SOARING UPWARD OUT OF OUR DESPAIR, Isaiah 40:27-31. (Preached in Lewes FPC. First preached in Kilskeery FPC 19th September 1999) God's people are prone to despondency. For this reason the chapter begins with the words: Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. But despondency does not just require comfort. It requires rebuke for it is a sin. When we grow despondent we form a very wrong view of God and forget our own true character. Hence the rebukes and assertions contained in verses 27-31. Is this not a day of despondency? Might not these words be directed at us with equal force as at Israel in Isaiah's day? There is no growing weary with God and those that wait upon Him still enjoy renewal of grace and strength. Today, I would like us to savour these words and drink in their benefits and blessings. Let us consider -- An informative title for God's people. They wait upon the Lord. Here is a title that distinguishes God's people from all other people. Those that wait are those that seek. Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel, Psalm 69:6. For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him, Isaiah 64:4. Note 1 Cor 2:9 where waiteth is translated love. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him, Lamentations 3:25.