Have you ever felt completely exhausted with life? God tells us how you can renew your strength. In Isaiah 40:30,31 the prophet says:
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
31 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.
The prophet is contrasting the physical strength of youth which eventually runs out to the condition of believers who firmly trust in the Lord finding that they do not grow weary but instead have strengthened and renewed faith from the Lord God.
For the evening of January 2, in his devotional Morning and Evening, Charles Spurgeon writes:
“All things on earth need to be renewed. No created thing continues by itself. ‘You renew the face of the ground’ was the Psalmists utterance. Even the trees, which wear not themselves with care, nor shorten their lives with labor, must drink of the dew of heaven and draw from the hidden treasures of the soil.”
Spurgeon is right in pointing out this natural situation. He goes on to make the point that if this is accurate in the physical/natural realm, it is also true about our walk with God. Just as we must nourish our bodies with the right kind of food, even so we must nourish our souls by feeding on the Word of God, the sacraments, prayer, and gathering for public worship services with God’s people. We are to make faithful and diligent use of these practices which God has established for us to grow in our faith in God. Spurgeon goes on to say, “Without constant restoration we are not ready for the perpetual assaults of hell, or the stern afflictions of heaven, or even the strife within.”
In order to face the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil, we need God’s gifts to strengthen our spirits and fortify our trust in Him. He has given us these means of grace: the read and preached word of God, the sacraments, and prayer, that we would faithfully receive them for the benefit our relationship with God. Spurgeon concludes with these words,
“Let us draw near to the footstool of divine mercy in humble entreaty, and we shall realize the fulfillment of the promise, ‘They who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength.”
As we wait on the LORD may we continue to look to Him for spiritual renewal and refreshment. Then we shall run and NOT be weary!
