Why hasn't this God helped you?

It's not because he doesn't know, that your "way is hidden from the Lord." You see, "The Lord is the everlasting God" (v. 28a). He is the God of all time. He is present in every moment, aware of every event, omniscient in every second, in ancient Babylon and in Dallas this morning.

And it's not because he can't help, for he is "the Creator of the ends of the earth" (v. 28b). He is the God of time and space. He created Babylon; he created Dallas; he created you.

"He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom." It's not because he doesn't know or cannot help.

Then why? It's not because he doesn't want to help us: "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak" (v. 29). These verbs are in the active sense—this is his initiative, his choice, his action. They are in the present tense—he is still doing this.

Then why not for you?

Perhaps he is answering your prayers in ways you do not yet see. Before your next employer can call you with a job opening, the person in that position must move to California to take a job with a firm there. God is engineering that step, so he can then move you. Dominoes you cannot see must fall first.

Perhaps he is meeting your needs in ways you will never see. Silent angelic protection from unseen harm; anonymous donors of time, money, and support; a greater good through the present pain than you will be able to recognize this side of glory.

But I'm convinced that much of the time, our problems apparently go unsolved and our prayers apparently unanswered because we do not put ourselves in position to receive all that our Father wants to give.

Our culture is tempted daily to trust in ourselves, to solve our own problems, to meet our own needs. Some sociologists believe that the two most pressured, stressed, driven cultures in the world are Tokyo, Japan and North Dallas.

But "even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall" (v. 30). "Youths" is a technical Hebrew word for those specially trained and selected for hazardous battle due to their unusual physical strength and endurance. Even the youngest and the strongest will inevitably grow weary and fail. An Olympic swimming champion cannot swim to Hawaii.

So what does he want us to do? "Hope in the Lord" (v. 31a).

This Hebrew phrase means to trust in the Lord, to stay connected to him, to remain dependent upon him. To "place your hope" in God, rather than in yourself or any anything or anyone but him. This is an active word, not passive—to find ways to trust in God.

Don't give up, or give out, or give in. Keep worshiping God even when you don't feel like it or want to, for that's when you need such worship the most. Healthy people don't need doctors, Jesus said. Keep reading his word, keep praying, keep obeying, keep trusting. Keep hoping in the Lord. A power tool can be connected to only one source. And it must stay connected to that source until the power comes on.

When we "hope in the Lord," what does he promise he'll do?