Strength Will Rise

"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, 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."
Isaiah 40:28-31

I just got back from doing my morning walk. Not run. Walk. Yes you heard me correctly. Guys like me don't run. The physical trauma to my knees would be devastating and debilitating. I have chosen, in my effort to gain some kind of control over my weight, I have decided to forgo the running with all its punishments and instead do the brisk walking thing. Now walking may sound "wimpy" to some of you, and if it does, well, I invite you to go walking with me. But before you come out, you have to know that I can walk faster than a lot of people can run. I have long legs and a very long stride, and "mama, I don't waste no time!" You might be saying to yourself, "Okay. Okay. Why all the talk about walking and running all of a sudden?" That is a very good question. I'm glad you asked. When I get back from walking, my heart is beating rapidly, I usually am sweating, and maybe even gasping for breath. Some mornings (usually Mondays for some reason) while all of this beating and sweating and gasping is going on, I might think that I am going to faint, that I just need to sit down and gather myself for a moment. That is when this text came to my mind.

There is a song out written by Brenton Brown called "Everlasting God." It was recorded by Chris Tomlin, and lots of churches across the land sing the song as part of their worship music set. That song was going through my head today, as my shoe came untied on the home stretch of my walk. As I am singing that song in my head (and heart), "Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord, as we wait upon the Lord, we will wait upon the Lord," it occurred to me that our lives are like my walk a lot of times. Sometimes, beloved, we get so caught up in the rapid pace of our lives, the rushing here and the rushing there, meeting this deadline and replacing it with the next. Our lives move at such a pace that we begin sweating about how we are going to fit it all in, "because only God knows that I have three kids going three different places with one vehicle and three meetings at work this week and then there is dinner parties and man, I have to fit church and God in there somewhere."

Relax.

Don't you know? Haven't you heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the entire universe loves you. And He doesn't ever get tired, or run out of breath, or get weak and weary. In fact, He says that He will give strength to the weak, if we just wait upon Him. When I come back from my walk, I just want (need) to sit down and wait for a moment or two, then I'm alright. Beloved, in our busy lives, if we wait upon the Lord...if we take a moment to pause the "action" of our lives, and just be still before Him, He promises to renew our strength, to the point where we will run and not be weary, we will walk and not faint.

Let me ask you this: Are you running and getting nowhere? The hurry-er you go, the behind-er you get? Are you weary in your life? Do you feel like your life is at such a pace that you might faint? Maybe it is because in all of your rush, you forgot the most important thing: Our strength comes from the Lord, and if we wait upon Him - wait as in pause, but also wait as in serve - He promises to renew our strength. And we will rise. As our strength from the Lord rises, so will we. "Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord, we will wait upon the Lord, we will wait upon the Lord." Let's go out there and face the day with courage and strength and peace and love that all comes from the hand of the Lord. Let's wait upon Him. I kinda like soaring like an eagle. Shalom.