Tag: renew strength
The Everlasting God: Creator
Scripture reading for July 7: 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 grow 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.”
As we continue to explore the God we love and serve, we find this familiar passage in Isaiah the prophet that begins with two questions. These questions were prefaced by God’s people questioning whether or not God was with them. They were saying that their situation was hidden from God and He did not understand what they were going through. But God knew their thoughts and answered their fears with questions that would open their hearts. Did they not know He was the Everlasting God? Did they not remember that He created them and all things?
God is the Everlasting God, the Creator of all. As God Almighty, He is never tired, weak or weary. He specializes in giving strength to the weak and reviving those who are fainting from the struggle to believe. This weariness and weakness is common to all mankind because of sin and sickness that resulted from man’s disobedience. As the Everlasting God, He has knowledge of everything, even beyond what we can think or imagine. God called His people to wait upon Him for renewal and restoration. He promised that all who would wait would renew their strength. They would even mount up like eagles after going through their annual time of waiting as God renewed their feathers and beaks and they could soar again. Our Creator is strong and loves us with an everlasting love.
Prayer: Father God, thank You for Your amazing understanding of our needs, weakness and struggles. Thank You that You are the Everlasting God Who never grows tired of us and our weaknesses. Help me as I wait upon You to find restoration in Jesus Christ, the Everlasting Son of God, my Savior. Amen!
Waiting on the Lord
Scripture reading for July 27: Isaiah 40-43
Chapter 40 of Isaiah begins a new theme for the prophet. Instead of the warnings of coming judgment and retribution on Israel and the nations for their sins, idolatry and waywardness, this next section speaks of hope, comfort and encouragement. The last 27 chapters are like the New Testament’s 27 books of encouragement, history and prophecy. As we begin in Isaiah 40, let’s allow God to reveal to us why we can patiently wait for Him to do what He has promised!
Isaiah’s perspective on God and creation from 700 years before Christ was amazing. Our God is so big that He measures the waters of the earth in the hollow of His hand. He marks off the expanse of the universe with a breadth of His hands! He could pick up all the dust of the earth and put it in a basket and weigh it. (Isaiah 40:12) To God, all the nations of the earth are but a drop in His bucket and the islands of the sea are just fine dust. (Isaiah 40:16) According to Isaiah, God sits enthroned above the circle of the earth. (Isaiah 40: 22) He makes this statement 2700 years ago when people thought the earth was flat!
God also has a tender side and is very personal. He tends His flock of people like a shepherd. He gathers His little lambs into His arms and carries them close to His heart! He gently leads those that have young ones. (Isaiah 40:11) He calls all the multiple billions of galaxies and their billions of stars each by name. He places them where He desires and not one is missing! (Isaiah 40:26) God does all of this effortlessly without getting tired or weary. His power and strength know no bounds. His understanding of every detail of every creature is beyond what we can fathom! (Isaiah 40:27-28)
Our God’s specialty is caring for and renewing the weary and the weak. As they wait and hope in Him, they are strengthened by His Spirit. Isaiah, under the anointing of the Spirit, uses the analogy of the eagle. (Isaiah 40:29-31) The eagle must wait upon the Lord when it goes through a time of renewal. It loses it’s feathers and beak and must wait on the Lord in the cleft of a rock. After the renewal of feathers and beak, the eagle again can mount up on it’s wings and soar! God’s people will be able to run and walk again in strength and power! What a promise of comfort and hope after a time of weariness and fainting!
Take time today to meditate on the greatness of God as reflected in these chapters of Isaiah. Allow your vision God is grow and your faith to wait upon Him to be enlarged! He is truly worth waiting for!