Does God Not Care for Me?

Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff. “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God”? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no-one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:21-31

In this passage we see the people of God despondent, confused, and complaining. They feel their difficulties are hidden from God, their case is being ignored by him, and God has forgotten them. In Isaiah 40:27 we read, “Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the Lord. My cause is disregarded by my God’?” It is the same complaint we find in Isaiah 49:14: “But Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.'”

This passage reveals the cause and cure of depression. All of us have experienced depression and confusion in our lives, especially in times of adversity. This was true of the Israelites, who complained every time they faced difficulty in their wilderness travel. But there is a cure for this condition.

In Psalm 73 we read that Asaph became despondent when he compared the prosperity of the wicked with his own poverty. He wrote, “My feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold.” But he came out of his self-pity and misery when he entered the sanctuary of God and began to reason correctly, thinking about the promises of the covenant God.

The Cause of Depression

Ignorance of God’s Truth.

First we want to examine the cause of our depression. It is a theological issue of not hearing what is told us about God. In Isaiah 40:21 we read, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded?” When we fail to look into the Holy Scriptures, we get despondent, overwhelmed, and confused. Like Peter, we look at the waves instead of the Lord of the waves, and so we sink.

This verse uses the words “heard” and “told” to point to God’s infallible word. Ignorance of God’s word is extremely dangerous to our spiritual, psychological, and physical health. In Isaiah 6 we are told, “Hearing, they do not understand; seeing, they do not perceive.” As before, the use of the words “hearing” and “seeing” point to God’s word. In 1 Corinthians 15 we are told that the problem of the Corinthian church was primarily their ignorance of God.

Thus, if we are depressed, it is due to our ignorance of God. We have failed to look at reality as God has revealed it objectively to us in his word.

Failure to Obey God’s Word

The second cause of our depression is our failure to appropriate God’s word in our lives. Not only must we hear the objective revelation of God in the Scriptures, but we must also understand it and apply it. Then we must add faith to God’s promise. Only then will we appropriate the blessing he promises.

We know God and his word experientially through the operation of the Spirit of God in our hearts. In 1 Corinthians 2:12 we read, “We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.” Objective truth is freely given to us, but we must personally apply it.

What happens if we do not add faith to the word of God? We will be restless and afraid when we look on the world. May God give us the Spirit of wisdom and understanding and open the eyes of our heart that we may know the hope to which God has called us, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

The cause of depression, then, is theological ignorance and not appropriating God’s promises.

The Cure of Depression

If the cause of depression is not hearing and understanding, the cure is hearing God’s objective truth and understanding it by faith.

God Is Omnipotent

To cure depression, we must understand God is. First, we are told that he is omnipotent God, the sole Creator of the cosmos. In Isaiah 40:12 we read, “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?” These questions are like those asked by God in Job 38-41, which overwhelmed Job and caused him to shut his mouth.

Let me ask you: Who has measured the waters by his cupped hand? No one but God, the one who created the seas. Who has measured the heavens? No one but God, who created the heavens. Water and heaven are opposites which together represent the totality of reality. So the question really is, “Who has created all things?” The answer is, “God.” None but God, the omnipotent one, has done these things. The universe is finite but he is infinite. He originates, maintains, and directs all things to his own goal. Nothing is impossible for God.

When we open the Bible, we read, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Our God is not a lifeless idol; he is the Creator God. Psalm 96:5 tells us, “All the gods of the nations are idols.” But the Lord made the heavens. Notice, here Isaiah is telling us that the universe had a beginning. Though it may seem infinite and eternal, it is not. The origin of the universe is found only in the infinite, personal Creator God.

In Isaiah 40:26 we read, “Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.” When you are depressed, it is a good idea to go out at night, look up, and observe the stars. This verse tells us once they did not exist, and the question is asked to depressed Israel, “Who created these?” The Hebrew word for “create” is bara, which is also used in Genesis 1:1. Every time it is used, it is speaking about God’s action, not man’s. So when Isaiah asks, “Who created all these?” the answer is, “God.”

In Genesis 15:5 God challenged Abraham to get outside his tent, look up, and count the stars, if he was capable of doing so. Of course, Abraham could not count them, for no man can do that. But here we are told that God knows the exact number of all stars, for he created each one of them. Not one is missing, we are told, because of God’s great power and strength. The cosmos is contingent on God-on the transcendent, self-existing, self-sustaining, necessary personal being of God.

This is the objective reality we must understand. If we are depressed, it is because our God is too small. We must see God as he is-the omnipotent, Creator God.

