Our Protection Is He Himself

"Our Protection Is He Himself" – Isaiah 40:29-31 The one who protects us is not a resource or an intermediary: it is the Lord Himself. Isaiah comforts a people that is tired, discouraged, and without strength, and announces that God gives power to the faint and increases strength to those who have none. From there the study follows the thread through four more passages —the rock of the heart, the refuge in trouble, the "I can do all things" written from a prison cell, and the power made perfect in weakness— to reach a single conclusion: strength does not come from within; it comes from Christ inward.

I. He Himself is our protection

A. Life comes with surprises, circumstances, and problems. That is why Jesus came to earth and gave His life: to be Himself our protection.

B. There are angels, and there must be millions of them; but when the blood of Christ has cleansed your life, it is He who protects your life.

C. There is nothing to fear. Fears, worries, and nerves come, but He protects each one; that is why there is peace and joy in us.

D. God never abandons what He planned. A person may argue, propose, and suggest; but in the end God will act, and nothing and no one stops Him.

II. "He giveth power to the faint" (Isaiah 40:29)

A. Isaiah comforts Israel after announcing hard times: the people were tired, discouraged, feeling forgotten and without strength. That is the nature of mortals: cheerful today, weary tomorrow.

B. When we can no longer, God can. When we received Him as Savior He gave us strength, and He keeps giving it when a person comes to Him and says "I cannot".

C. "And to them that have no might he increaseth strength." He does not only restore: He multiplies the little there is, as one prepares to believe Him. "In little I was faithful; He will set me over much."

D. Every complaint is a defeat, because it is what we confess with our voice, and what the mouth confesses comes from the mind and the heart.

E. God does not ignore human weariness or emotional weariness. He intervenes precisely at the point of weakness, when the mind is loaded down or left without motivation.

F. It is not an isolated miracle but a constant action: God renews strength every day, and that renewal depends on the knees, because the knees go to the Father.

III. "Even the youths shall faint and be weary" (Isaiah 40:30)

A. In Hebrew culture the young represented the strongest and most resilient; and Isaiah points out that even the strongest grow weary, stumble, and fall.

B. "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." That is what prayer is for: whoever does not pray falls easily.

C. Human strength is limited. Neither energy, nor youth, nor personal ability can sustain us forever; the future always looks uncertain.

D. God does not want us trusting in our own strength, but in His. That is why an active faith must be developed as an obligation.

IV. "They that wait upon the LORD" (Isaiah 40:31)

A. To wait does not mean to stay still: it is to trust, to rest in God, to depend on Him, to hold an active hope. And not to desire what is not ours, because contentment comes from the Lord.

B. "Shall renew their strength": God does not recycle old energy, He makes it new. It is like a braided cord: one strand breaks; braided, it does not.

C. "They shall mount up with wings as eagles": the eagle does not tire fighting the wind, it uses the wind to rise higher. How you use the wind is up to you; so God turns into momentum what looked like a great problem.

D. "They shall run, and not be weary": in the fast, intense, demanding moments, God supplies strength to run; but it is God who gives it, not oneself.

E. "They shall walk, and not faint": life is not always running; sometimes it is simply to keep walking every day. What is in front of you, walk it calmly.

F. Testimony: handing over a school and a church building looked like defeat, ruin, and shame. But there was no defeat and no shame, and today the church stands. Those are not stories: they are realities.

V. The rock of the heart (Psalm 73:26)

A. "My flesh and my heart faileth": the body and the spirits wear out, the emotions weaken, life produces weariness.

B. "Rock", in Hebrew, means foundation, stability, protection: something firm that does not change. The psalmist is saying: when I crumble inside, God is the firmness that holds me.

C. God does not only give strength: He is the strength of the heart. And how much a person seeks Him determines how much is received.

D. "God is my portion for ever": my inheritance, my wealth, what belongs to me, what really counts. Nothing in this life is stable; what God gives is: salvation, peace, joy, eternal life.

E. Work is for sustenance; God is for everything. If you fall ill, work does not heal you; if a problem comes, work does not solve it.

VI. Refuge, strength, and present help (Psalm 46:1)

A. "Refuge" in Hebrew means shelter: the safe place of our life, the protection in the midst of great dangers. And the text does not say God gives refuge, but that God is our refuge.

B. "Strength" is inner force, courage, capacity to endure; and that capacity is given by God, not produced by us.

C. God does not only protect from danger: He gives strength to face it, and renews the energy when fatigue comes.

D. "Present" means immediate: God is not late, does not forget, does not delay without purpose. "Help" is active aid, intervention, rescue: God does not observe, He acts. "Trouble" means intense problems, pressures, anguish, situations beyond us.

VII. "I can do all things through Christ" (Philippians 4:13)

A. Paul writes this from prison, without food and hours from his death; he asked that they bring him the books and the cloak.

B. "I can do all things" means: everything God asks of me, I can do; everything life brings me by His will, I can do; everything I must face in obedience, I can do.

C. The "all things" refers to the context: poverty, abundance, need, affliction, trials, good moments and bad ones.

D. Paul was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel and held a position of standing; he had no reason to be behind anyone. See how things go in life.

E. "Through Christ" is not self-confidence or human motivation: it is total dependence. Paul does not say "I strengthen myself", he says "He strengtheneth me": strength does not come from within, it comes from Christ inward.

VIII. Power made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

A. "My grace is sufficient for thee": grace sustains, equips, renews, gives strength to continue, comforts, and carries a person through what cannot be changed. But the load must be handed over and the complaint let go.

B. God does not always remove the load, but He always gives grace to bear it. Nor are we here to live on a cloud, but to fight with will, with love, and with passion.

C. "My strength is made perfect in weakness": to be made perfect is to be completed, fully displayed. When you cannot, God shows His power; when your strength runs out, His begins.

D. God does not need your strength: He uses your weakness as the stage on which to show that He is God. What makes you feel fragile is where He displays His glory.

E. "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities": Paul does not celebrate the pain, but what God does in the midst of the pain. Weakness kept him humble, made him depend more on God, and guarded him from spiritual pride.

F. "That the power of Christ may rest upon me": to rest is to dwell, to cover, to settle upon him. Where a man has no strength, Christ puts His own; that is why the cross happened.

G. "For when I am weak, then am I strong": weak in myself, strong in Christ. Weakness is not a problem: it is the opportunity to discover that dependence on God is total.

IX. Application

A. Trade complaint for faith: every confessed complaint is a defeat you pronounce on yourself.

B. Depend on your knees daily; the renewal of strength is a daily thing, not an episode.

C. Use the headwind to rise, like the eagle, instead of wearing yourself out fighting it.

D. When it is not time to run, walk; God also sustains the one who only keeps walking.

E. Let go of the old things you still carry: grace is enough for what you cannot change, but it has to be handed over.

F. Stop proving to God that you can. Admitting you are fragile is what makes room for His power.