[The LORD] 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 40:29-31
You’ve been marching for days. The sun stifles your energy. The heat saps your strength. You look around and see downcast and sand-beaten faces. Joy seems to be a long-forgotten thing. Every step you manage takes you farther away from home and closer to what you consider to be a bleak and uncertain future. Exile is your title. And as you walk on, you think, “My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God” (Isaiah 40:27). You are helpless; your circumstances hopeless.
That is how it was to be an Israelite exile on the way to live in the land of their Babylonian conquerors.
Have you ever thought that your ways are hidden from God, that he has disregarded you and your needs? In trying times, when a loved one is sick or suddenly taken from us, when we don’t know if we’ll be able to make ends meet, when we see our children struggling at school or as they try to get their feet under them in adult life, when we become weary and tired from facing the challenges in our lives, both physical and spiritual, we may think that our way is disregarded by God.
Well, God has words of comfort and strength for us in Isaiah chapter 40. “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.”
God gives strength to the weak and weary. That strength comes first from the realized hope of sins forgiven in Jesus. When a loved one is seriously sick, God gives you strength by caring for you and assuring you that in Christ heaven is our home. If you struggle to make ends meet, God gives you strength in the fact that he didn’t even spare his own Son for you. And so he promises that you will always have what you need. If you worry about your children, God gives you strength in promising that he will be with his children always to the very end of the age.
So if you are weak and weary, put your hope in the Lord and he will renew your strength.
Heavenly Father, often in my life, my troubles and worries make me weak and weary. At such times, help me to remember that no matter what, your Son died for me to save me. As you have promised, give me renewed strength. Keep me always in your care and because Jesus lived, died and rose for me, bring me at last into heaven. Amen.
Living Hope Church 