God Is Omniscient

Second, we must know that God is omniscient. In Babylonian creation myths, the god Marduk was unable to create without consulting Ea, the all-wise one. But our God does not need to consult anyone; he works all things according to the counsel of his own will. He never needs to learn anything because he knows all things exhaustively.

We cannot counsel God, but God counsels us. He is our Wonderful Counselor who tells us that though we are finite, fallen creatures, we can be saved by trusting in Jesus Christ.

Daniel told King Nebuchadnezzar that God “gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning” (Daniel 2:21). God does not receive counsel from anyone because he is independent of finite creation. That is what we mean by the transcendence of God. But the whole universe-the heavens, the earth, and all that is in them-displays his wisdom and declares his glory.

God knows great things as well as infinitesimally small things. In Isaiah 40:26 we read that he created the stars and calls them by name, meaning he governs them. In Psalm 50:11 he tells us, “I know every bird in the mountains and the creatures of the field are mine,” which tells us he knows every animal. In Matthew 10:30 he tells us “even the very hairs of your head are numbered.”

In Psalm 56:8 we read that God knows every tear that we shed in our suffering: “Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll-are they not in your record?” How many of us think that God does not know our sorrows? How many think our ways are hidden from him? It is a lie. God knows every one of us and our problems. He has not forgotten us because he cannot. He is our shepherd who tenderly cares for us.

In Isaiah 49:14 we find this question from depressed Zion: “But Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.'” If you are saying that, then listen to the answer of God: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me” (vv. 15-16). We are ever before God and there is nothing God does not know. That is what omniscience means.

God Is Sovereign

Third, we must know that our God is the Sovereign King of the universe. Isaiah understood this. In Isaiah 6:4-5 we read, “At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke. ‘Woe to me!’ I cried, ‘I am ruined. For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.'” In Isaiah 40:22 we read, “[God] sits enthroned above the circle of the earth.” In Isaiah 66:1 we read, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.'”

God is sovereign over all nature, history, and creatures. All nations together are, compared to God, a drop in a bucket, as we read in Isaiah 40:15, a speck of dust-nothing, worthless, and less than nothing. Nothing can prevent God from helping us.

In Daniel 2:21 we read, “[God] changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. In Isaiah 40:23-24 we read, “He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, then he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.” How many powerful world leaders have withered and been blown away like chaff!

Our God rules over all kings and all nations. In John 19:10-11 we read, “‘Do you refuse to speak to me?’ Pilate said. ‘Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?’ Jesus answered, ‘You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.'” In Romans 13 the apostle Paul wrote that all authorities have been established by God. He plants them and uproots them according to his sovereign will. He alone is beyond nature. We are told in Isaiah 40 that all men are grass, grasshoppers, nothing, and less than nothing in comparison to God. That does not mean creation is meaningless. God cares for his creation. Thus, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son to save his world.

God Is Incomparable

The fourth objective truth we need to know is that our God is incomparable. In Isaiah 40:18 we read, “To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him to?” All idolatry is blasphemy and utter foolishness. How can mortal man represent God with an image?

Isaiah mocks all such foolish attempts in chapters 40 through 48. He tells how a rich man creates an idol out of metal, overlaying it with gold and putting chains on it to keep it from toppling. But the poor man cannot afford a metal god overlaid with gold; therefore, he makes a god out of wood and gives it a firm base so that it may not fall. The value of a god, then, depends on the financial condition of the devotee.

All religions, except the religion of divine revelation, are idolatrous and blasphemous because they compare the eternal, transcendent God to a finite thing. In all other religions, man is simply creating God in his image and likeness. (PGM) But we must always keep in mind the absolute distinction between Creator and creature. In Isaiah 2:8 Isaiah tells us, “Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made.” So look at verse 18 [of Isaiah 40]: “To whom, them, will you compare God?” The answer is no one; he is incomparable.

God Is Holy

The fifth understanding we must have of the true God is that he is holy. In verse 25 we read, “‘To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?’ says the Holy One.” This word “holy,” or “qadosh,” appears sixty-nine times in the book of Isaiah. In Isaiah 6, the seraphs praised the thrice-holy God, saying, “Qadosh! Qadosh! Qadosh!”

When the Bible says God is holy, it means he is transcendent, self-existing, self-sustaining, eternal God. We are mere dependent creatures; God alone is morally perfect and without sin. In Isaiah 40:27 Israel complained, “My cause is disregarded by my God,” but the proper translation is, “My justice is disregarded by my God; my case is thrown out.” These people were accusing God of being unjust and unrighteous, but he is not. He is the holy God. We must know that so we can receive healing for our souls.

