29He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might.
30Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall;
31but those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.
29 He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might.
30 Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall;
31 but those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.
KJVKing James Version
29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Show all 3 translations
JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
29 He giveth power to the faint; and to him that hath no might He increaseth strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall;
31 But they that wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.
Lamentations 3:25-26(v31)Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation…
2 Corinthians 4:16(v31)Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day.
Psalms 27:13-14(v31)I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of Yahweh in the land of the living. Wait for Yahweh. Be strong, and let your heart…
Psalms 103:5(v31)who satisfies your desire with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10(vv29, 31)He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in…
Show all 50 cross-references
Hebrews 12:1(v31)Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily…
Galatians 6:9(v31)Let’s not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season, if we don’t give up.
Romans 8:25(v31)But if we hope for that which we don’t see, we wait for it with patience.
Isaiah 30:18(v31)Therefore Yahweh will wait, that he may be gracious to you; and therefore he will be exalted, that he may have mercy on you, for Yahweh is…
Psalms 84:7(v31)They go from strength to strength. Every one of them appears before God in Zion.
Psalms 37:34(v31)Wait for Yahweh, and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.
Luke 18:1(v31)He also spoke a parable to them that they must always pray, and not give up,
2 Corinthians 4:8-10(v31)We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair; pursued, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed;…
Isaiah 25:9(v31)It shall be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God! We have waited for him, and he will save us! This is Yahweh! We have waited for…
Psalms 138:3(v31)In the day that I called, you answered me. You encouraged me with strength in my soul.
Psalms 25:5(v31)Guide me in your truth, and teach me, For you are the God of my salvation, I wait for you all day long.
Psalms 25:3(v31)Yes, no one who waits for you will be shamed. They will be shamed who deal treacherously without cause.
Exodus 19:4(v31)‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to myself.
2 Corinthians 1:8-10(v31)For we don’t desire to have you uninformed, brothers, concerning our affliction which happened to us in Asia, that we were weighed down…
Hebrews 12:3(v31)For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don’t grow weary, fainting in your souls.
Job 17:9(v31)Yet the righteous will hold to his way. He who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.
Psalms 25:21(v31)Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you.
Psalms 40:1(v31)I waited patiently for Yahweh. He turned to me, and heard my cry.
Revelation 2:3(v31)You have perseverance and have endured for my name’s sake, and have not grown weary.
Psalms 123:2(v31)Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress; so our eyes look to…
Zechariah 10:12(vv29, 31)I will strengthen them in Yahweh; and they will walk up and down in his name,” says Yahweh.
Isaiah 41:10(v29)Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will…
2 Corinthians 4:1(v31)Therefore seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we don’t faint.
Isaiah 8:17(v31)I will wait for Yahweh, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
Psalms 92:13(v31)They are planted in Yahweh’s house. They will flourish in our God’s courts.
1 Thessalonians 1:10(v31)and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead: Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.
Philippians 4:13(v29)I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
Judges 16:28(v31)Samson called to Yahweh, and said, “Lord Yahweh, remember me, please, and strengthen me, please, only this once, God, that I may be at once…
Job 33:24-26(v31)then God is gracious to him, and says, ‘Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.’ His flesh will be fresher than a…
Colossians 1:11(v29)strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, for all endurance and perseverance with joy,
Psalms 92:1(v31)It is a good thing to give thanks to Yahweh, to sing praises to your name, Most High,
Jeremiah 31:25(v29)For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.”
Song of Solomon 8:5(v31)Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Under the apple tree I aroused you. There your mother conceived you.…
Psalms 29:11(v29)Yahweh will give strength to his people. Yahweh will bless his people with peace.
Revelation 4:7(v31)The first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like a man, and the fourth was…
Isaiah 50:4(v29)The Lord Yahweh has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him who is weary. He awakens…
Deuteronomy 33:25(v29)Your bars will be iron and bronze. As your days, so your strength will be.
Hebrews 11:34(v29)quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, grew mighty in war, and caused foreign armies to…
Genesis 49:24(v29)But his bow remained strong. The arms of his hands were made strong, by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, (from there is the shepherd,…
Amos 2:14(v30)Flight will perish from the swift; and the strong won’t strengthen his force; neither shall the mighty deliver himself;
Psalms 34:10(v30)The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger, but those who seek Yahweh shall not lack any good thing.
Psalms 33:16(v30)There is no king saved by the multitude of an army. A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.
Ecclesiastes 9:11(v30)I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet…
Isaiah 9:17(v30)Therefore the Lord will not rejoice over their young men, neither will he have compassion on their fatherless and widows; for everyone is…
Isaiah 13:18(v30)Their bows will dash the young men in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb. Their eyes will not spare children.
50 distinct cross-references across this passage (52 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (18 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn v30They that trust in their own virtue, and do…
They that trust in their own virtue, and do not acknowledge that all cometh of God.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv29–31Isa 40:29 He giveth power to the faint; and…
Isa 40:29 He giveth power to the faint; and to [them that have] no might he increaseth strength.
Ver. 29. He giveth power to the faint.] How then should he himself faint? or why should any good man’s heart fail him? The Jews among their benedictions (whereof they are bound to say a hundred every day), have this for one, Blessed be God who giveth power to the faint.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv29–31He hath strength enough not only for himself, but…
He hath strength enough not only for himself, but for all, even the weakest of his creatures, whom he can easily strengthen to bear all their burdens, and to vanquish all their oppressors.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv29–30Even the youths shall faint and be weary,.... Such…
Even the youths shall faint and be weary,.... Such as are in the prime of their strength, and glory in it, yet through the hand of God upon them, by one disease or another, their strength is weakened in the way; or they meet with that which they are not equal to, and sink under, and are discouraged, and obliged to desist. Some think the Babylonians and Chaldeans are here meant, the enemies of Israel, and by whom they were carried captive. The Targum interprets this clause, as well as the following, of wicked and ungodly men; and so do Jarchi and Kimchi: it may be applied to the Heathen emperors, who persecuted the church of God, and were smitten by him, and found it too hard a work to extirpate Christianity out of the world, which they thought to have done; and also to all the antichristian states, who have given their power and strength to the beast:
and the young men shall utterly fail; or, "falling shall fall" (f); stumble and fall, die and perish; or, however, not be able to perform their enterprise.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv30–31The youths - The youngest and strongest men, left…
The youths - The youngest and strongest men, left to themselves.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn v31Verse 31. They shall mount up with wings as…
Verse 31. They shall mount up with wings as eagles - "They shall put forth fresh feathers like the moulting eagle"] It has been a common and popular opinion that the eagle lives and retains his vigour to a great age; and that, beyond the common lot of other birds, he moults in his old age, and renews his feathers, and with them his youth. "Thou shalt renew thy youth like the eagle," says the psalmist, Ps 103:5; on which place St. Ambrose notes, Aquila longam aetatem ducit, dum, vetustis plumis fatiscentibus, nova pennarum successione juvenescit: - "The eagle lives to a very advanced age; and in moulting his youth is renewed with his new feathers."
Phile, De Animalibus, treating of the eagle, and addressing himself to the emperor Michael Palaeologus junior, raises his compliment upon the same notion: -
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Τουτου συ, βασιλευ, τον πολυν ζωοις βιον,
Αει νεουργων, και κρατυνων την φυσιν.
"Long may'st thou live, O king; still like the eagle
Renew thy youth, and still retain thy vigour."
To this many fabulous and absurd circumstances are added by several ancient writers and commentators on Scripture; see Bochart, Hieroz. II. ii. 1. Rabbi Saadias says, Every tenth year the eagle flies near the sun; and when not able any longer to bear the burning heat, she falls down into the sea, and soon loses her feathers, and thus renews her vigour. This she does every tenth year till the hundredth, when, after she has ascended near the sun, and fallen into the sea, she rises no more. How much proof do such stories require! Whether the notion of the eagle's renewing his youth is in any degree well founded or not, I need not inquire; it is enough for a poet, whether profane or sacred, to have the authority of popular opinion to support an image introduced for illustration or ornament. - L
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn v29Isa 40:29-31. He giveth power to the faint —…
Isa 40:29-31. He giveth power to the faint — He hath strength enough, not only for himself, but for all, even the weakest of his creatures, whom he can easily strengthen to bear all their burdens, and to vanquish all their oppressors. The prophet seems to speak with an especial reference to those among God’s people whose faith and hope were very low, which he would support, even until the time of their promised deliverance. Even the youths shall faint — Those that make the greatest boast of their strength, as young men are apt to do, shall find it fail them whenever God withdraws his support. But they that wait upon the Lord — That rely on him for strength to bear their burdens, and for deliverance from them in due time; shall renew their strength — Shall grow stronger and stronger in faith, patience, and fortitude, whereby they shall be more than conquerors over all their enemies and adversities. They shall mount up on wings as eagles — Which, of all fowls, fly most strongly and swiftly, and rise highest in their flight, and out of the reach of all danger. Instead of, They shall mount up, &c., Bishop Lowth reads, They shall put forth fresh feathers, like the moulting eagle; observing, “It has been a common and popular opinion, that the eagle lives and retains his vigour to a great age; and that, beyond the common lot of other birds, he moults in his old age, and renews his feathers, and with them his youth. Thou shalt renew my youth like the eagle, says the psalmist, on which place St. Ambrose notes, ‘Aquila longam ætatem ducit, dum, vetustis plumis fatiscentibus, nova pennarum successione juvenescit.’” The eagle extends his age to a great length, while the old feathers failing, he grows young by a new succession of feathers. See note on Psa 103:5.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv29–31He giveth power to the faint - To his…
He giveth power to the faint - To his weak and feeble people. This is one of his attributes; and his people, therefore, should put their trust in him, and look to him for aid (compare 2Co 12:9). The design of this verse is to give consolation to the afflicted and down-trodden people in Babylon, by recalling to their minds the truth that it was one of the characteristics of God that he ministered strength to those who were conscious of their own feebleness, and who looked to him for support. It is a truth, however, as applicable to us as to theresa truth inestimably precious to those who feel that they are weak and feeble, and who look to God for aid.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn v31Eagles, who grow young, when they get new feathers,…
Eagles, who grow young, when they get new feathers, Psalm cii. 5. (St. Jerome) --- In this and the following 26 chapters the prophet chiefly comforts his people, as he had rebuked them for their crimes in the first part. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv29–31Not only does He "not faint" (Isa 40:28) but…
Not only does He "not faint" (Isa 40:28) but He gives power to them who do faint.
no might . . . increaseth strength--a seeming paradox. They "have no might" in themselves; but in Him they have strength, and He "increases" that strength (Co2 12:9).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv29–3029. He giveth power — So far from becoming…
29. He giveth power — So far from becoming faint himself, as the God of power and wisdom he giveth strength to the fainthearted always.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv30–3130. Even the youths shall faint …] Better: And…
30. Even the youths shall faint …] Better: And though youths faint and are weary and choice young men stumble (the protasis to Isa_40:31). Natural strength at its best is exhausted, but—
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv29–31(29) He giveth power to the faint . .…
(29) He giveth power to the faint . . .—i.e., to them pre-eminently—their very consciousness of weakness being the condition of their receiving strength. (Comp. Mat_5:6; Luk_1:52-53; Luk_6:21.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv29–31He giveth power to the faint. So far is…
He giveth power to the faint. So far is he from being "faint" himself, that he has superabundant energy to impart to any that are faint among his servants.
