Our renewed strength is what the Lord is in Himself

[a mere housewife]

This is one of my favorite quotes from this wonderful devotional, which I highly recommend -- it is from the reading on Isaiah 40:12-31, which includes the promise that '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.' It was very encouraging to me to reread this today, and I thought I would pass it along:

Even if we wouldn't dream of saying it, circumstances can easily prompt the unbidden thought, Where is God in all this? And why is he not doing something about it? Has he forgotten? There is, of course, a god who is not there when we need him (1 Kings 18:27), but not the Lord God Almighty. He is 'unfainting, unwearying', that is, he lacks neither energy nor commitment; his strength does not ebb away, nor does he tire of the task in hand. It's just that 'he is unfathomable in his discernment' -- he sees to the heart of the situation in a way we never can and in ways we are not equipped to appreciate. The sooner we learn that lesson the better. It will meet us again in Isaiah in the famous words (55:8), 'my thoughts are not your thoughts . . . your ways are not my ways.' But please remember: our inability to 'discern' does not mean that no discernment is at work; our inability to see point or purpose does not mean there is no point or purpose. The more we exalt the greatness of God, the more we learn to appreciate our smallness, weakness, incapacity. We need to learn not to fret and fume; we need to accept our limitations of knowledge, wisdom, and foresight. Or, as Isaiah tells us, we need to practise 'waiting' for the Lord. Waiting is looking. When Isaiah puts Israel's grousing into words (v.27) what does he do next? He directs our eyes to the Lord (v.28). Look away from yourself, look at him. Next comes, expect from him (v.29); he is ever the giving God -- giving strength to surmount the problem, to run the race, and (best of all) to walk the path (v. 31). But is not (so to speak) a hypodermic syringe operation -- the injection of some transforming serum called 'strength'. It is what the Lord is in himself: the unfainting, unwearying one imparts his own unfainting, unwearying nature (vv. 28,31).

-Dr. J. Alec Motyer