In Isaiah 11:3-4 we read, “He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.” God is holy, yet he has mercy on unholy people like us. Because he loves sinners, he makes us holy through the Holy One of God, his Son Jesus Christ.

God Is Good

The sixth thing we must know is that God is good. When the rich young ruler came to Jesus and called him “Good master,” Jesus asked him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good-except God alone.” In essence, Jesus was asking this man, “Do you understand that when you call me good, you are saying that I am God? Do you understand that also means you are not good?” God alone is good, and all good gifts come from him. He alone is our good shepherd.

God Is A Covenant God

Seventh, we must know that God is a covenant God. He loved us from all eternity, choosing us to be holy and blameless in his sight that we may have eternal fellowship with him. To accomplish this, God’s eternal Son became incarnate and died on our behalf. “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” meaning all things necessary to make us glorious? Our God is the covenant God. He made a covenant to save us and he will fulfill it.

Therefore, how foolish we are when we speak as Israel did in Isaiah 40:27, saying, “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is ignored by my God”! How many times have we spoken such foolish words when we faced adversity? But how can the omniscient God fail to see our problems? How can God, who knows every bird in the world, who counts every hair on our head, and who knows every tear we ever shed, forget us? How can a holy God act toward us unjustly? God is not a man that he should lie. Thus, to think God will forget us is blasphemy. All God’s promises to his people are “Yes” in Jesus Christ.

Dealing with Depression

How, then, do we deal with the cause of our despondency? We must deal with it theologically and experientially by hearing and knowing God. When we come out of our misery and self-pity, then we will learn that our God is a good God who loves and cares for us.

In verse 28 Isaiah asked, “Do you not know? Have you not heard?” This is what we need to know: He is the covenant Lord, the everlasting God, Creator of the whole cosmos, who maintains, governs, and directs all things to his own purposes. What is that purpose? Our salvation and his glory. Will God fail in achieving that purpose? No! As omnipotent God, he never grows weak or tired. He never lacks inner strength or is overcome by circumstances. We experience these things; in fact, Isaiah says even the best athletes grow weary and tired. But we who are God’s people are eternally loved, chosen, and cared for by our God.

In verse 29 we read, “He gives strength to the weary.” The present tense means he gives strength again and again. “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”

Therefore, O weary, weak, fainting people, behold your God-the omnipotent, omniscient, sovereign, incomparable, holy, good, covenant God! Behold him and be healed in your soul. This God has come to us in Jesus Christ to heal the sick, to give sight to the blind, to cleanse the lepers, to cast out demons, to give bread to the hungry and water to the thirsty, to calm our storms, to raise the dead, to preach the good news to the poor, and to set the captives free. He has come to us as he came to the blind Bartimaeus on the road to Jericho and to Zacchaeus, the great sinner, whom he called and saved. It is he who will give us strength, durability, and stability. In the Hebrew, the word “he gives power” means “he gives bone,” symbolizing that which is strong and stable.

God has come to deal with our misery. He will enable us to open our mouths, not to complain but to sing his praises forevermore. We will go from strength to strength until each of us arrives in Zion. Even the old shall stay fresh and green, bearing much fruit.

Waiting on God and Renewing Our Strength

God has not forgotten us! Therefore, may we stop complaining and know that those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. May we trust in him, hope in him, and look to him only. May we wait on him with patience, as the Syro-Phoenician woman did until Jesus healed her daughter. May we wait on him with expectancy, as the widow did until the unrighteous judge granted her justice. Our God is righteous; he will strengthen us right early. Weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning.

When we wait on God, we shall come out of depression and misery. The word “renew” is the Hebrew word “chalaph,” which means “exchange.” It means to exchange our weakness for God’s supernatural strength. This word also can mean changing one’s garment, as we read in Genesis 35:2. In Luke 24:49 Jesus told his disciples, “Stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” Therefore, get rid of the garment of weakness, complaint, and misery and be clothed with the power garment of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.” Discover, as the apostle Paul did, that when we are weak, we are strong. Realize that we can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens us. He will give us strength throughout our lives and at the moment of our death. In his strength we will live and in his strength we will die.

Our strength is renewed by exchanging our weakness for God’s strength. When this happens, we will mount up with wings as eagles, not because of our own power, but because of the power of the Holy Spirit. We shall run and not be weary, we shall walk and not faint, for our God will be with us and in us, giving us strength. In this world we will shine as stars, walking in love, faith, wisdom, light, and power. And one day we will make another exchange, trading our perishable, mortal body of dishonor and weakness for an imperishable, immortal body of glory and power. Amen