Isaiah 40: Giver of strength

Major Lynley Oliver encourages us to rise up by trusting God.

Key texts

• Isaiah 40:28–31

I wonder how often you need to be reminded of basic yet key pieces of information. For example, take those times when you’re baking something you’ve made so many times that you feel you don’t need to follow a recipe. It’s only when you get to taking the finished product out of the oven that you realise you’ve forgotten a key ingredient – pavlova made without sugar isn’t the tastiest!

In our best times, when we are most attentive to God’s word, we are aware of key truths. Yet, when faced with trying days, we are apt to forget those same truths, and that is far more costly than omitting sugar from a pavlova!

Pause and reflect

• What key truths about God might you have forgotten recently?
• At what point did you become aware of not having remembered them?

The prophet Isaiah is aware of this human condition. When the going gets tough, we tend to forget to reach out to God and to remember we can depend on him. Hence the rhetorical question: ‘Do you not know?’ (v28). Well, yes, we do! We might believe that God gives strength and power. Yet, when we become distracted, overburdened or stressed, we easily forget.

Isaiah writes with awareness against a backdrop of ‘powerful’ nations that surrounded Israel. These nations did what they wanted because they had wealth. It is when we contrast earthly power with God’s power that we recognise our smallness. Prior to these verses, the prophet had asked questions that illustrate God’s power: ‘Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge, or showed him the path of understanding?’ (Isaiah 40:14).

Verses 28 to 31 of our study passage offer comfort and hope to the Israelites in exile because there is assurance that earthly perceptions of power do not compare to God’s.

Pause and reflect

• When have you become aware that people hold power over you?
• How did you respond?

In our study passage, we see some of the attributes of God’s power. He is ‘everlasting’ (v28) – neither his power nor his strength diminish because he is everlasting. There is nothing in this world that equates – God is Creator of all the Earth. He not only organises nature, he is also high enough and low enough to be intimately involved with his creation. These two attributes help to remind us that God is fully involved throughout.

Pause and reflect

• In which areas of life do we find it difficult to trust God?
• What holds us back from surrendering to him?

In verse 29, we are assured that God ‘gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak’. It sometimes takes courage to admit that. We may feel overwhelmed and weary. However, it is quite logical because we are human and not the everlasting God.God does not grow weak or weary. He is aware of our limitations because he created us and, because he knows us so intimately, he caters for our needs. When we feel as if we can’t go on, he provides strength. Isn’t it ironic that we do not rely on and trust God as much as we could?

Pause and reflect

• What stops us from seeking God sooner or more frequently?
• How might we live in God’s strength and power, rather than running to him for a new supply now and then?

Isaiah reminds us that we all have human limitations – even the strongest and most resilient of us will experience fatigue. Regardless of what stage of life we are at, we recognise that our human condition is that we are each capable of stumbling or falling. ‘Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall’ (v30). We could find ourselves in a potentially dangerous situation.

The apostle Paul recognises the need for us to become mature in our faith. He identifies times when we are being ‘tossed back and forth … and blown here and there’, and how by ‘speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ’ (Ephesians 4:14 and 15).

The hope described by Isaiah is intertwined with trust in God. It is a promise to receive and believe: ‘Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles’ (v31). Acknowledging our vulnerabilities is a first step to receiving God’s strength.

Pause and reflect

• In what ways can we deepen our faith and trust in God’s promises and character?

The imagery of soaring like eagles illustrates the way in which, when we trust God, we can see a divine perspective that gives strength to rise above challenges.

So, too, the picture built of running and walking gives us the assurance that God is the source of all we need. Although some experiences we have may cause us to feel weak and helpless, we can totally rely on God. Receiving his strength and power makes all the difference.

Pause and reflect

• Identify areas of life where you feel weak or weary.
• How might you actively place your hope in God?
• How might you receive strength from him?

We have been reminded of God’s personal interest in us, his care and his compassion, and that he provides all the strength and power we need. His energising power – the Holy Spirit at work in us! I wonder how we might impact someone else’s life today by sharing these truths.