Weakness made strong.
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"He giveth power to the faint," etc. The.pilgrim to Zion is often weary. Lassitude and faintness steal over the soul, and energy is gone. At such seasons we cannot recover ourselves. No effort of will can give tone to the spirit and zeal to the activities.
I FAINTNESS RELIEVED. Our principles have not changed; nor have our ideals. To live for Christ is still our aim. But somehow the heart, which is the centre of the life, beats feebly. God has varied ways of relieving our weakness and restoring our strength. But whatever the instrumentality, it is God that does it, God"s Spirit that fills it. Blessed hours are those when the heavenly breath revives the soul; when the graces lift up their faded heads like dew-bathed flowers; when courage revives, and the soul rejoices in God.
II STRENGTH INCREASED. "To them that have no might." Further than this we cannot go. And it should comfort those who regard their experiences of feebleness as indications that they are not the children of God, that such a state is recognized in Holy Scripture as possible to us. "No might." Patience gone. Endurance gone. Perseverance gone. It is almost like moral paralysis. But it is not, indeed, so. The nerve is weakened, but not snapped. Divine communication can and will come, even to the most enfeebled and dejected. While we say "no might," there is a little strength, or it could not be "increased." And this increase is often very slow and imperceptible. When we are physically feeble, we cannot measure progress as we inhale the air of sea or mountain; only steadily does the tide of health, like the ocean tide, return. But it does come, if we wait upon God; for God is faithful who hath promised. It is all of him. W.M.S.
Vers. 29-31. The need and the gift of spiritual power.
What Israel wanted in captivity the Church of Christ now needs in its present situation, surrounded by an unsympathizing or even hostile world. It lacks power to do that which it was created to accomplish. Potentially, it has within itself all that is required to complete the great work of regeneration which its Divine Master began; in simple fact and in sad reality, it has failed to discharge its function. Every Church should be a great power for good in the country, in the neighbourhood in which it is planted; every Christian man should be a real power for piety and virtue in the circle in which he moves. We ought to have power to "witness a good profession for Jesus Christ," power to live an elevating, influential life, power to execute a useful and abiding work for cur Lord. Can we say that this is the case with our Churches, with ourselves? Must we not regretfully admit that it is not so? We note
I THE PREVALENCE OF HUMAN WEAKNESS. Probably the "faint, and those who had no might," among the exiled Israelites were the dispirited, the dissatisfied, the despairing those who had lost hope in God and had no expectation of ever seeing again the land of their fathers. So with the Israel of God; the faint and the weak include:
1. Joyless souls, who have no gladness in God, and no happiness in his service, who walk even in the "path of life" with no brightness in their countenance and no elasticity in their step. But they include also:
2. Half-hearted souls, whose devotedness to Christ is seriously defective, who cannot say, "With my whole heart have I served thee," who seem to think that a very large amount of selfishness is consistent with loyalty to the Lord, and who are often falling "out of rank" when they should be walking on in the march or actively engaged in the battle.
3. Faint-hearted souls, who have no courage to attempt anything for their Master and their fellow-men, and who consequently allow their life to pass on and away without achieving anything in the field of sacred usefulness.
4. Souls open to temptation; those who have gained such an imperfect control over themselves that they lie exposed to the gusts of temptation, and their best friends are continually solicitous lest they should dishonour themselves and the Name they bear.
II THE INSUFFICIENCY OF HUMAN STRENGTH. There were those in Israel from whom, in the natural course of things, strength, vigour, fortitude, might have been expected. But in vain: "Even the youths shall faint," etc. There are those in the Church of Christ whose physical constitution, or whose natural temperament, or whose intellectual capacity or acquisition might give them the appearance of strength; it would not be expected of them that they would become "weary," still less that they would "utterly fall." But no reliance can be placed on such natural supports, such unspiritual resources. These souls are not strong in the deeper sense in which the Church needs strength. They are subject to the inroads of pride; they are liable to fall under the assaults of passion; they are tempted to withhold from God the glory which is due to his holy Name; they may do nothing to commend the Divine Saviour himself and his glorious gospel to the hearts of men; and, "not gathering with" Christ, they only "scatter abroad" the seeds of error and of wrong.
III THE GIFT OF DIVINE POWER. "He giveth power... he increaseth strength." God has access to our human souls direct and immediate access. He can "lay his hand upon us," and touch the secret springs of our nature, calling forth all that is best and worthiest, "strengthening us with strength in our soul." He can communicate to us so much of "the exceeding greatness of his power" that we can, through him and in him, become strong indeed; can attain to strength of:
1. Resistance; so that we shall be able to stand in the evil hour of temptation.
2. Endurance; that we can be calm, peaceful, acquiescent, even under the severest and the most lasting trials.
3. Steadfast piety; that we become "living epistles of Christ," etc.
4. Sacred joy.
5. Faithful utterance.
6. Perseverance in every good work. God gives us of the refreshing, renewing, invigorating influences of his Holy Spirit, and we run without weariness, we walk without tainting.
IV THE CONDITION ON WHICH IT IS CONFERRED. This includes
(1) a patient waiting for the exercise of God"s power on our behalf; and also
(2) an earnest appeal to him in believing prayer that he would fulfil his word. The truly reverent spirit will devoutly seek the Divine blessing, and confidently look for its bestowal. To expect without seeking is presumption; to seek without expecting is unbelief; to do the one and not to leave the other undone is obedience and faith in happy union. C.
He who has power alone can give it.
"He giveth power to the faint." "The final verses of this chapter are remarkable for the frequent occurrence of "fainteth" and "is weary." They come in every sentence, and if we note their use we shall get the essence of the hope and consolation which the prophet was anointed to pour into the wounds of his own people, and of every heavy-laden soul since then. Notice how, first, the prophet points to the unwearied God; and then his eyes drop from heaven to the clouded, saddened earth, where there are the faint and the weak, and the strong becoming faint, and the youths fading and becoming weak with age. Then he hinds together these two opposites the unwearied God and the fainting man in the grand thought that he is the giving God, who bestows all his power on the weary. And see how, finally, he rises to the blessed conception of the wearied man becoming like the unwearied God. "They shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint (Maclaren).
I A MAN MUST GIVE WHAT HE POSSESSES. He only truly enjoys it by giving it. The miser who holds is miserable. To have anything is simply blessed because we can share it, we can give it. This is more true than we think it, in all the best relations of life, even under our present depraved conditions. Ideally it is the only noble conception of life. Mothers only care for possession because it brings power, to give. Thinkers only acquire truth for the joy of imparting. We are permitted to think that this is true of God. He has no joy in possession. His joy is giving. He is always spending and working; and the gift of his Son is only the sublimest instance of what he is always doing giving away his possessions.
II A MAN CAN ONLY GIVE WHAT HE POSSESSES. We seek out each man for the skill he possesses. This man can give us healing, that one comforting, and this one teaching. Each has his own possession, and each can help us in his own way. No one man can do all things for us; and we are foolish indeed if we expect of a man what he has no power to give.
III WHAT GOD HAS IS THE FULL, ABUNDANT SUPPLY OF ALL OUR WANTS. "My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." In the passage now before us the provision of God for us is gathered up into the significant word "strength." Paul"s great want is also our great want the great want of every man the world over, in whom a trace of the Divine image is left. It is power "power to perform that which is good;" some spiritual force to act on our souls, and make us more than conquerors over self and sin. And that is within Goal"s ability. To bestow it is the purpose of his good will. "Giving power to the faint" is his Divinest work. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv29–31He giveth power to the faint
Isa_40:29-31
He giveth power to the faint
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The Divine Helper
I.
OUR SPIRITUAL CONDITION IS INTIMATELY KNOWN TO THE DIVINE FATHER. He knows the strong and the faint alike. As a wise Shepherd, He is acquainted with the state of His entire flock.
1. There is our inherent antagonism to evangelical truth. Man is prone to self-leaning. When we leave the Cross we faint; while we glory in its Sufferer we are armed with irresistible might!
2. There is the seductive influence of worldly association.
3. There is the fierce battle for daily bread.
4. There is our ever-recurring unbelief.
II. MORAL FAINTNESS DOES NOT INVALIDATE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. Were all the faint to be excluded, how many of you would remain as children of God? Does the parent cast off the crippled child? It will be necessary, however, to guard this assurance with two explanations--
1. It contains no encouragement to moral indolence. You are not to exonerate yourselves from the stern duties oF life on the plea that you are faint. The toiler grows strong; exercise develops muscle.
2. It affords no palliation for inconsistency. We are never allowed to plead weakness as a reason for sin.
III. INFINITE POWER IS ACCESSIBLE TO THE MORALLY FEEBLE.
1. God never communicates surplus power. As thy days so shall thy strength be.
2. Gods method of communicating power teaches the dependence of humanity. Gods alone is original; but it is enough for man if he can shine with radiance borrowed from the Fount of uncreated light.
3. Gods willingness to communicate power fearfully increases the responsibility of the Church. What power we might have! I regard the declaration in the following aspects
(1) As the sublimest encouragement to the Church. He giveth power to the faint. Who is this Being represented, in the pronoun?
(2) As the tenderest assurance to the penitent. The bruised reed He will not break, the smoking flax He will not quench.
(3) As the highest tribute to the work of Christ.
(4) As a glorious pledge of Gods interest in humanity.
