"Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength: They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary." (Isaiah 40:30-31)
Sometimes I just get weary of it all. Sometimes I’m tired in body and in spirit. My strength is exhausted, my determination is shot, I’m irritated with life, and fed up with everyone around me. At times like these, I’m ready to tell everybody off and go to bed. Have you ever felt like that?
Unfortunately, one of the plights of people, even redeemed people, is that our strength is exhaustible. We are not superhuman creatures. Not being supermen or superwomen, our strength runs out and we face the common problem of weariness.
Riding down the road in my car one day, listening to the radio, I heard someone on a commercial ask the question: "Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired?" They said if you were, you needed to try some "Bee Alive Royal Jelly." Well, who isn’t sick and tired of being sick and tired? But I’m not sure royal jelly from bees will help. In fact, I’m not sure how anyone ever came up with the idea to try the stuff in the first place. It sounds like a sales pitch to me.
While we must face the reality that all of us must deal with weariness, there is hope from the Scriptures of a deeper reality in which we can tap into the inexhaustible strength of God. The text we are looking at now reveals that although we all get weary, there is a source of strength for those who trust in and wait upon the Lord.
Do you need an inexhaustible source of strength for your life? Wouldn’t it be fantastic to be able to draw upon an unlimited reserve of power to get you through the difficult times? That is precisely the point to which our text speaks today.
In this passage in Isaiah, we are pointed to two realities. One is an obvious reality. It is the reality that we all grow weary. The other reality is a deeper reality. It is the reality that as we act as people of faith, trusting in and expectantly waiting on the Lord, we find inexhaustible strength. The real question is: Which reality are we willing to settle for?
"Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly. . ." (v. 30)
What is being spoken of by Isaiah is the obvious. At least it is obvious to some of us. It is the truth that all of us are destined to grow weary. Perhaps the only category of individuals for which this truth is not obvious is young people. In fact, this verse addresses them particularly. Young people do not generally realize that their strong energy levels will diminish. They tend to think that they will always feel as good as they do now, perhaps always look as good as they do now. But those of us who have experienced the passing of years understand full well that the vitality of our youth does not last forever. The bodies that were once full of energy have begun to run down. It tends to hurt in various places more often than ever before. Even the wide-eyed buoyancy and expectancy of youth has been replaced with more sober anticipations, tempered by burdens of responsibility and obligation. These are the realities of growing older. A mark of maturity is that we face life squarely as it is. There is certainly nothing wrong with that. But in the process, sometimes we grow weary.
There is a danger, however, in growing weary. When we grow weary, we become very vulnerable. And this can cause us some very serious problems.
When we become weary, we are defenseless against the enemy. We are like a weary sheep to the wolf. Satan, the enemy of our souls, like the wolf, waits for the weary straggler to fall behind the flock. And then he pounces upon that easy prey.
The Scripture is filled with examples which prove this point. In Deuteronomy 25:17-18 we read, "Remember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt, how he met you along the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were faint and weary; and he did not fear God." Amalek’s attack on Israel is a prime example of the devil’s attack on Christians who grow weary. Another passage, 2 Samuel 17:1-2 reads, "Furthermore, Ahithophel said to Absalom, ‘Please let me choose 12,000 men that I may arise and pursue David tonight. And I will come upon him while he is weary and exhausted and will terrify him so that all the people who are with him will flee. Then I will strike down the king alone." Here, Ahithophel’s offer to Absalom to attack David while David was weary and exhausted is also indicative of the devil’s strategy. When we become weary, we are defenseless against the enemy.
That is why we are exhorted in Hebrews 12:3 to consider Jesus "who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart." It is when we grow weary and lose heart that we are in the most dangerous position a Christian can be. We become easy prey for the enemy. Our defenses are down, and sometimes we aren’t even aware of it.
When we are weary, we also lose our proper perspective. In Genesis 25:29-34, we have the story of Esau selling his birthright. Notice why he sold it.
"And when Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished; and Esau said to Jacob, ‘Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished.’ Therefore his name was called Edom. But Jacob said, ‘First sell me your birthright.’ And Esau said, ‘Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?’ And Jacob said, ‘first swear to me;’ so he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright."
It was because Esau was physically exhausted, weary and hungry, that he sold his birthright. Weariness makes you more attentive to your physical and emotional needs than your spiritual needs. Because of his exhaustion, Esau lost his proper perspective, and so can we. He forgot what was really important and missed out on the blessing of God.
