Sermon You Can Make It

You Can Make It Because God Is Holding You

Some days the weight of life does not announce itself politely. It just arrives. The alarm goes off, the responsibilities stack up, the news is not good, the body is tired, and somewhere in the back of the mind a quiet voice begins to ask a question that feels almost too honest to say out loud: Can I actually keep going? Not a dramatic crisis. Just the slow, grinding kind of weariness that settles into a person's bones when the road has been long and the finish line is nowhere in sight.

If you have ever felt that way, you are in good company. And more importantly, you are in exactly the right place this morning, because the Bible speaks directly to that condition. Not with a pep talk. Not with a motivational slogan. With a word from the living God.

Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 40, beginning at verse 27. The prophet writes:

"Why do you say, Jacob, and assert, Israel, 'My way is hidden from the Lord, and my claim is ignored by my God'? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never becomes faint or weary; there is no limit to his understanding. He gives strength to the faint and strengthens the powerless. Youths may become faint and weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not faint."

And then hold that passage in your mind as we also read from Philippians chapter 4, beginning at verse 10. Paul writes from a prison cell:

"I rejoiced in the Lord greatly because once again you renewed your care for me. You know that I was not in need, for I have learned to be content in whatever state I am. I know how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content, whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me."

Two passages. Two very different settings. One prophet speaking to a nation in exile. One apostle writing from chains. And together they deliver a single, unshakeable declaration: you can make it, not because you are strong enough, but because the God who never grows weary is the one holding you up.

That is the claim of this sermon. Write it down if you need to. God's sustaining strength is not a reward for the spiritually impressive. It is a gift extended to the faint, the stumbling, and the powerless. And it is available to you today.

The People Who Felt Forgotten

Before we get to the promise, we have to understand the problem. Isaiah 40 is not written to people who are doing fine. It is written to people who have concluded that God has stopped paying attention to them.

Look at verse 27 again. God quotes their own complaint back to them: "My way is hidden from the Lord, and my claim is ignored by my God." That is not casual discouragement. That is a deep theological crisis. These people have not merely lost their energy. They have lost their confidence that God even sees them. They feel invisible to heaven. They feel like their suffering has been filed away somewhere and forgotten.

You may know that feeling. You prayed and the situation did not change. You trusted and the door stayed closed. You stayed faithful and the hardship stayed too. And eventually the question stops being "When will this end?" and starts being "Does God even know I am here?"

God's response to that complaint is not a gentle reassurance. It is almost a challenge. "Do you not know? Have you not heard?" In other words, you have the information. The problem is not that God has hidden himself. The problem is that you have forgotten what you already know about him.

What do they know? That the Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. That he never becomes faint or weary. That there is no limit to his understanding. This is not a God who runs out of energy at the end of a long week. This is not a God who loses track of a situation because something more important came up. He is the Creator. He is everlasting. He is inexhaustible. And he has not looked away from you.

That matters because the promise that follows only works if the one making it has the resources to keep it. God is not offering you borrowed strength. He is offering you a share of his own inexhaustible life.

The Surprising Recipients Of Strength

Here is what stops me in verse 29. "He gives strength to the faint and strengthens the powerless." Not the mighty. Not the disciplined. Not the ones who have earned it. The faint. The powerless.

And then verse 30 makes it even more striking. "Youths may become faint and weary, and young men stumble and fall." In the ancient world, youth and physical strength were the gold standard of endurance. If you wanted to say someone could not be stopped, you pointed to a young man in his prime. Isaiah says even that person stumbles. Even that person falls.

The world will tell you that endurance is a product of willpower, mental toughness, or the right morning routine. And there is nothing wrong with taking care of yourself. But Isaiah is addressing a deeper problem than poor sleep habits. He is addressing the kind of exhaustion that no amount of human effort can fix, the exhaustion that comes from carrying grief, uncertainty, loss, and prolonged waiting. That kind of tired is not solved by trying harder.

The promise is not "try harder and you will make it." The promise is "those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength." The word translated "trust" here carries the idea of waiting on, hoping in, expecting from. It is an active posture of dependence. It is the opposite of self-sufficiency. It is the acknowledgment that you cannot do this on your own and the deliberate choice to lean the full weight of your need onto God.