(5) As a presumptive proof of mans immortality. But how so? Can they who faint be immortal? Why all this feeding like a shepherd? Why this gentle tending--this inspiration of life--this sustaining of vigour--this communication of power? Is the mysterious process undertaken when God has determined that all shall end in dust? Does the Divine Being sustain merely that earthly life shall be prolonged? Why should Jehovah stoop to impart power to the faint, when He knows that in a few brief years the faint one will have crumbled to dust? (J. Parker, D. D.)
Almighty God helps the weak
The arguments which demonstrate the folly and guilt of worshipping false gods, and of confiding in them, equally demonstrate the duty and obligation of worshipping the true and living God, and of placing our confidence in Him. Indeed, to remove our adoration from an idol is doing but little, unless at the same time it be given to the Holy and Great Jehovah; it is but renouncing polytheism--a grievous and horrible delusion--for atheism, a delusion still more horrible and grievous.
I. JEHOVAH, THE TRUE GOD, IS A BEING OF UNLIMITED POWER (Isa_40:26).
II. THE POWER OF JEHOVAH, THE TRUE GOD, IS LIKE HIMSELF, UNDIMINISHABLE AND ETERNAL. He fainteth not, neither is weary. That the power of Jehovah, the true God, is undiminishable and eternal, is proved by the conservation of nature, as the existence of that power is proved by natures production. Were the hand which framed the universe utterly withdrawn, the universe would return to its original nothing. The motion, order, and safety of all things depend upon God. What a contrast does this perfection of undiminishable and eternal power form to the weakness of the creature--of fallen and helpless man especially! Weakness is the attribute of the human body. Man is no less weak as it relates to his mind. Sublime therefore in the highest degree is this account of Jehovah. He never lets fall the reins of dominion; He never retires, overcharged, by attention to His friends, resistance to His enemies, or the superintendence of all!
III. THE POWER OF JEHOVAH THE TRUE GOD IS CONDESCENDINGLY EMPLOYED IN BEHALF OF FALLEN, HELPLESS MAN. He giveth power to the faint, etc. Let us attend to some instances in which this truth is illustrated.
1. In His providential interpositions in favour of the more helpless of men. Some persons constitutionally feeble in body, or perhaps made so by disease, are often mysteriously succoured. The victim of oppression also ever finds a Friend in heaven.
2. In the work of our redemption by Christ Jesus. When we were yet without strength Christ died for the ungodly. (Rom_5:6). One of the most afflictive circumstances attending mans fallen state is that of utter helplessness. When sin entered into the world it not only erased from the soul of man the image of his Creator; it also annihilated, as far as man was concerned, all the means of his recovery. The nerves of obedience were cut, and the spirit of reverence and love utterly blasted.
3. In that invigorating peace communicated to the heart of man, when he believes to the salvation of his soul. Perhaps we are never fully prepared for the mercy of God, through the sacrificial merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, until we see that there is mercy in no other way.
4. In that successful resistance which is made by the faithful Christian, to the assaults of our great spiritual adversary, the devil.
5. In the season of personal affliction.
6. In the case of every one who dies in the Lord. (J. Bromley.)
The aid of the Holy Spirit
No words can do justice to the feelings of joy and gratitude which this gift should excite in all those who partake in its inestimable benefit. When the heathen sage had sketched out virtue in her goodliest forms; when he had pointed to the steep and arduous path which must be trodden by her successful votaries; when he had urged his disciples to enter upon it by the most stimulating motives with which the light of nature could supply him, what could he do more? What words of cheering import could he address to them, when sinking with dismay under a sense of their own infirmity, when trembling with apprehensions of failure, from a comparison between their strength and the task allotted to them? He had no authority to refer them to one who giveth power to the faint, and increaseth strength to them that have no might. What he could not, the Christian philosopher can say. (J. Marriot, M. A.)
A spiritual tonic
I. THE SPIRITUAL HEALTH OF THE HEBREW CHURCH HAD FALLEN BELOW PAR.
1. They felt they had lost the favour of God. Their way was hidden from Him, and they walked in darkness, as if they were the sport of chance or the victims of fate.
2. They felt they were left to the mercy of man. It appeared as if judgment upon them and their way was transferred to caprice of men.
II. THE IMPAIRED SPIRITUAL STRENGTH OF THE HEBREW CHURCH MIGHT BE RESTORED. The people needed--
1. Faith in the power of God.
2. Hope in the pity of God. He does not crush the feeble and the faint, but increases their power.
3. Love for the service of God. As the hearts of the people became enthusiastic for the worship of Jehovah, and longed to get back to Zion to restore the temple and rebuild the city, their energies would revive as an incoming tide; revived spirit would bring revived strength.
III. WITH RESTORED SPIRITUAL HEALTH THE HEBREW CHURCH WOULD RESUME ITS WONTED ACTIVITIES. The people are promised--
1. Renewed vigour. Strength would come from waiting upon God.
2. Renewed vivacity. The people are told they shall mount, walk, run, without weariness or sense of exhaustion.
3. Renewed vitality. Though the body may grow old, and physical life decline, the soul shall remain young. (F. W. Brown.)
Gods power in the heavens and on earth
(with Isa_40:26):--These two verses set forth two widely different operations of the Divine power as exercised in two sadly different fields, the starry heavens and this weary world. The one verse says, He is strong in power; the other, He giveth power. In the former verse, the greatness of His might sustains the stars; in the latter verse, a still greater operation is set forth in that to them that have no might He increaseth strength. Thus there are three contrasts suggested; that between unfailing stars, and men that faint; that between the unwearied God and wearied men; and that between the sustaining power that is exercised in the heavens and the restoring power that is manifested on earth. There is another interlocking between the latter of these two texts and its context, which is indicated by a similar recurrence of epithets. In my second text we read of the faint, and in the verse that follows it again we find the expression faint and weary, while in the verse before my text we read that the Lord fainteth not, neither is weary. So again the contrast between Him and us is set forth, but in the verse that closes the chapter we read how that contrast merges into likeness, inasmuch as the unfainting and unwearied God makes even the men that wait upon Him unwearied and unfainting. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Unfailing stars and fainting men
(with Isa_40:26):--
I. A SAD CONTRAST. The prophet in the former of these verses seems to be expanding the thoughts that lie in the name, the Lord of hosts, in so far as that name expresses the Divine relation to the starry universe. The image that underlies both it and the words of my text is that of a commander who summons his soldiers, and they come. Discipline and plan array them in their ranks. The plain prose of which is that night by night, above the horizon, rise the bright orbs, and roll on their path obedient to the Sovereign will; because He is strong in might, not one is lacking. Scripture bids us think of God, not as a creative energy that set the universe in motion, and leaves it to roll or spin, but as of a Divine Presence. But in our second text we drop from the illumination of the heavens to the shadowed plain of this low earth. It is as if a man looking up into the violet sky, with all its shining orbs, should then turn to some reeking alley, with its tumult and its squalor. Just because man is greater than the stars, man fails, whilst they shine on unwearied. For what the prophet has in view as the clinging curse that cleaves to our greatness is not merely the bodily fatigue which is necessarily involved in the very fact of bodily existence, since energy cannot be put forth without waste and weariness, but it is far more the weary heart, the heart that is weary of itself, weary of toil, weary of the momentary crises that demand effort, and wearier still of the effortless monotony of our daily lives. It is ever to be remembered that the faintness and the ebbing away of might, which is the truly tragic thing in humanity, does not depend upon physical constitution, but upon separation from the Source of all strength.
II. ANOTHER SAD CONTRAST, MELTING INTO A BLESSED LIKENESS. He fainteth not, neither is weary. He giveth power to the faint. Is that not a higher exercise of power than to preserve the stars from wrong? What are the consequences that the prophet traces to this restoring power? They shall mount up with wings as eagles, etc.
III. THE WAY BY WHICH THESE CONTRASTS CAN BE RECONCILED, AND THIS LIKENESS SECURED. They that wait upon the Lord--that is the whole secret. What does waiting on the Lord include? Keep near Him; keep still: expect. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Two operations of Gods power
(with Isa_40:26):--
1. The strength that restores is greater than the power that preserves.
2. The power that is given to the faint is greater than the strength that keeps the stars from falling, because there is in it an actual communication of actual Divine strength. God keeps the planet in its course by an act (for we must not speak about effort in regard to Him) of power brought to bear upon it. But He brings strength to us, not by ministration from without, but by impartation within.
3. Once more, this mirror gives us back the reflection of a power which is not only restoration and communication, but multiplication. To those that have no might He increaseth strength.
4. The power that redeems, ministers not only restoration and communication and multiplication, but assimilation. There is in the context a very remarkable play upon words. Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the ever lasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? He stoops to the faint, and gives them strength, and what is the result in them? They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. What God is, Gods child in his measure becomes, unfainting and unwearied like his Father in the heavens. God gives, not omnipotence, but something that is a kind of shadowy likeness of it. All things are possible to him that believeth. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Encouragement to the weary
I. THE LORD SPEAKS OF HIS PEOPLE AS BEING SOMETIMES FAINT. The expression is very significant; it implies that there is life, yet life for a time dormant, inactive, powerless either for defence, service, or enjoyment. There is one, for instance, who has watched long by the bedside of a beloved sick one. Others, again, are sorely tried by anxieties connected with their business; by the difficulty of providing daily bread. There, again, is another deeply vexed and grieved with the plague of his own heart. Of such as these the Lord seems to be speaking. He giveth power to the faint. His people are further described as having no might. Self-sufficiency is one of the plainest marks of the ungodly. And thus are they led truly into the third mark of His people, which the Lord here mentions, They that wait upon the Lord.
II. HOW HE DEALS WITH THEM. Three expressions are employed to describe this.
1. To the faint giving strength, because, under their sore trials and afflictions, they have utterly fainted; their strength has for a time entirely departed--to them the Lord gives strength.
2. Then observe the other word describing His dealings--He increaseth strength. That is a very suitable word. It is the experience of every gracious soul, that his own strength decreaseth. He learns more fully that he hath in himself no strength. Wherever the Lord removes any of the props of the believers earthly pride and self-sufficiency, there He reveals Himself as the believers strength. So that growth in humility is necessarily connected with growth in spiritual strength.
3. They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They renew their strength because the Lord renews it. He manifests Himself to them just at those times and in that manner in which they are led to see their need of Him.
III. THE BLESSED RESULTS OF THE LORDS DEALINGS WITH HIS PEOPLE. These also are described as three-fold--
1. They shall mount up, borne aloft heavenward, with a power in comparison with which the eagles mighty wings are powerless. And why? Because they are borne aloft by omnipotent grace. This is one blessed result to those who wait upon the Lord--heavenward tendency.
