Isaiah 40:27-31 By Jason Bowman
The perfect source of power could revolutionize the world. What if we no longer needed fossil fuels? What if everyone everywhere had a constant fountain of unfailing power? The impact would be felt like a ripple across the globe. Currently, that source of power does not exist. While we can use the sun, the wind, water and so much more to provide power, there is no power source available to all people that could power all things for all time.
However, there is a source of strength we find talked about in Scripture for the individual believer. We all know what it means to be tired, exhausted even. We understand the feeling of fatigue and of being overwhelmed. What if there was a source of strength for us in these moments of weariness?
The people of Israel believe God has given up on them. They know fatigue and weariness. They need help, but they believe that God does not see what they are going through. They even seem to have bought into the idea that God himself has worn down and can no longer supply what they need even if he wanted to. Isaiah strikes at the heart of such a distorted view of God and gives us needed insight into what God can really provide.
“The Lord is the everlasting God” Isaiah says (40:28).
God has existed for all eternity and will never cease to exist. He created the universe itself. This God cannot grow tired. He never feels fatigue. He never gets weary. There is no amount of help he provides that ever drains him. He has his own perfect and eternal source of power that never fails.
The wonderful part of what Isaiah says to the Israelites is that this God who never wears down offers help to those who wait on him out of his unlimited supply of strength. When a person waits on God, God renews their strength. To renew means to make something sprout again like grass in the springtime. Isaiah tells the weary Israelites that like new growth in springtime, God can revive them. The strength that God provides will not come from begging or pleading; it will not be given to them after they have done a check list of demands from God; it will not be earned. The renewal they seek comes directly from waiting on God.
I am not good at waiting. I get grumpy in the store when the line is too long. I become especially irritable in the car when traffic slows to a crawl or a stoplight is so short only a few cars get through at a time, and I am not one of those first few cars. We do not live in a world of waiting. Our culture thrives on the quick and easy. You might remember dial up internet … now, if a webpage does not immediately spring up, I get annoyed, even a little cranky. Waiting on anything – a package, a call to go through, traffic, a friend to show up who is late – these things challenge us. Yet, here God says to wait on him.
Waiting means looking with anticipation and confidence to that which is good and beneficial. Waiting is an attitude of hopeful expectation. Waiting does not mean doing nothing. Waiting looks eagerly to God to supply what is lacking. Waiting steps up at the moment of action to accomplish whatever God has called us to do knowing he supplies the strength to do it. Waiting is prayer. Waiting is purposeful. Waiting is hope.
Reflection: Where do you need strength? In what ways have you tried to be renewed and failed? Practice waiting upon the Lord and trusting in him for strength.