When you do that, something happens. The text says your strength is renewed. Literally, it is exchanged. You bring your exhaustion and God gives you something back. You soar on wings like eagles. You run and do not become weary. You walk and do not faint.

Notice the order. Soaring, then running, then walking. That might seem backward. You would expect the dramatic miracle first and the ordinary endurance last. But the scholars who have studied this text point out that walking without fainting is often the hardest thing. Anyone can sprint in a moment of inspiration. The real test is the long, ordinary, unremarkable faithfulness of putting one foot in front of the other when nothing feels exciting and nothing has changed. God promises to sustain you in that too.

The Secret Paul Learned

Now move with me to Philippians 4. Paul is not writing from a comfortable study. He is writing from Roman custody. He has been beaten, shipwrecked, imprisoned, and abandoned by people he trusted. And he writes, "I have learned to be content in whatever state I am."

Notice that word learned. Contentment is not Paul's natural personality. It is not a spiritual gift he was born with. It is something he acquired through experience. He learned it in abundance. He learned it in need. He learned it well fed and hungry, free and chained. And what he discovered is that the secret of endurance is not found in the circumstances improving. It is found in the source of his strength remaining constant.

"I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me." That verse is one of the most quoted and most misunderstood lines in the New Testament. It is not a promise that God will make you win every competition or succeed at every venture. Read it in context. Paul is talking about the ability to endure hardship without losing his soul. He is talking about the capacity to face scarcity and abundance, freedom and imprisonment, with the same settled confidence. The "all things" is not a blank check for personal ambition. It is a declaration that no circumstance, no matter how extreme, is beyond the reach of Christ's sustaining grace.

That is a very different kind of strength than the world offers. The world says you can make it if you believe in yourself hard enough. Paul says you can make it because Christ is the one doing the strengthening. Your confidence is not in your own reserves. It is in his inexhaustible supply.

What This Means For You Today

So what does this look like on a Tuesday morning when the bills are due and the diagnosis has not changed and the relationship is still strained and the prayer still feels unanswered?

It means you do not have to manufacture strength you do not have. You are allowed to be honest with God about your exhaustion. The people in Isaiah 40 were honest. They said, "My way is hidden. My claim is ignored." God did not rebuke them for saying it. He answered them. Honesty before God is not a lack of faith. It is the beginning of the kind of trust that receives renewed strength.

It means you keep walking even when you cannot soar. Not every day will feel like eagle wings. Some days are just the next step, the next prayer, the next act of faithfulness in an ordinary moment. God promises to sustain you in those days too. The walk without fainting is just as miraculous as the soaring. It just looks less impressive from the outside.

It means you look to Christ, not to your own willpower. Jesus himself, in the Garden of Gethsemane, faced the weight of what was coming and said, "Not my will, but yours." He walked through the darkest valley in human history, and on the other side of that cross was resurrection. That same risen Christ is the one Paul says strengthens him. That same Christ is available to you.

If you are here today and you have never placed your trust in Jesus, this is the invitation. Not to a program or a set of rules, but to a person. The one who died for your sin and rose from the dead, who is alive right now and who offers his strength to everyone who comes to him in faith. You can begin that relationship today simply by turning from your own way and trusting him.

And if you are already a believer but you are running on empty, hear this. God is not disappointed in your weariness. He is not waiting for you to get stronger before he helps you. He gives strength to the faint. He strengthens the powerless. That is you. That is the promise.

You can make it. Not because you are enough. Because he is.

Those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength. Hold on to that. Keep walking. He has not forgotten you, and he is not finished with you yet.

Sources Consulted

Motyer, J. Alec. Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. InterVarsity Press, 1999.

Oswalt, John N. The Book of Isaiah: Chapters 40 to 66. New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Eerdmans, 1998.

Fee, Gordon D. Paul's Letter to the Philippians. New International Commentary on the New Testament. Eerdmans, 1995.

Thielman, Frank. Philippians. NIV Application Commentary. Zondervan, 1995.

Crossway Bibles. The Holy Bible, Christian Standard Bible. Holman Bible Publishers, 2017.