2. There is also promised zeal and rapid progress in their heavenly course. They shall run and not be weary. Waiting upon the Lord, they shall be so renewed in strength, that not only their affections, desires, and hopes shall be lifted up to heaven, but they shall also be carried forward swiftly and mightily in their gracious course. They shall run in the way of Gods commandments, and not be weary. Look at all mere human strength; how soon it fails, how quickly it is exhausted.
3. This is the third blessed result--a steady perseverance in the way to Zion. Whilst their progress is running for zeal and success, it is walking for steady persistency unto the end. It is harder sometimes to walk than to run. There are many who would gain heaven if it were to be won by a hasty run; but when the heavenly course requires not merely a short, quick, impulsive run, but the slow, weary, painful walk, they soon grow tired, and ready to give all up. (G. W. Hills.)
The influence of the Holy Ghost: the doctrine abused by neglecting means
The grand subject here is, waiting upon the Lord. The term is of frequent occurrence in Gods Word. It sometimes means nothing more than a quiet, restful frame of soul; and sometimes it will be found to set forth a waiting for the Lord, a patient waiting on Him in expectation of deliverance. But waiting on Him seems to imply more than this; it implies a diligent use of those means that He has appointed for the communication of His grace--waiting on Him in the use of those means. It is not an indolent waiting.
I. GODS GRACIOUS COMMUNICATION OF NEEDFUL HELP TO HIS POOR, TRIED, WEAK, AND HELPLESS PEOPLE.
1. Every creature is of necessity weak; it is not his fault--it is his nature. When Adam left his hold on God he necessarily fell; as necessarily as any branch would fall if cut off from the parent stem. The creature has no power to sustain himself, nor to help himself; and it was never intended that he should have.
2. If man as an unfallen creature is weak; well may we say, that as a fallen creature, he is altogether weakness.
3. But even as a renewed creature he is weak, and if left to himself, unable to cope with one enemy, or to maintain his own standing for one single moment. Without Me ye can do nothing.
4. Besides this, there are certain periods in which the believer is more than ordinarily faint and weak. There are many things that try him.
5. Oftentimes too, through want of watchful, prayerful, holy seeking and turning over the page of conscience, he weakens his little strength. But it is to these very souls that the Lord communicates strength. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength. The necessities of Gods people seem to touch the very heart of God. But there is something in the very glory of God that constrains Him to grant them
His help in their hours of need. This was Davids plea: pardon mine iniquity, for it is great, but for Thy names sake, he says.
II. OBSERVE THROUGH WHAT CHANNEL IT COMES. It is not a natural channel; it is not the strength of nature, but it is in the way of waiting dependence on Himself. There is a wondrous analogy between the operations of God in grace and in nature. God has given to us the promise that seed-time and harvest shall never fail while the world remains; but does this hinder the necessity of casting in the seed? Does it hinder the necessity of ploughing the land before it, and of harrowing it in, and protecting it? The more I look at this appointment of God, the more I see of infinite wisdom in it. I am in great distress, in great need, no one knows of my pressure. Perhaps I tell my friend, but I find no relief at all. And now I cast myself on the Lord--God reveals Himself to me as my Father-it quiets me, it comforts me. See how the Lord makes one step preparatory to another, and makes one thing the means of obtaining another. Prayerfulness leads to strength; that leads to courage; that leads to submission; that leads to patience, and that leads to praise. Observe the same, too, of all other means of grace. Talk we of the Bible, or hearing the Word unfolded? In prayer we speak to God; in His Word He speaks to us by His Spirit. Look at the very means of grace themselves: there is the unfolding of the same wisdom in the means appointed. What a suitable and reasonable ordainment it is!
III. THE ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY OF THIS CHANNEL OF COMMUNICATION. They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. When God puts forth His promise He pledges all that is in Himself to fulfil that promise. This is Gods appointed way. Perhaps we can say there are no instances upon record in which it was otherwise, but I dare not say that God may not in one moment so break in upon a mans soul, by the holy anointing of the Spirit, as to give him the most perfect conviction that he is a child of God. See the greatness of the communication. They shall run; they shall walk; and they shall mount up. Concluding remarks--
1. Would that the saints of God did more deeply feel that they are fainting and full of weakness!
2. Though it is no small mercy to be deeply conscious of our utter weakness before God, take heed how you abuse this glorious doctrine of the blessed Spirit by living a life of ceaseless and useless complaint. There is an observation, I think in Owen, that the religion of some consists in little more than in going from house to house, from friend to friend, from saint to saint, telling ones nothingness, sinfulness, and wretchedness. They make a sort of secret balm of it.
3. What vast encouragement is here! (J. H. Evans, M. A.)
Causes and cure of fainting
I. WHAT MAKES US FAINT?
1. We will consider the case of the awakened sinner.
(1) They may very well faint, for they have made a most alarming discovery.
(2) They have tried to escape from their dangerous position, but they have not succeeded.
(3) We have known some grow so faint through a sense of sin and a dread of its punishment and a consciousness of their own inability to save themselves, that they have even wished to die; yet, when they have looked at their condition aright, they have asked themselves what use death would be to them?
(4) Perhaps also, at such a time, a sore trouble may happen to the man; for, in the parable of the prodigal son, it appears that he was quite as much influenced by the peculiar circumstances without as by his sense of sin within.
2. I pass on to another character, namely, the child of God in his fainting fits. There is a degree of sinfulness about some of those faintings which is not found in others.
(1) Sometimes the children of God faint through want of faith (Psa_27:13). So the cure of fainting is faith, and the best way to prevent fainting is to believe.
(2) Some are brought into a state of faintness through a selfish want of resignation e.g., Jonah and the gourd. It was not alone the heat of the sun that caused him to faint; it was also the heat of his temper. Some of those who have lost dear children seem as if they will not forgive God for taking them.
(3) There are children of God also who fall into faintness through trusting in themselves. Even the youths shall faint, etc. Why is that? Because the youths felt themselves able to do anything.
(4) Faintness may also arise from another cause which is sinful, namely, neglect of prayer.
(5) Children of God fall into faintness because of the length of the way.
(6) The heaviness of their burden.
(7) A sense of weakness.
(8) Another frequent cause is the spirit itself sinking (Psa_42:1-11.).
(9) Some get faint through lack of spiritual food.
(10) Sometimes Gods children faint when they are in adversity.
(11) There are some who faint through increasing infirmity.
II. HOW THE LORD DEALS WITH HIS FAINTING PEOPLE. He giveth power, etc.
1. See how tenderly the Lord deals with His fainting people. He does not desert them, saying, They are no longer any use to Me; they can do nothing for Me; I will leave them where they are. He gives them power.
2. What sort of power?
(1) You may be sure that He does not give them any of their own. That has all gone from them.
(2) It will be sufficient for the emergency, for He has all-sufficient power. As thy days, etc.
(3) It is a power that the devil can neither defeat nor take away.
3. Why is it that He gives power to the faint?
(1) Because, in His great goodness, He looks out for those who need it most.
(2) Because they will praise Him most for it.
(3) Because they will be sure to use it. When a person who has been faint receives power from God he will be likely to be sympathetic, tender, and gentle towards others; at least, that is how he should be.
Conclusion--
1. If God gives power to the faint, let us be thankful if we have fainted and have been revived by Him.
2. Let us have done with fainting in the future, because we ought to have no more fainting now that we have received Gods power. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Strength attracted by weakness
We have seen a little weakling child draw to its cot some strong and burly man, the champion athlete of the country-side. Such a spell can weakness exert over might, and helplessness over helpfulness. It is the burden of Scripture that the strong should bear the infirmities of the weak, and not please themselves. Such is the law of Gods existence. All that He is and has He holds in trust for us, and most for those who need most. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Gods strength for the weak
Many of us are too strong, self-reliant, and resourceful to get the best that God can do. Jacob must halt on his thigh ere he can prevail with God and man. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Gods untiring patience
God is ever blotting out sins from His remembrance--never tiring. I will tell you what it is like. It is like the infinite, tireless patience of the sea. The children ply their spades upon the sands, to make work for the sea. They heap the sand up, they dig deep into it. Hundreds of them disfigure the hard, golden surface, and leave their scars upon it; and then quietly the old sea turns upon its course, and rolls its waves across the sands, and every trace of scar is obliterated, becomes as if it had never been; when the tide ebbs again there is no trace upon the smooth, shining surface of the sand to show that it had ever known disturbance. Day after day, day after day, the scene is repeated, and the sea is never tired of putting things to rights; it never complains, it never resents the new work imposed upon it. And the secret is that there is such infinite reserve of power that all that man can do frets it no whir. It is only a question of time, and it will put all things to rights again. Again and again, as I have stood by the sea, this sense of its tirelessness has come over me. It fainteth not, neither is weary. And it has seemed to me an emblem, as the stars are emblems, moving on their courses, as the world is an emblem, swinging through space, as nature is an emblem, pursuing so patiently and unweariedly her age-long business--of that mighty God whose glorious characteristic it is that He fainteth not, neither is weary; but He giveth power to the faint, and increaseth strength to him that hath no might. (C. Silvester Home, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn v31Isa_40:31. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew…
WAITING ON GOD
Isa_40:31. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
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I. Two conditions are necessary to physical life, viz., repose and activity. So, also, in the spiritual life, there are two conditions of health, viz., passivity and exercise. The former is expressed by waiting, which implies—
1. Passivity—a state in which we are the recipients, in which we do nothing, but quietly expect something to be done. As men “wait for the morning,” they wait for the salvation of God; for the fulfilment of His promises; for the coming of the Lord.
2. Confidence in God, an assurance that He will reveal Himself, that He will accomplish His Word.
3. Desire and expectation. Men who wait for the morning both expect it and long for it; so those who wait for God—for His salvation, for His coming—expect it and long for it (Psa_130:6).
4. Patience and submission—patience, because we know that the good waited for will not be granted before God’s time; submission, because we know that it is in God’s power to grant or to withhold, and that our only hope is in Him.
Waiting, therefore, is the opposite
(1) Of indifference;
(2) of despair;
(3) of rebellious discontent. (See vol. i. pp. 178, 179, 332.)
II. Those who wait on the Lord renew their strength.
1. Because God flows in upon the soul, imparts larger measures of life; as occurs in sleep. As touching the ground, according to the fable.
