Isaiah 40:31: But 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.
Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength! The word ‘wait’ here is ‘qavah’ in Hebrew. It carries the meaning ‘to expect, to gather together, to look patiently on’. So, as we take time to wait on Him, we shall be renewed and refreshed in our strength.
There are times we get spiritually tired, especially after ‘doing the running’ in spiritual ministry, in serving at church, in looking after our family, or in business and career. But there’s good news for you. God is your spiritual ‘rest and refresh’. Isaiah 40:29 says, ‘He gives power to the weak’. The word ‘power’ here also means ‘vigor, strength, might’. So, as we wait on the Lord, we’ll receive God’s vigor, strength, and might again. He replenishes your spiritual energy that has been drained.
In Isaiah 40:31, there seems to be a cycle illustrating how we can be diminished in strength, and how God can replenish our strength. It says, ‘they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run, and then they shall walk’. The first is ‘to mount up’, or in other words, ‘to launch up into the sky’. Anyone who studies science knows this 'mounting up' takes a whole lot of energy. Then comes the second, which is ‘to run’, and finally, ‘to walk’. So, you'll see in life there’s a continuous cycle of ‘mount up, run, and walk’.
Now, how do we get ourselves replenished in the Lord again? The answer is when you take time to rest in Him, in Word and in Spirit. When you know you are drained, or when you start to feel a little 'edgy', then it's time to leave your 'busyness' aside, and begin to feed on the Word, confessing and meditating on the Word, and to pray in the Spirit. Have a 'time-out' just to be with the Lord. You’ll be renewed and refreshed again by the Word and Spirit, and as you do that, you’ll ‘mount up with wings like eagles’ again. Even when the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall (Isaiah 40:30), but you who wait on the Lord shall be renewed in strength, and shall never be weary and shall never faint!
