Renewing Our Strength: Isaiah 40:28 -31

renewing-our-strength-isaiah-40-28-31

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary; and young men shall fall exhausted. but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

— Isaiah 40:28 -31 ESV

a reminder of God’s greatness

The author begins by wondering why the reader doesn’t know or hasn’t heard who God is but then he tells us, or reminds us (because we as humans are forgetful) of how great and powerful God is, that He is the first and the last. He is telling us that in our brokenness, God comes in and saves us. He lifts our heads, He pulls us up out of our mess, and gives us the strength to keep going.

the lord will renew our strength 

Have you ever laid down in bed at the end of a long day – a day full of class, club meetings, and hanging out with friends, sighed as loud as you could, and thought to yourself “WOW, I am glad today is over?” When I think of faintness or weariness, this is what I picture in my head. When I think of how God does not faint or weary ever, I’m always moved to a place of remembering how weak we as humans are and how strong God is. Again, we see in 2 Corinthians 12:10, it is for when we are weak that God is strong. It means we get to be strong when we otherwise would never even have a chance. If we wait on the Lord to renew our strength, which He promises He will do when we are weak, then we get to be strong. We move from a place of weariness into a place of strength. 

some practical steps

Let’s get practical.
We must take off our strength, we must lie ourselves down and be open to let the Lord make us strong. His strength is better than ours anyways. First, write down all of the things you do out of your own might, the things that make you tired and weary at the end of the day. Then, ask the Lord to reveal how His strength is better in those circumstances.

 

pray

Let’s pray.
Lord, we come before You and confess we are weak without You. But thank You for reminding us here in Isaiah that You are the everlasting God, that You do not grow weary, that you renew our strength. Amidst our chaos and our busy lives, we ask that You would renew our strength day in and day out. We say that we can’t do this without You, so we ask that You would come and do life with us. 

– Allison Peden 

See also  Romans 12:9-13 - A Lifestyle of Love

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