He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. 

Isaiah 40:29 

Who needs the strength which God alone can provide? The answer is: those who are weak. We naturally shy away from being that person. We do not want to be weak, think of ourselves as weak, or to portray weakness to others. Our culture militates and actively campaigns against it. Paul had to come to terms with this in a physical way. God gave to him a ‘thorn in the flesh,’ a physical ailment, which Paul referred to as ‘the messenger of Satan.’ He went so far as to relate that he had prayed three times for the Lord take it away. The Lord’s answer was, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Paul’s conclusion is, ‘when I am weak, then I am strong.’ Here is the key to the whole discussion. When we come to understand how weak we really are, we find that Christ becomes our strength. This puts a knife through the heart of self-righteousness, self-sufficiency, and any dependence upon our own intellect, skill or ability. As the Old Testament prophet quoted, ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord.’ This will bring us to Christ again and again. This will cause us to look to Him for all the strength we need. When we have faced our weakness, and embraced it, we fly to Christ to give us strength. 

Our Gracious Master and our God, 
we rejoice that even though we are weak, 
yet Your strength never fails. 
We praise You that by Your power, 
You lift us up to fly, to run and to walk. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

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 40:31 

Christ is sufficient for every circumstance we face. Isaiah has been sounding forth the promise that ‘those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.’ He describes three actions: flying, running, and walking. Each of these actions requires something different in strength and ability. In some situations we need to be able to fly, in others to run, in others to walk. Our natural weakness causes us to look at many of the challenges before us and cry, ‘who is sufficient for these things?’ For this reason, we look to the All-sufficient Christ. Christ is the Great Strengthener of His people. He knows all there is to know about all our circumstances and what strength we will need for each situation. He has given His people strength to fly, to run, and to walk in every generation throughout all history. We look back over holy history and observe Abraham, Moses, David and a host of others who in a variety of circumstances have experienced the renewal of their strength to fly, to run, or to walk as required. Christ was their strengthener, and He is ours. In all our varied situations of life, Jesus never fails. 

Our Great and Gracious God, 
We rejoice that You enable us 
to do what will bring You the most glory. 
We praise You that You renew our strength  
in every situation and so conform us to 
the Image of Christ. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

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 40:31 

For the majority of us, walking is our primary means of movement. We walk both literally and figuratively. Long, sustained walking brings weariness, and can even bring us to the point of fainting, especially if while we are walking we are waiting for God to intervene. As Isaiah holds forth the promise of God, he comes down to this final portion and says, ‘they shall walk and not faint.’ If we understand that any and all of our spiritual success depends upon Christ and our relationship with Him, we come to think of this portion of the promise in those terms. The Spirit of Christ has brought us from death to life. He has done all that has brought us thus far. The fulfillment of every other element of this promise depends upon God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit working together in concert to accomplish His purpose for us. Therefore, if we are to walk and not faint, it will be the result of Christ, the Head, enabling us, His Body, to walk and not faint, by the power of His Holy Spirit. This elevates our walk above any reliance upon our own resolve, strength, or ability. If we are to walk and not faint, it will be in our daily dependence upon Christ to follow Him, step-by-step. 

Our Gracious Master and our God, 
we rejoice that You go before us 
on all our pilgrim pathway. 
We praise You that day-by-day, 
we can follow You until we see You face-to-face. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

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 40:31 

What is it to ‘run and not be weary?’ Isaiah is speaking of ‘those who wait on the Lord.’ He is holding forth the promise that even though they have grown weary in their waiting, they shall ‘renew their strength.’ He has gone beyond that to say that they ‘shall mount up with wings as eagles,’ a graphic depiction of the spiritual empowerment which Christ gives to His people. Now Isaiah extends the promise farther by saying, ‘they shall run and not be weary.’ We run when matters are urgent. In the old days, runners brought important messages which were crucial to the well-being of the recipients. We run when a circumstance is urgent and time is of the essence. How can we ‘run and not be weary’ when there are so many situations which we encounter where the need is great and the lives of those whom we encounter are at stake? The answer is Christ. Christ the Head gives strength to the Body. He empowers us to go with urgency upon the missions of mercy where lives are at stake, physically, mentally, spiritually and socially. He enables us to keep on running to one soul after another to do whatever good we can do them for Jesus’ sake. By Him, we can run and not be weary. 

Our Wise and All-Powerful God, 
we rejoice that You enable us to run upon missions of mercy. 
We praise You that by Your enabling power, 
we can accomplish what will most bring You glory. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

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 40:31 

We admire the strength and power of eagles. We can only imagine what it would be like to soar high above the earth, taking in the horizon at a glance, far above the mundane comings and goings of the earth-bound. Isaiah makes a bold statement regarding those who wait upon the Lord. He says that they will ‘mount up with wings as eagles.’ When we have waited long for God to lift us up; when we have grown weak and weary in our waiting; when all around our soul has given way, we then most look to the enabling power of the Almighty God to give us strength that we cannot muster of ourselves. If we look to the life of Christ, we see that everywhere there were people who were waiting on God to strengthen them. Time after time, Christ came to them, healed them, strengthened them and enabled them. Christ is still the Great Strengthener of His people. He causes His people to renew their strength. By the empowerment of Christ, we rise above the most crushing of circumstances. We mount up with wings as eagles. We have power that only He can give us.  

Our Gracious, Uplifting God, 
we rejoice that You enable us 
to do what we could never do ourselves. 
We praise You that You strengthen us 
to accomplish what will bring You glory  
and lift up Christ. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning