“Why do you complain, O Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God’?” (40:27)
Haven’t we all felt like this before? We complain and bemoan the situations that God allows us to experience. We think ourselves forgotten, abandoned, and ignored by God. But through the prophet Isaiah, God calls out this complaining from his chosen people Israel:
“Do you not know?” is God’s response. “Have you not heard?” (40:28a)
God tells us to remember what we have heard and already know. If we remember who God is, and what He does for us, we remain confident that He remembers us.
Who is this God?
“The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (40:28b-31)
What is our strength?
It is perfectly normal to feel weak, tired, weary, confused, and lonely. We are human. We can expect these feelings while we live in a world broken by sin. Thanks be to God, we have non-human strength available to us: “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.” Thank you, Lord!
If we jump ahead in Scripture to Paul’s words in Ephesians, we are reminded of exactly what this non-human strength has accomplished:
“[God’s] incomparably great power [is] for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.” (1:19-20)
Is your hope in the Lord? Fix your eyes on him and remember who He is, what He has done for you through his Son Jesus Christ, and may your strength be renewed by his perfect, everlasting strength.
We get tired – God does not.
We grow weary – God does not.
We are weak – God is not.
Praise be to God, our Creator, our Savior, our Strength.