2. Because God approves and blesses those who thus confide in Him and long for Him.
III. Times in which we should wait.
1. In seasons of devotion, private and public.
2. In times of sickness and sorrow.
3. In times of spiritual dearth.
4. All the time of our continuance in this world is a time of waiting for the salvation of God.—C. Hodge, D.D.
We have here some of the benefits of waiting upon God as they appeared to the fervid soul of the prophet Isaiah. True messenger of the old covenant, he continues to speak under the new. Let us listen to this old message, which is also new. What does the prophet say? He says:—
I. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” This sounds as if this godly life of theirs involved a considerable tax upon their spiritual strength; as if they were in danger of becoming “weary and faint in their minds.” Is this really so, Christian tradesman, householder, citizen, preacher, worker in the Lord’s vineyard? What do you say, you who suffer and you who are tempted? To all such this promise of Scripture will be very welcome. The least it can mean is—
(1.) That they shall stand their ground. But it must mean something more than that they shall not retreat, though in such a warfare as ours not to have yielded is itself a victory. It must mean, they shall advance, they shall make sure and steady progress against the foe. But the margin speaks of this renewal as a change of strength, as if it would remind us—
(2.) Of the many-sidedness of the grace of God, and its perfect adaptability to our ever-changing needs. Whatever we need for the journey or the conflict, for prosperity or for adversity, prayer will obtain it for us (H. E. I. 2363–2374).
II. “They shall mount up with wings as eagles.” This seems to say that the life of communion with God is not a long series of vapid and unemotional hours, a dead level of mechanical and spiritless employments, but a life that has rare and glorious experiences, holy aspirations, ennobling thoughts, ecstatic emotions, spirit-stirring hopes. “Wings as eagles.” What does this mean? Climb where the eagle makes her nest and look. It means—
1. Purer air. Very pure is the atmosphere in which the eagle soars; she leaves all the fogs and mists of earth beneath her.
2. Clearer vision. The eagle sees things in their real relation to each other. What a mighty difference this often makes in our estimate of their nature! Premeditated insults below become mere forgetfulness above; irreparable injuries, mere scratches upon the skin; formidable duties, precious privileges.
3. Untroubled quiet. No one knows but he who has the secret of this Divine communion how deep a quiet God breathes about the heart that loves to speak with Him. In a peace that passeth understanding the praying spirit listens to the still small voice of God.
4. Rare landscapes greet his eye who mounts up with wings as eagles. We know what it is to look on Nature from the level. Can you fancy what it must be to look from eagle’s wings? Can you fancy what it is to have beneath you the beauty of the earth from horizon to horizon? So is it with those that wait upon the Lord. Lifted up on faith’s strong eagle pinions, over the great world of God’s written revelation, what prospects they rejoice in! What order, beauty, harmony, and sublimity they descry! Or if these pinions raise him above the world of human life, it is still the same with him; he sees what none other sees—God overruling all things, causing all things to work together for good to them that love Him.
5. Unclouded sunshine. It is possible to get above the clouds (Joh_15:11; 1Jn_4:18; Eph_3:19).
III. “They shall run and not be weary.” Theirs shall be capacity for the most strenuous exertion.
IV. “They shall walk and not faint.” Is not this the same as saying that we shall have the power of steady perseverance, of patient endurance under protracted trials? Did the prophet put this last because patience is one of those Christian graces that has its perfect work the latest—because the bearing of the Lord’s burden is often a much more difficult thing than the doing of the Lord’s work? And was it because he would encourage us by the assurance that that power, difficult as it is, shall yet be ours through prayer?
All this has but one lesson: BE MEN OF PRAYER.—John H. Anderson: Christian World Pulpit, vol. iii. pp. 84–87.
THE STRENGTH WE NEED
Isa_40:31. But they that wait upon the Lord, &c.
Divine promises are made to character. The character here described is one who waits on his patron for a benefit, on his master for direction. It is the believer’s expectant, obedient look. It probably here describes the attitude of the believing Jews in Babylon in expectation of deliverance.
For all action strength is required. It is more easy to describe than define. There is the strength of a fortress, of an army, of a labourer. There is intellectual strength and moral strength. This last is required in the Christian life. There is an immense power of evil adverse to it, resistance to which requires moral strength. The text suggests the source whence it is derived, the constancy with which it is supplied, and the achievements by which it is distinguished.
I. THE SOURCE WHENCE IT IS DERIVED.
From the Lord on whom we wait. This is the point of connection between the text and what precedes. The prophet has contrasted the Divine power with the helplessness of heathen gods. He speaks of the power displayed in creation. When we contemplate its ample details, we conclude that power equal to their production is Omnipotence. The question is not affected by the fact that, while operating on matter, He is Himself immaterial. We do not understand the connection between mind and matter. But we know that mind operates on matter directly or indirectly. All science, all mechanical and engineering skill, is the indirect command of matter by mind. It can also command it directly. When the centurion came to Jesus pleading for the cure of his sick servant, it was not necessary for the Saviour to go to him (Mat_8:13). Who can explain the contact of the will of Jesus with this sick man at a distance from Him? Yet it was real and effectual. Thus with a word, the expression of mind and will, God at the creation “spake and it was done.” It is illimitable, inexhaustible power (Isa_40:28).
Nor is it only the power that controls matter. Equally immeasurable is He in the region of intellect. Hence the prophet advances to this as the completion of his statement. “There is no searching of His understanding.” We cannot understand the manner of the Divine thought. It is beyond us, as the thought of the mathematician is beyond the babe. But we know that it comprehends everything that exists, or will exist, or can.
And moral strength is His. He is holy; He is essential holiness. His will is the extremest removal from moral evil and accordance with righteousness. When He made man, He made him in His image; when He formulated laws for man’s government, though fallen, they expressed His essential righteousness; and this is His demand, “Ye shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy.”
And this is the source of human strength. Will any man say that his physical strength is self-created and independent? Or that his intellectual strength is independent of God? He who gave it sometimes takes it away. Our moral strength comes from Him. For what is it? Is it not the inclination of the will to the good, the righteous, the holy? Is this the natural disposition of man’s will? Was it not lost in the Fall? Is not human nature proverbially weak in resistance of evil? How can it be made strong? “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.” He not only pardons the past by the power of the atoning sacrifice; He provides by His Spirit a change of heart for the sinner. This regenerating power is the beginning and centre of the soul’s strength.
II. THE CONSTANCY WITH WHICH IT IS SUPPLIED.
The body becomes weary by exertion. The over-wrought brain becomes incapable of effort. Both must be recruited by rest and suitable aliment. And the soul’s strength gives way under the pressure of evil unless it is constantly replenished from the Eternal source. The difference between such as are permanently strong and such as are weak is the difference between such as rely on their own sufficiency and such as wait on the Lord. Youth is the time when self-confidence is greatest. But if the young Christian becomes confident in the self-perpetuating power of that determination of his will that has been given by the grace of God, he will be in danger of spiritual exhaustion and consequent powerlessness. “Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall.” Strength is maintained by constant inflowing from God. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” There may be an allusion to the supposed renewal of the eagle’s strength. Very impressive is the contrast between Nature when exhausted and weary in winter, and the springtime, when reinvigorated from secret sources and her strength put forth anew. Pleasant to the toiler, weary in mind and body with his work, is the quiet evening with his family, the night’s sleep, the Sabbath change and rest. Sweet is returning strength when the crisis of disease has passed, and the power which illness has exhausted is felt again. Thus spiritual forces are liable to waste. They need repair. Bring them to the source of strength. Use the means of grace. Seek the Spirit’s help. “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” How blessed the experience of Paul (2Co_4:16).
III. THE ACHIEVEMENTS BY WHICH IT IS DISTINGUISHED.
“They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.” Weakness seeks ease; strength seeks action. It is described—
1. As elevation. Like the eagle, whose flight is upward toward the sun. Nearer in thought and feeling to God.
2. As progression. In the path of Christian experience, character, service. It becomes easier from habit, as the daily task. And new strength is supplied.
The practical lesson of the whole is, that to fallen men God is this true source of moral strength. “My strength is made perfect in weakness.”—J. Rawlinson.
RENEWING STRENGTH
Isa_40:31. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength &c.
Human strength is of many kinds—physical, mental, spiritual; but every form of human strength must of necessity spend itself; for the world of which it forms a part decays, and by and by, like a worn-out vesture, the heavens and the earth shall be rolled up and put away. All strength apart from God is derived strength, and is consequently measurable, and must come to an end. The river runs on and the brook fails not, because they come from fountains that are not affected by drought; but cisterns are dried and reservoirs fail, because they have no springing well at the bottom of them; and if the pipes which supply them cease to flow, they are soon left dry as a threshing-floor. Let every man know, therefore, that whatever his strength may be, of body, mind, or spirit, if it be his own, it will fail him one day. Mingled with all things human there are portions of that all-dissolving acid which fell upon man’s nature when Infinite Justice said, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
On the other hand, Divine strength never fails. It seems almost a superfluity to say as much as that: it abides in joyous fulness, never in the least diminished. The Lord was God when as yet this sun, and moon, and all these stars slept in His thought like unborn forests in an acorn cup; and He will be God when all this brief creation shall melt back to nothing, as a moment’s foam dissolves into the wave that bore it and is lost for aye. God changes not; the fountain of His almightiness still overflows. You may bring your boundless wants and have them all supplied, but you shall no more diminish His all-sufficiency than when an infant dips his cup into the sea and leaves the sea brimming over upon ten thousand leagues of shore.
What then? These two things seem very far away—man with his faintness, his strength gradually drying up: God with His eternity and inexhaustible omnipotence. If we can bring these two together, if by an act of faith you that are human can be linked with the Divine, what a wondrous thing will happen! Then the sacred words of the text will be fulfilled.
“They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” When the heart drinks life from the heart of God, and man is at one with his Maker, then all is well.
“From God, the overflowing spring,
Our souls shall drink a fresh supply;
While those who trust their native strength
Shall melt away and droop and die.”
I. WE SEE HOW A TRUE CHURCH MAY BE DESCRIBED. “They that wait upon the Lord.”
1. A Church such as a Church ought to be consists of men who depend upon the Lord alone; for waiting signifies dependence. Their hope is in God. They rest in God’s righteousness as their righteousness, and they receive the great sacrifice provided by God to be their atonement and their acceptance. No man is really a Christian who finds his hope and confidence within himself; he must be looking out of himself to God in Christ Jesus. If Christians are what they ought to be, they depend upon God alone in their Church capacity.
