ISAIAH 40
26 Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by its name. Because of his great power and incomparable strength, not a single one is missing. 27 O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles? O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights? 28 Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. 29 He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. 30 Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. 31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.
What wears you out? In years gone by, most people likely would have answered that question by referring to some kind ofphysical labor. Cultivating a 10-acre field. Tending a blast
furnace without a break during a 10-hour shift, six days a week every week. Planting a garden plot as big as a square city block. Washing the family’s dirty laundry in a wringer washer, hanging them in the breeze outside on a clothesline, and ironing each wrinkled piece, one by one.
Many of us here today have no clue what a 10-acre field or a wringer washer even looks like! Today other things wear on us, wear us down, wear us out—a job that feels meaningless, deep
and ongoing financial concerns, responsibilities for an aging parent, or distress over adult children who have left the Christian faith. What about you? What burdens did you bring into God’sphysical labor. Cultivating a 10-acre field. Tending a blast furnace without a break during a 10-hour shift, six days a week every week. Planting a garden plot as big as a square city block.
Washing the family’s dirty laundry in a wringer washer, hanging them in the breeze outside on a clothesline, and ironing each wrinkled piece, one by one. Many of us here today have no clue what a 10-acre field or a wringer washer even looks like! Today other things wear on us,
wear us down, wear us out—a job that feels meaningless, deep and ongoing financial concerns, responsibilities for an aging parent, or distress over adult children who have left the Christian
faith. What about you? What burdens did you bring into God’s presence here today? What wears on you, wears you down, and wears you out?
In every age God’s people have come to him at times in weariness. Believers of every generation struggle against Satan’s temptations. We run headlong against the relentless
winds of a society that ignores, resists, and sometimes even hates the Savior, whom we love. In addition, we contend with the same challenges of daily living that afflict everyone else on our
planet, Christians and non-Christians alike—challenges in our relationships, health, family, and finances. Someone has complained that “the problem with daily life is that it is . . . oh, so
daily!” To all of us who sometimes find our responsibilities and worries tiring, and especially to those of us who may find ourselves fatigued by the tasks and privileges God the heavenly Father has given us—to all of us and each of us, our Lord wants to give good news. Listen! (Read Isaiah 40:29–31.) Did you catch it? Your heavenly Father never tires. He has heard the cries of your heart. He knows even your most deeply hidden heartache. He has come—right now, today—to rescue you, to help you, to carry you, to lift you up as if on eagles’ wings, to raise you high above the storm clouds where he can strengthen you, comfort you, give you fresh hope, and fill your heart with new courage and confidence! He gives power to the weak; and to them that have no might he increases strength (verse 29)—God gives strength. A gift!
Not because we’ve earned it or deserve it, but because he is good and he cares about us! In fact, many times the burdens we carry are of our own making, aren’t they? We have fouled our
own nests. We’ve said or done hurtful things. We’ve failed to take appropriate action at the right time, neglecting our God-given duties, and this has led to even bigger relationship problems.
We’ve worried and fretted instead of giving our cares to our Lord. These sins add to the burdens of daily living. But God gives strength, continually renewing it. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall
renew their strength (verses 30–31)—The heavenly Father sent his own Son, Jesus, to the cross to bear our punishment, to remove our guilt and shame, giving us peace and power in exchange. His forgiveness renews us; it makes each day new! In that renewal, we can apologize to those we’ve hurt, especially those in our families. In that renewal, we can act in confidence
and love, fulfilling today’s duties today—with joy. In that renewal, we can refuse to worry, leaving our concerns at the foot of Christ’s cross, knowing that he cares about our loved ones even more than we do; he loves them more than we can! They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint (verse 31)—Men (and women!) of God do tire. Physically. Emotionally. Even spiritually. If it weren’t so, why would Isaiah promise renewed strength to those who wait on the LORD?
The lifelong process of depletion and renewal, depletion and renewal, depletion and renewal, teaches us to rely on our Savior. It reminds us of how much our very existence depends upon our Savior. If he would remove his sustaining power, we could not take our next breath, let alone continue to run the race of life. Until we have snapped the tape across the finish line of that race, we have God’s promise of ongoing renewal, a continuing supply of strength from heaven’s inexhaustible resources.
Your son,
Jody
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