Renew Their Strength
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Isaiah spends most of a chapter showing how great God is. Then he says all that power is for people who are tired.
Read Together
In verses 12 to 26, God measures the oceans in the hollow of his hand and treats whole nations like a drop in a bucket. In verse 27, Isaiah turns to people who feel God has lost track of them.
22It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: 23That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.
28Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. 29He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. 30Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 31But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
What It Teaches
From where God sits, the people of the earth look like grasshoppers, and the strongest rulers come to nothing. Anyone who seems powerful in your life is small next to him.
That same God “giveth power to the faint.” Look at the order in verse 31. The eagle soars first, then the runner runs, and last comes the walker who keeps walking and does not faint. Walking is the slowest of the three. It is also the promise most of us need on an ordinary Tuesday, strength to keep going.
The Hebrew word translated “wait” also means to hope, to look for something you expect to come. Waiting on the Lord means trusting him while the strength comes.
Elder Robert D. Hales taught that “the purpose of our life on earth is to grow, develop, and be strengthened through our own experiences.”
Elder Robert D. Hales, “Waiting upon the Lord: Thy Will Be Done,” General conference, October 2011
Talk About It
Which do you need most right now, strength to run or strength to keep walking? What would waiting on the Lord look like for you this week?
Take to Church
God’s power rules the nations, and he gives it to people who are tired.