(1.) God’s Word is their only creed: they do not add to it anything whatever—no, not a sentence, a gloss, or a thought. A true Church of God will say, “We wait upon the Lord for teaching: this Word of the Lord is to us our infallible source of doctrine, and that alone.” Those who wait upon the Lord for their creed shall never need to give up their faith for something better, but they shall renew their strength.
(2.) A true Church waits upon the Lord for grace, and has faith in the doctrines of grace as the testimony with which it is to work. It says to the pastor, “Teach you what God has taught. Preach Christ crucified. Preach not your own thoughts, nor notions of your own inventing, but what is revealed of God—preach you that, for it shall be the power of God unto salvation.” If the bare unaltered truth of God will not break a man’s heart, then it certainly will not break it when it is rounded and toned down and made to look pretty so as to suit the prevailing taste. A Church that waits upon the Lord uses only the doctrine of Scripture as its battle-axe and weapons of war.
(3.) A Church that is waiting upon the Lord always knows where its strength lies, namely, in its God. What is the power with which men are to be converted? Eloquence, say some. The Church of God says, “Not so. Not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord.” I solemnly believe that so much of human oratory as there is in a sermon, so much there is of the weakness of the flesh; for all the power must be of God working with the truth through the Holy Ghost. Therefore we should use great plainness of speech, and never speak for the sake of the language, but always for the sake of the truth we have to say, that God may bless it to the hearts of men. No man in this world was ever converted except by the Holy Spirit, and never will any man be truly converted by any other power. The Gospel has salvation in it when the Holy Spirit works by it, but no other doctrine can save. Many in these days think that we want a great deal besides the Spirit of God, but they are in error. They think that the world is not to be converted and men saved in the old-fashioned way of preaching the Word of God with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; but it is to be converted in that way and no other. You cannot touch a dead heart to make it alive either by excitement or by philosophy. Spiritual life can only come in God’s way, and it is God’s way by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. God’s Word will not return unto Him void; but man’s word is void when it goes forth, and void it remains to the end of the chapter. The magicians and their enchantments cannot compare with the rod of Moses. We mean, whatever others do, to keep to “waiting upon the Lord,” going to work in the Lord’s way, and depending upon the Lord’s power, and upon that alone.
2. If we depend upon God, our expectation is from Him. We wait upon God as the birds in the nest wait upon the parent bird, expecting from her their food. Before she comes you hear their cries, and when she comes, if you look into the nest, you will see nothing but so many gaping mouths, all waiting, expecting to be filled by the mother-bird. That is just what a Church of God ought to be—a company of wide-opened mouths waiting to be filled by the Lord alone “Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it,” says the Lord. Do you not think that some Churches, and some Christians, have scarcely learned to open their mouths at all? Let us expect more of God, and we shall receive more. Is He not able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or even think? Expecting people, a flourishing Church. They are believers in the power of the Gospel, and they act accordingly. When I fire the gun, they are on the alert to pick up the birds, for they believe in the killing power of the Word. If a Church would but wait upon God in this sense of expecting great things from Him, it should have them; for He will never allow His people to complain that He has been a wilderness to them.
3. To make up waiting there is a third thing, and that is patience—to hold out and wait the Lord’s time and will. This patience is to the uttermost desirable, that we may endure affliction, persevere in holiness, continue in hope, and abide in our integrity. Patience is the long life of virtue, and sets on its head the crown of experience. It is no child’s play to continue to suffer affliction with joyfulness, and to remain for years perfectly acquiescent in the will of the Lord, let that will be what it may. That little word WAIT is a word fit for a father in Christ, and cometh not out of the mouth of a babe in grace. Some are ardent followers of Christ, but they do not seem to have learned the meaning of that word “patience.” They are working for Christ, and they are depending upon the Lord, and they are looking for results; but when they do not see them immediately, they are offended and depressed. You were much the same when you were children: you wanted everything there and then, and waiting was dismal work to you. It is the mark of the child that he is in a violent hurry where men are steady. The Lord sometimes sends us speedy results to our labours; but at other times it is not so—the truth works slowly and surely, and effects all the more precious results. We must wait for seed to grow and for fruit to ripen. If we really wait upon the Lord, we shall just keep on, resolved to abide in duty, determined to remain in prayer, undaunted in confidence, unmoved in expectation. We shall not fly into a passion with the Lord and refuse to believe Him any more, neither shall we run off to novelties and fall into the fads and crazes of the day. The Lord will not fail the soul that waits upon Him; all will be well; the blessing will come. What a sweet thing is the calm leisure of faith! “He that believeth shall not make haste.” Fret and worry, hurry and haste, are all slain by the hand of faith.
II. WE SEE WHAT THE LORD’S WAITING PEOPLE NEED. They need to renew their strength.
1. Because they are human. As the world is full of changes, so are we [1330] Creatures whose home is on the earth cannot always live upon the wing: they must feel faint at times; and hence the necessity of this blessed promise, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.”
[1330] Some friends never seem to be either high or low in their feelings: their life has neither hills nor valleys in it, but is comparable to an unbroken plain: they traverse a perpetual level. It is not so with others of us: we are all Alps and Andes. These favoured pilgrims march steadily and evenly through the world, always at one pitch and pace; but others of us who mount up into the heavens in burning zeal and holy joy, go low, very low down, into the depths, till our soul sinketh because of sorrow. The best and bravest of the saints are poor creatures. Elijah on the top of Carmel, when he has brought fire from heaven, cries, “Take the prophet of Baal; let not one of them escape!” Hear him as he pleads with God and unlocks the treasury of the rain. See him gird up his loins and run before the chariot of Ahab. There is a man for you! If ever hero-worship might be tolerated, it is in the case of “this my lord Elijah.” Look not too closely at the champion, for within twenty-four hours he is afraid of Jezebel, and soon he is whining, “O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.” Do you blame him? Do you fail to understand so sad a stoop from so great a height? Take heed of censuring a man so greatly approved of God as to be spared the pains of death. If you do as well as Elijah did, perhaps you may hear some nobodies blaming you in your hour of exhaustion; but as for me, I cannot censure him, nor can any man that has ever enjoyed the heavenly delirium of high-strung zeal in the Master’s service, and having been borne aloft on eagle’s wings, at last falls upon the earth in absolute exhaustion. After high excitement there will come reaction.—Spurgeon.
2. Because they are imperfect. Our natural corruption and the imperfection and infirmity of our flesh are about us still, and these bring us down at times till we say with David, “I am this day weak, though anointed king.” Because we are human and imperfect, we cannot always be at our best: the sky is not always clear; the sea is not always at flood; the year is not always at summer; the summer is not always in the zenith; the moon is not always at her full; the tree is not always adorned with fruit; the vineyard does not always flow with wine; roses do not always blush, nor lilies always bloom. Creatures have their rises and their falls, and to us also there must be times when we need to renew our strength. It must be renewed, for otherwise it will decline still further, and this would be painful, dangerous, and dishonouring. The Lord would not have us utterly fail, nor fall prone upon the ground in the heavenly race; therefore to those who have no might He increaseth strength.
3. We must renew our strength, for it is for our honour, comfort, and safety.
4. It is for God’s glory and for own own usefulness that we should be strong; and if we fall into decline and weakness, pray do not let us stop there. A pining sickness is an awful disease for a Church to die of. Do not linger in such a state. Up with you, and cry mightily unto the Lord, and you shall yet be restored.
III. HOW ARE WE TO RENEW OUR STRENGTH? If we are God’s people, we must renew our strength by continually waiting upon God. [1333]
[1333] When a man wants his bodily strength renewed, his purpose may be effected by eating a good meal. He has grown empty through hunger, and there is nothing in him; he must be filled up with substantial nourishment, and then the human engine will generate fresh force. Oh, ye who are weak in spirit, come and feed upon Christ!
Sometimes a man may renew his strength by taking a little rest. He has grown weak through stern labour and long fatigue, and he must be quiet and repose till he recovers. Oh, ye weary, heavy-laden, where is there rest for you except in the Christ of God?
We have known men’s strength renewed by breathing their native air. They have risen out of a hot and fœtid atmosphere into the cool breeze of the mountain-side, and the bracing breeze has made them strong again. Oh, to have the breath of the Spirit blowing upon us once again!—Spurgeon.
If a Church wants reviving, if saints individually want reviving, they must wait upon God—
1. In prayer. Oh, what a blessing a day’s prayer might be! If you cannot get as much as that, how much renewing may be gained in an hour’s prayer!
2. Add to that a re-dedication of ourselves to the Lord who bought us. This often helps us to renew our strength.
3. Then afresh realise your entire dependence upon God. Put yourself into the Lord’s hands absolutely. Be like the sere leaf that is carried by the breath of the tempest.
4. Then go forward to renewed action. In renewing your strength, ask the Lord that you may undertake fresh work, and that this work may be done to a nobler tune—that you may have more expectancy, more confidence, more faith, more God-reliance. What things are done by men in common life with self-reliance! But with God-reliance we work impossibilities, and miracles fly from us like sparks from the anvil of a smith. When a man learns to work with God’s strength, and with that alone, he can do all things.—C. H. Spurgeon: Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, No. 1756.
Isa_40:31. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, &c.
As it is the same God who works in nature and in grace, a most interesting analogy may be traced between His operations in both. When the earth is parched with the heat of summer, and its productions begin to languish from excessive drought, it is watered and refreshed by the showers of heaven, and its various plants and fruits not only resume their former health and vigour, but spring up and flourish with greater luxuriance and vigour. The flower, too, that had drooped and withered at the close of day, is revived by the cool and the dews of night, and in the morning puts forth its buds and expands its leaves anew, delighting the eye with the beauty of its colours, or perfuming the air with the sweets of its fragrance. For every degree of exhaustion in nature, the wisest and most adequate provision is made by its all—pervading and beneficent Author. In like manner, when the spiritual strength of the Christian is impaired, from whatever cause, if only he wait upon God, his decays of strength are recruited from above; new fountains are opened for his comfort; he rises up from the ground, on which he was sitting in feebleness and sorrow, and no longer with faltering, but with firm and steady steps, pursues the course of active duty or of patient suffering in which he is appointed to move. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” Observe—
I. TO WHOM THIS COMPREHENSIVE AND ANIMATING DECLARATION IS MADE. “They that wait upon the Lord,” i.e., those who
(1) earnestly desire the enjoyment of His favour; and
(2) diligently attend to, and take peculiar delight in, all His service and will.