Things are not always as they seem. The weary man looks through physical eyes. But what we need is spiritual vision. The weary man is much like Elisha’s servant, when the king of Aram surrounded the city where Elisha was. The servant only saw the troops of the opposing army. He was worried and anxious. He did not know what to do. But Elisha prayed. The prayer is recorded in 2 Kings 6:17: "Then Elisha prayed and said, ‘O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.’ And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha." We, like Elisha’s servant, need to have our eyes opened, to see what is really real. When we grow weary, we tend to lose our proper perspective. But God is still on the throne. We need to see that.
When we grow weary, we are also susceptible to despair and depression. While the Scripture is full of examples of this, we also know it is true from our own experience. It is very easy for a weary person to want to throw up their hands and quit. It’s so easy to be negative and critical when you’re weary. It’s so easy to feel like everyone is against you. And it’s so easy to feel sorry for yourself when you’re weary. You become like the man who had both an identity crisis and energy crisis. He didn’t know who he was, but was too tired to find out.
All of us grow weary. There’s nothing new about that. But what can we do about it? Do you need an inexhaustible source of strength? I know I do. We have just seen the obvious reality that we all grow weary. But let’s turn our attention to a deeper reality. It is the secret of inexhaustible strength.
"Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength: They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary." (v. 31)
The fantastic promise of God is that "Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength." Who are they? We find here the true church. Their hope is only in God. They live by listening for and hearing His voice. The contrast is between the vulnerability of a weary soul and the vitality of a waiting saint. Those who gain strength are those who trust in the Lord. They are believers. They are those who walk by faith and not by sight. They are those who waith on the Lord.
What does it mean to wait on the Lord? Literally, the word in Hebrew has the connotation of "to bind" or "to braid." The idea is of binding ourselves or braiding ourselves together with the Lord. In fact, to wait upon the Lord may be the Old Testament equivalent of believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Waiting on the Lord means that we exercise faith in Him. To wait on the Lord means that we seek His face earnestly; that we wait patiently and expectantly.
David said, in Psalm 27:14, "Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord." David understood that when you wait patiently and expectantly, with your faith placed in God, that good things happen. Jeremiah, in Lamentations 3:25 says, "The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him." To wait upon the Lord is to seek Him, to turn your eyes from your situation onto Jesus, to listen for His voice, to draw close to Him, to come into His presence, and to recognize Him as your source and resource.
The promise to those who wait upon the Lord is that they shall "gain new strength." Some translations put it, "they shall renew their strength." Literally, it means that those who wait upon the Lord shall "change" or "exchange" their strength. The idea is that as we draw near to God, waiting upon Him expectantly in faith, trusting in Him as our resource, that He will then impart to us His strength. The truth is that our strength runs out. What we need is new strength, and that’s exactly the promise that’s made to us. We will "gain new strength." As we wait upon Him, we bind ourselves together with Him, we braid ourselves to Him, and receive His strength. So when it says that we shall gain new strength, it means that we will exchange our strength for His. What an exchange it is!
But look at the impact that exchange has on our lives. It says, "They will mount up with wings like eagles." As we exchange our limited strength for His inexhaustible strength, we shall sprout spiritual wings and gain the ability to soar above our problems. How would you like to fly high, over the circumstances which plague you? In Jesus, by trusting in Him, waiting expectantly upon Him, you will gain the ability to do just that. Paul expresses this in 2 Corinthians 4:16 where he says, " Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day." In Jesus Christ, our inner man can be renewed day by day as we exercise faith in Him. The choice is ours: Do we want to soar with the eagles, or walk with the turkeys? In Jesus, we can soar.
But the promise is not yet finished. It says, "They will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary." As we tap into the inexhaustible strength of our Lord Jesus, we receive grace to accommodate the pace set by the commander of the army. There are times when He calls upon us to run. And in those times, we "will run and not get tired." But there are other times when we must simply march. In those times, we "will walk and not become weary." What a promise! And the secret is in our waiting upon the Lord.
What all of this says to us is that we must give top priority to our daily relationship of seeking the Lord’s face. There are so many things which press in on us from every side. We must not let those things rob us of our time with the Lord. It is in these daily times of drawing upon the eternal storehouse of God’s resources that we are given the strength to live for Him. If we would face our circumstances victoriously, if we would live for Jesus successfully, if we would find the strength to keep us going in the difficult times, we must spend time waiting upon the Lord. This is the secret of new strength. It is the main thing we need to be about.
Do you need an inexhaustible source of new strength? Turn your eyes upon Jesus. He will give you that strength. In Psalm 62:5-8 it says,
"My soul, wait in silence for God only, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be shaken. On God my salvation and my glory rest; the rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us."
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