Renewing our strength

(Isaiah 40:29)  “He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.”

For this truth to reverberate deep within a believer’s heart it must be far more than a simple understanding of whom it is that we need to consider for verses like these to come to life in our lives…

Who is this awesome God that we see with the eyes of faith? And yet although He cannot be seen with the naked eye there is proof wherever we look as nature itself breathes His brilliance whilst we are taught through scripture to trust Him at His Word. This is where it can get tricky with our independence driving our minds to rollick in the playground of “common-sense”; which at times can become our greatest enemy as it generates unbelief if left to run riot.

It is Isaiah the prophet that records this statement, a man called out by God to be His voice amongst men a long time ago and yet he still speaks through the volumes of this beautiful book, the Bible! He communicates tomes into the mind and hearts of those who understand that what he penned, which are the oracles of the only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; when the individual understands this, taking it as their own encouragement in trying times, it can be likened unto a breath of fresh air in a smog filled room. The pressures of life looking to choke the life out of us and yet when the eyes of faith allow us to believe it energizes the believer with a new found hope to press on and endure regardless of the prosecutions face throughout our lifetimes. It is a beautiful thing, the wisdom of God! Or at least when we catch a glimpse of His proficiency in the stormy trial; as our God continues to shape us into the beautiful character of Christ Jesus our Lord. Faith in our God is a key ingredient to help with this process. We must truly believe that if God is for us who can be against us and when faith is tested it demands this result.

Consider who it is that encourages; He is himself an almighty God. “He must needs be so, for he is the everlasting God, even Jehovah. He was from eternity; he will be to eternity; and therefore with him there is no deficiency, no decay. He has his being of himself, and therefore all his perfections must needs be boundless. He is without beginning of days or end of life, and therefore with him there is no change. He is also the Creator of the ends of the earth, that is, of the whole earth and all that is in it from end to end. He therefore is the rightful owner and ruler of all, and must be concluded to have an absolute power over all and an all-sufficiency to help his people in their greatest straits. Doubtless he is still as able to save his church as he was at first to make the world. (1.) He has wisdom to contrive the salvation, and that wisdom is never at a loss: There is no searching of his understanding, so as to countermine the counsels of it and defeat its intentions; no, nor so as to determine what he will do, for he has ways by himself, ways in the sea. None can say, “Thus far God's wisdom can go, and no further;” for, when we know not what to do, he knows. (2.) He has power to bring about the salvation, and that power is never exhausted: He faints not, nor is weary; he upholds the whole creation, and governs all the creatures, and is neither tired nor toiled; and therefore, no doubt, he has power to relieve his church, when it is brought ever so low, without weakness or weariness.” (Matthew Henry)

Isaiah finishes this chapter with such wonderful encouragement for those who don’t just give lip service to trusting in their God but make faith in Him their reality. Let me leave you with His encouragement; “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.” (Isaiah 40:31)

Signing off

Tyrone