II. THE IMPORT OF THE DECLARATION. It implies—
1. That the principles of the spiritual life within them shall be gradually strengthened and increased. These principles are faith and love—faith in the Son of God, through whom, as the propitiation for sin and the beloved of the Father, they are justified and accepted and saved; and love to Him as having redeemed them unto God by His precious blood, and given them the first-fruits of His Spirit, that they may live to His praise and be heirs of His glory. These principles are strengthened by the very act of waiting upon God, for thus our knowledge of Him is increased. And the more we know of Him, the more our faith in Him and love towards Him will strengthen.
2. That increased communications of Divine grace shall be made to them.
III. THE EFFECTS OF ITS FULFILMENT.
1. The devotions of those who wait upon God become more elevated and intense. “They shall mount up with wings as eagles.” [1336]
[1336] At first, or when weakened by the influence of unbelief and corruption, the motion of the believer’s soul towards God and spiritual objects is but feeble and inconstant, like the flutterings of a new-fledged bird, stretching its wings and attempting to fly, but, from want of habit or of strength, attempting it with little success. But when, in waiting on the Lord, their faith and love become more vigorous and steady, and the circumstances that rendered them languid and fluctuating are removed, like the eagle, which, after its feathers are renewed, mounts from its rocky nest stronger and livelier and more beauteous than before, and with expanded wings soars above the lower regions of the air, as towards the orb of the sun itself—they rise above the influence of the world and its vanities; and as their heart ascends in devout aspiration to the God of mercy and grace, they approach more nearly to the full radiance of the Sun of Righteousness, and rest their desires and affections more intensely on Him, as the brightness of the Divine glory, and the source of ineffable light and bliss. They are not only visited with peace and joy in believing, but are almost, like Paul, raised as to the third heaven, and see and hear things that are unutterable and full of glory.
Such elevated enjoyment is not indeed vouchsafed to every believer. Nay, there are many who perhaps never reach it on this side the grave. But their devotions do in every case become more exalted and habitual as they go on in their course in the strength of the Lord. Perhaps their mental constitution is incapable of such intenseness of meditation and of feeling; or it is not necessary for the particular duties and service assigned them; or their natural temperament is so melancholy and desponding, that were they to be indulged with such high manifestations, their depression might become deeper after these manifestations were over, and the fearful suspicion that they were altogether delusive might sink them in greater distress than before. But one thing is certain, that by all who truly wait upon the Lord progress will be and is made, both in the strength and the countenance of devotional habits, of spiritual affection, and of heavenly-mindedness; and that the grace which they ask in prayer and receive by faith gradually raises them to a far higher state of Christian attainment than that by which the beginning of their spiritual life was marked. Of the degree of this advancement they may not, indeed, be always conscious, for their humility will increase in exact proportion to their other real attainments.—Dickson.
2. They acquire greater alacrity and perseverance in doing His will. “They shall run,” or march on, “and not be weary.” Here the metaphor is varied, and changed into one that is more common in the sacred writings, as expressive of Christian duty, which is frequently compared to running or marching (Psa_119:32, &c.) To those whose spiritual strength is renewed by waiting on the Lord, duty is not a task, but a delight. They are never so happy as when labouring in the sphere of service allotted them; and under the burdens which sometimes press upon them they are supported and cheered by the promises and grace of Him whom they serve.
3. They are enabled to manifest fortitude and patience under affliction. “They shall walk and not faint.” Here the metaphor is again beautifully varied, or rather another shade of the same image is presented for the encouragement of every traveller to the Heavenly Zion. Even when incapable, as it were, of increasing their strength or of being active in the service of God, grace is both promised and imparted for enabling them to move forward without fainting in the path of submission and suffering (Psa_23:4; H. E. I. 198–202).—David Dickson, D.D.: Discourses, pp. 198–222.
SOUL GROWTH
Isa_40:31. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, &c.
Men develop under a universal law of variableness. We do nothing continuously except breathe and pulsate. It is insanity to think upon one subject continuously. Health demands intermission, even retrocession. This truth may be seen in a larger way in our pursuits and actions. We pursue pleasure, engage in business, seek sociality intermittently (H. E. I. 2064–2066, 2073–2074).
Deep moral and religious thought and feeling are produced by a thousand concurrent influences. All endeavours to hold Christians, Churches, or individuals to a high emotive condition of religious feeling are vain. Virtue, morality, duties are perpetuated; but, in regard to these, we are changing. When reactions and backslidings take place, how shall men renew? How shall the words of the prophet be fulfilled? The method by which spiritual strength may be renewed and augmented must be learned from a study of the providence of God. We ought to take the Bible as men take charts. Human life is the interpreter of the Word of God (H. E. I. 549, 550, 560).
What, then, are some of the methods by which men, in the Divine economy, advance in spiritual impulse and rise permanently higher? [1339]
[1339] See H. E. I. 2473–2569.
1. We must not be biassed by any theory of Church or ordinances, nor by any preaching, to suppose that we are shut up to the dealings of God with us through these channels. The Church occupies a foremost place here; but the schools, books, newspapers, business, social influences work upon the human soul.
2. It pleases God to make the spiritual development of men depend on time-growth. The body is the first to develop, then the social affections, with the elementary forms of the intellect, then the moral elements, and last the spiritual nature. Many persons develop high religious emotions prematurely. Many may lose by neglect or by delay; but there is an element of time which must be taken into consideration.
3. Spiritual strength is renewed through the removal of false or imperfect views of truth. There is a relation between a man’s reason and things that are reasonable. The preaching of the Divine nature is, sometimes, not made drawing to men. It is not altogether human depravity that is at fault. Spiritual growth ought to be more to us than any orthodoxy or regularity of outward forms. Change of circumstances may give the needful impetus to soul-growth.
4. Many persons fail to come to the inspiration of the higher views of religion by reason of worldly prosperity, which tends to satisfy their lower nature (H. E. I. 3998–4014). In these circumstances, distresses, infirmities, and even great sorrows, are blessed of God to the opening of their nature and to the renewing of their spiritual strength. Troubles are well-diggers. We are rich and strong, not by the things which we possess, but by the amount of true manhood developed in us (H. E. I. 129, 130, 204–212).
5. It pleases God also to employ the companionship of friends and neighbours in developing their higher manhood. There is nothing so helpful to a soul as the contact of another soul. How much was there in Christ’s personal touch! Go about as a man among men (H. E. I. 1049, 1050).
6. When, by the use of these various instrumentalities, our souls have grown and come into the possibility of a higher spiritual disclosure, then there is a further soul-growth in us. We come to a state in which there is a direct influence of the soul of God exerted upon us—as direct as sight and voice to the bodily senses. Men may come, at last, into that state in which the Spirit of God shines with a steadfast lustre upon them (H. E. I. 974, 2840, 2900). Then there is the triumph of grace in the soul. Then intuitions become truths. What wonder that the dying saint should catch the sound of heavenly music!
CONCLUSION.—It is the privilege of all Christians to live this life, not today nor to-morrow, but as the result of patient continuance in well-doing, growing in grace, and in the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.—Henry Ward Beecher: Christian Age, vol. vii. pp. 102–106.
THE EAGLE-WINGED BELIEVER
Isa_40:31. They shall mount up with wings as eagles.
Scripture is full of parables, in which spiritual things are represented by natural. Here the believer’s progress is compared to the eagle’s flight.
I. THE WINGS WHEREWITH HE MOUNTS UP.
There are especially these two, the wing of faith and the wing of love.
1. The wing of faith. None can mount up to heaven without it, for it is a grace that looks not at the things seen in this world, but at the things that are not seen; and it mounts the soul to heaven and heavenly things (H. E. I. 1902–1907; P. D. 1164).
2. The wing of love. This grace, like faith, unites the soul to Christ. This is such a strong wing that fire cannot burn it; marytrs have found that the fire did not burn their love; no, it mounted up to heaven with the flame (H. E. I. 3337, 3338).
II. THE THINGS WHEREIN HE MOUNTS UP
1. Not in airy speculations. Some have a great deal of head-knowledge, but no heart love of the truth (2Th_2:10-11). There may be much speculative knowledge where there is no saving grace (H. E. I. 3091).
2. Not in sinful curiosity, to pry into the secrets of God (Deu_29:29). Many fall into this error in regard to the decrees of election and reprobation, the day of judgment (Mat_25:13), heaven (H. E. I. 1508–1518, 1793–1802, 2718).
3. Not in self-conceit and self-estimation, as some do who mount up in the pride of their hearts (Jas_4:6).
4. Not in fits and starts of devotion. Many who hear the Word seem to be mounted up in joy; but it is but a flash, and like a land-flood (Luk_8:6; Luk_8:13).
They mount up—
1. In holy meditation (Psa_104:34; Rom_8:5). They do not allow their thoughts to wander on the mountains of vanity (H. E. I. 3499–3504).
2. In holy desires (Isa_26:9).
3. In heavenly affections (Col_3:2).
4. In lofty designs. Their ultimate design is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever.
5. In righteous practices. This is seen in all their actions. The world’s standard is not theirs (1Co_10:31).
III. HOW THE BELIEVER MOUNTS UP.
Like the eagle—
1. Naturally. The eagle mounts not at man’s command, but by the instinct God has given it (Job_39:27). To the believer a new heart has been given, and it is natural to him to be mounting towards God. When the hypocrite mounts up, he is forced up contrary to his natural tendency, like a stone cast up into the air (H. E. I. 3008).
2. Highly. The eagle flies higher than other birds, and makes her nest on high; unlike the ostrich, that leaves her eggs in the sand.
3. Gradually. Though the eagle’s flight is strong and swift, it is gradual. So the believer mounts up, by degrees (Psa_84:7). He rises to more and more knowledge of God and more and more communion with Him, until faith and hope land in vision and fruition.
4. Frequently. The carnal professor mounts up only about the time of a communion, or when in some sore affliction, or during a revival, and whenever these seasons are over, he goes down as fast as he went up; but the believer mounts on week-days as well as on Sabbath-days, on ordinary Sabbaths as well as on communion Sabbaths.
IV. WHY THE BELIEVER MOUNTS UP.
1. Because it is as natural for him to do so as it is for an eagle. He hath a new nature, which ascends to heaven whence it descended (2Co_5:17; H. E. I. 1103).
