Isaiah 40:28-31

Recently I have been meditating on one of my favorite Bible verses Isaiah 40:31 and I decided to read it in context along with few more verses preceding it. To fit this passage in an even wider context, these words of hope were spoken at a time when the people of God were experiencing exile.

Here it is:
²⁸Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
    and his understanding no one can fathom.
²⁹He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak.
³⁰Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall;
³¹but 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 40:28-31, NIV

In the past, I had tended to just focus on verse 31 which talks about soaring on wings like eagles and running and not being weary. But this time, I really dug in and focused on the the character of God. And here are some things that stood out to me.

The Lord Everlasting

If you are like me, you have heard it a countless number of time that the Lord is the everlasting God but haven’t really stopped to comprehend what this means. Even if we tried, we probably cannot. You see, God is not bound by time. He is the same since we first were introduced to Him in the garden Eden as He is now. He is ageless. He does not experience any of the aging progression that our human bodies go through.

There is not even an iota of a chance that He will even get tired or weary. His strength remains the same. And even when He gives strength to the weary, it does not decrease His strength even one bit. He remains as strong as ever.

Oh Weak Human

Compared to the Lord, there is no one, not even the youngest of men who can keep up. Even the strongest of the human race will soon grow weary and tired. They will each stumble and fall. This applies to us humans in the physical and literal sense but also in every aspect of life. Take for example someone who has every good intention of instilling a new habit such as eating healthier. Even if they started out strong in their ambitions, eventually they are not going to be able to sustain it and will stumble and fail.

Hope

In spite of our human fragilities and certainty of failure, there is always hope. But this hope has to be placed on the One Everlasting Lord only. Only the One who’s strength can never fail, give strength those who need it. This means that even as my earthly body deteriorates and I can no longer do those things that I was once able to, there is One that I can lean who’s body does not ever ever decline in any form. And He will give me the strength to run. And I need to be able to place that hope and confidence in the Lord only.

Hope does not Disappoint

And when such hope is placed on the Lord, there is only room for success. Results will far exceed the expectations. Strength is renewed such that one is able to:

Soar like Eagles
Run and not grow weary
Walk and not be faint

This means that when I put my hope in the Lord, I can keep going and never give up. I can start a new venture of a project and I will be able to keep going without getting weary.

Repeat

The final thing to note is that one has to keep putting their hope in the Lord in order for the strength to be sustained. It is not a one time activity. Think of it like a phone battery that needs to be re-charged. We plug ourselves into the hope of the Lord, get our strength renewed but then we need to come back to Him over and over again to keep putting our hope in Him and keep getting the strength renewed.

After all, we are still human and cannot go far without His power and strength to sustain us.