The Ones Who Wait

By the time Isaiah writes these words he has been talking to people who are worn out, who feel that God has stopped noticing them. His answer is not a rebuke. 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 promise belongs to those who wait, and waiting is the hardest possible assignment for a tired man who wants this over. But the waiting Isaiah means is not passive drifting. It is the posture of a man who has run out of his own strength and keeps his hope fixed on God to supply what he cannot generate. The strength that comes is renewed, which means it is not your old strength patched up. It is new, and it comes from outside you.

Notice the order at the end. Wings, then running, then walking. It descends to the ordinary. The final promise is not that you will soar but that you will walk and not faint, that you will keep putting one foot in front of the other through a long ordinary Tuesday. For most of this fight, that is the miracle you actually need.

Father, I am worn thin and my own strength is gone. I will wait on you. Renew what I do not have, and help me walk today without fainting.