Our Scripture for today is Isiah 40:31
“Those who wait on 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 first thing I want you to notice about this verse is that I left out a word. Here it is: before it starts with “Those who wait upon the Lord,” it starts with “But.” With this one little word, the Holy Spirit tells us that this verse is here because of what he has already said.
The verse before it reads, “Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall.” Then he says, “But those who lean upon the Lord.”
Freshly rested young people with a strong will can stay with a task for a very long time, but even they will wear out. Not so with God!
I am old enough that I have lost many that I have loved. When my brother was on his dying bed, each Friday morning, I would drive five hours to spend time with him. On Sunday afternoon, I would go home. It was my privilege to do that. One Sunday, as I told him I would be back next weekend, he said, “That is so far to drive.” I told him that was all right.
I didn’t come near the end of my strength. As I walked by his wife, I knew she had been doing much more than this for years. I was visiting with him, but she was his caregiver. I felt the weight of being in her place when my own wife struggled with her final months.
We (me, her, and you) are proud to get to be this, but it will eventually sap you of your strength. This is what the scripture means when it says, “Even the youths shall faint and be weary.”
Now the words “But those who lean upon the Lord” can give us comfort.
God is our helper. He never grows weary or fails.
King David wrote, “The Lord is my shepherd.” Psalms also says, “Cast your burden on the LORD, and He shall sustain you.” (Psalms 55:22).
There may come a day when I will exhaust my loved ones. They will help, but their strength may eventually struggle. Fortunately, I have a helper in God who always, under every strain of life and death, will be my shepherd and my helper. He will never grow tired or weary. AND, He will help those who tend to me.
Lonnie Davis