
He would, therefore, urge this upon the conscience of his exercised and complaining child, 'Your part is to sit still, and wait until the deliverance appear; in due time, I will explain to you the nature and reason of these mysterious dealings.' He then goes on still further to clear up the point by the words of the text--"He gives power to the faint; and to those who have no might he increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall--but those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
If we look at the text, we shall observe, that there are two characters traced out in it. Of these, one is set forth by the expression "youths" and "young men." And not only is their character set forth, but also their destiny is described that they "shall faint," and "shall utterly fall." And, on the other hand, we have another, a spiritual character traced out, as one who "has no might," and yet "waits upon the Lord." And we find his destiny also pointed out. For as there is an end reserved for the one--an utter fall; so there is an end reserved for the other--a spiritual blessing.
I shall, then, if God enable me, endeavor this morning to trace out these two distinct characters, and show the allotted portion and end of each.
We will begin with a description of the character pointed out by the expression "youths" and "young men;" and then show what is their allotted portion and appointed destiny.
I. By the expression "youths" and "young men" is implied a contrast between the whole-hearted condition of the professing world and the fainting state of God's family. Youth is the season of loveliness, vigor, and strength; and thus, figuratively and typically, the "youths" and "young men" are those professors of religion who have never been weakened and brought down by a work of the Spirit upon their hearts; but who retain all their natural loveliness, activity, and vigor. In the exercise of this activity and strength, these youths run a race, but not the race that God's people run in faith and patience. In a word, the expression "youths" and "young men" describes unburdened professors, who have never had such a work of grace upon their hearts as has laid trouble upon their souls, or wrought penetrating convictions in their conscience. Never having been humbled in their souls, nor exercised in their minds, nor afflicted by a body of sin and death, they retain all their natural vigor. It has never been drawn away from them by the running sores of sin and guilt; they have never been drained nor exhausted of it by lacerating wounds in their conscience; and they thus preserve all that loveliness, youthful vigor, and beauty which have been battered down in the Lord's afflicted family.
Now when the Lord's people, exercised and tried in their souls, compare their deformity, ugliness, and wrinkles, with the loveliness of these unhumbled professors, it is often to them a bitter contrast. They often see in unexercised professors much more zeal, consistency, earnestness, amiability, activity, and apparent devotedness, than they can see and feel in their own hearts; and, contrasting their own wrinkled and weather-beaten visages with the smooth and glowing cheeks of others, they cry out, "My skin is black upon me; my flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust--my skin is broken and become loathsome" Job 30:30
And so with respect to the activity, strength, and vigor of these "youths" and "young men." The Lord's people have often no heart to "run with patience the race that is set before them." Spiritual things, instead of being their solace and delight, are often their burden. The enmity of their carnal mind works up against divine realities; and so far from being active and zealous in them, they are often so burdened in the things of God, that they feel unable to do any one thing which is acceptable in His sight. But these "young men," who have never seen the breadth, nor felt the spirituality of God's law--who have never known their inward corruption, never been plagued with a body of sin and death, never exercised with the perplexities that God's people are tried with--retain all that zeal and loveliness--those fleshly substitutes for vital power and godliness--which the exercised family of God once had, but have long lost.
There are those among the Lord's family "whose senses are not as yet exercised to discern both good and evil," and therefore cannot see the difference between pretense and reality, between 'nature in its highest form' and 'grace in its lowest form'. When therefore one of these poor, burdened, exercised children of God contrasts his own lack of zeal, earnestness, and activity--his darkness of mind, deadness of soul, and coldness of affection--with the earnestness and activity of many a zealous religionist around him, he is almost tempted to think that they are right and he wrong, and that they will stand when he shall fall.
But how different are God's ways from our ways, and God's thoughts from our thoughts! How differently does he view these "youths" and "young men" from the admiration bestowed upon them by the professing world! What hollowness, deceitfulness, and hypocrisy does he see working under all this natural loveliness, strength, and vigor! How the Lord sees that all this strength is weakness, all this wisdom is folly, all this righteousness is hypocrisy, and all this earnestness and zeal is but fallen nature carrying into religion the same restless activity which cultivates the farm, or manages the shop--a buyer and seller in the temple, and not a spiritual worshiper in the sanctuary!
But what is the sentence which the Lord has passed concerning such? A sentence that we see, more or less, fulfilled every day. They shall all "utterly fall." In due time these lovely and vigorous "youths," these strong and active "young men" will faint and fall. Though for a time they seem to run well, they never reach the goal. Sin, which for a time was dead in them, begins to revive; temptations that before never beset them, are laid in their paths; snares before hidden, they are now entangled by--their zeal, their earnestness, their activity gradually decline; and thus, long before they come to the end of the race, they faint, and are utterly unable to proceed any further. They give up their religion, often abandon even a profession, go back into the world, fall into sin, and "concerning faith make shipwreck."