2. Because he hath his nest on high; like an eagle, his all is above. Christ is all in all to him, and therefore rise he must.
APPLICATION.—
1. A word of terror to you that never mounted up towards Christ. What shall we say to you? You are not like eagles, but like ravens, that do not mount heavenwards, but wander to and fro upon the earth, as Noah’s raven did, and feed upon sordid things. You cannot fly to heaven, but flutter upon earth; and while you continue what you are, heaven you will never reach.
2. A word of comfort to the mounting soul. As the mounting soul is blessed, so is he safe as long as he is mounting; he is out of the reach of this world’s misery; safe against death itself. The eagle is never in danger but when she is on earth; we are never in danger when we are in Christ till we fly down to the earth. Therefore, seeing God hath renewed your strength to mount up as on eagle’s wings, O soar aloft; look down with a generous disdain upon the world and the vanities thereof, and keep your heart up in heaven. Mount, mount, mount; be always mounting, till you come to the throne of God and the Lamb.—Ralph Erskine, M.A.: Sermons, vol. ii. pp. 495–519.
He makes a very great mistake who supposes that the word “wait” implies an indolent passivity. The Hebrew word has brawn and bone in it; its signification is primarily to be strong—strong enough to hold out under pressure. Thence the word came to signify patience, as the opposite of discouragement and peevishness. When a soul is ready to do God’s will, and to submit cheerfully to God’s discipline, and to receive such fulness of supply as God is willing to bestow, that soul may be truly said to “wait on the Lord.” It is a great grace, and it leads to a great glory.
The man who thus waits on God renews his strength. He does more; he receives a wonderful inspiration. He “shall mount up with wings as an eagle.” Naturalists tell us that the special power of the eagle is in his wings. He can fly in the teeth of a gale, and go out on long voyagings towards the clouds, and play the aeronaut for hours without weariness. The sparrow twitters from the housetop; the dove is content to abide in the forest; but eagles are children of the skies and playmates of the storm. Even their nests are on the mountain crags.
So God means that every soul which waits on Him shall sometimes soar. Not creep or grovel in worldliness, or crouch in bondage to man or devils, but rise above all these baser things into the atmosphere of heaven. When a soul binds itself to God, it finds wings. Such an one has a citizenship in the skies. He catches inspiration from the indwelling Spirit. He rises above the chilling fogs of doubt, gains a wide outlook, is filled with ennobling thoughts, and actually feels that he is an heir to a celestial inheritance. He outflies the petty vexations that worry the worldling, and the grovelling lusts that drag the selfish and sensual soul down into the mire. His soul-life is hid with Christ in God. What cares the eagle, as he bathes his wing in the translucent gold of the sunbeam, for all the turmoil, the smoke, the clouds, or even the lightnings that play far beneath him? He flies in company with the unclouded sun. So a heaven-bound soul, filled with the joys of the Holy Spirit, flies in company with God.
You may realise these happy experiences if you will but wait on Him. You will be surprised to find what an uplift there is in your religion. You will discover how it can carry you above base and sensual desires; how it can give birth to pure and holy meditations; how it can kindle joy in seasons of dark adversities and bereavements; how it can keep your hope as serene and shining as the morning star. Strive after this, by living less on self and more on Jesus. Live more like a son of God or a daughter of God, with the full feeling of adoption. Set your affections on things above. Don’t count these perishable things to be your treasures. Seek better ones in heaven. So shall prayer and Bible study, and the daily victory over sin, and the doing of God’s will, renew your strength. You will mount up with wings as eagles, until you grow heavenly-minded—“which is life and peace.” This is the “higher life” to which Christ calls every believer. And when you and I are inclined to nestle down in indolence and self-indulgence, God “stirs up our nests” and bids us fly towards Him.—Theodore L. Cuyler, D.D.
THE UNWEARIED RUNNER
(A Sermon to Young Men.)
Isa_40:31. But they that wait upon the Lord … shall run and not be weary.
Running is the young man’s pace. With overflowing strength and buoyant spirits, the danger is not that young men should not run, but that they should run amiss, or that they should attempt to run in the right road in their own strength. The text describes a character as well as gives a promise.
I. THE RUNNING.
There are different paces among the Lord’s servants. Ahimaaz is swifter than Cushi; John outruns Peter.
1. Running is the pace of energy. The puff-ball is the emblem of many a forceless life. Others work with both hands. If the Lord’s work is worth doing, it is worth doing well. Be it ours to outstrip the energy of this world.
2. Running indicates fulness of alacrity (Gen_18:7; Gen_24:46; 1Sa_3:4-5). Note how often Mark uses about Christ the words “straightway” and “immediately.” Every man should be as David with Goliath, eager for the fray; as Elisha, who left the oxen and ran after Elijah; as Philip, who ran to meet the chariot of the Ethiopian.
3. To run is to be diligent. That is hardly running in which a man starts and stops, and starts and stops again. Much of Sunday-school teaching is a very slovenly make-believe. Patient continuance in well-doing is crowned.
4. Running indicates thorough-going hearty zeal. E.g., Aaron running for his censer, and running in between the living and the dead, that the plague might be stayed (Num_16:46-50). Christ is dishonoured by our heartlessness, the Gospel is derided through our indifference, and souls are lost by our sloth. From all this it is clear that the runner is one whose spiritual life is intense. Young men should be runners.
II. COMMEND THE RUNNING.
1. Because it is a warming pace. Running is better than standing before a fire for warming one; active exertions are better for the Christian life than listening to sermons. Let spiritual dyspeptics turn their hands to work.
2. A ground-clearing pace. Creepers meet with more obstacles than runners.
3. A cheering pace. Runners have no time to become dispirited. David ran to fight Goliath. One can understand the Balaclava charge.
4. The winning pace (1Co_9:24). All our God-given strength must be put out to win.
5. A fitting pace for a believer. Jesus Christ declares that we should run for Him. Christians who fall in love with “life in earnest” become far happier men. This is to live in the light of God’s countenance, like Milton’s angel in the midst of the sun.
III. THE RUNNER’S GIRDLE.
“They that wait upon the Lord shall run and not be weary.” Waiting upon the Lord is essential to the running. They shall not be weary. Much running is short-lived. Many converts are converted back again. Not every bloom becomes a fruit. To wait upon the Lord is—
1. To yield yourselves, by God’s grace, to be His servant. Every hair of our head belongs to our Saviour. Consecration is needed to keep up the running so as to win the crown.
2. To go to Him for all your strength. Man’s natural strength is perfect weakness as to spiritual things; strong points left undefended lead to ruin. Dare to do great work for God, and you will be enabled to dare ever greater things.
3. To cultivate the expectancy of hope. Wait at the foot of Jacob’s ladder for the angels to bring down answers to prayer. (See Outlines, WAITING FOR THE LORD, vol. i. pp. 178, 179, 332, 333.)
IV. THE RUNNER’S STAFF.
“He shall not be weary.” Some are not weary of God’s work, though they often grow weary in it. To stand, and having done all, to stand, is impossible to flesh and blood; it is only possible to the God-sustained. How run, then? Running Christians have daily strength for daily needs; they find fresh matter of interest (if you want a novel, read your Bible); they look to the end, to the recompense of the reward (1Co_15:58).
CONCLUSION.—Let runners beware of slackening their pace.—C. H. Spurgeon: Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit (1869), pp. 337–348.
I. WHAT IS MEANT BY RUNNING. To run, in a spiritual acceptation, is to engage with great liveliness and zeal in the duties which God has appointed, and to persist in them with all our powers. Running includes—
1. Forwardness, in opposition to culpable delays. When a good work is proposed to some, they catch at any excuse for neglecting it; or, if they do set about it, it is with so much reluctance and indolence, that what little is done is of little worth. But the lively Christian, let God call him when He will, is eager to discharge whatever appears to be his duty (Psa_119:60). The angels are represented as standing round about the throne of God, hearkening to the voice of His word; as it were, watching every motion of His lips: and the instant they perceive the least intimation of His pleasure, they fly to execute it. Those who are truly God’s people do His will on earth as it is done in heaven: they do it promptly. Examples (1Ki_19:20; Mat_4:22; Mat_2:9; H. E. I. 3633–3638).
2. Perseverance and diligence. It is not every progressive motion that can be called running. The motion used in it is quick and animated, and that not for a step or two, but for a considerable way, even to the end of the course. It implies, therefore, not merely a forwardness in the setting about a good design, but diligence in prosecuting it, and perseverance to finish it. Our endeavours to please God and win the glorious prize must be strenuous, ardent, continuous. When a person is running for a considerable wager, he doth not loiter, nor enter into trifling conversation with every one he meets. No; he looks at nothing but the prize set before him; he will not suffer himself to be hindered by any one; he pushes on with unremitted ardour to the end of the race (1Co_9:25; Php_3:13).
II. HOW FAR THEY WHO RUN MAY EXPECT TO BE SUPPORTED.
1. They shall never be so weary as to lose their inward delight in religion. Though the flesh sometimes flags and tires, and the present lively feeling of joy and comfort diminishes, the willingness of the spirit still continues; the principle of delighting in God doth not expire; their love to Christ and their eagerness to serve Him are as strong as ever. They are quite vexed and impatient when they find that nature cannot keep up with grace.
2. They shall not be so weary as to throw off the practice of religion. They may forget themselves, as Peter did in the high priest’s hall, and speak and act very inconsistently with their professed devotion to Christ; but yet, if they be really born again, grace will recover them from this temporary fainting; a look from Christ will set all right again.
III. WHAT REASON THEY HAVE TO EXPECT SUPPORT.
1. They have the power and promise of God to depend upon (chap. Isa_41:10, Isa_40:27-29; Psa_63:8).
2. There is a boundless excellency in religion, calculated to afford continual refreshment. Whatever else men apply their minds and hearts to, they are soon tired of; they find an emptiness in it which makes them throw it aside with disgust (Ecc_7:6; 1Jn_2:16; H. E. I. 4969–4974). But ask one who lives in communion with God, and runs the way of God’s commands with an enlarged heart, whether he is weary of it and would rather be excused from it, and you know what his vehement and indignant answer will be (Joh_4:34; Psa_84:10). The toils and labours of religion have one advantage above all other pursuits—there is no climbing to the top; there is no sounding the bottom; there is no finding out the breadth or length of its excellency and sweetness.
3. The faster we run the nearer we approach to heaven. We all know that they who are running in a race feel new vigour when they come within sight of the goal, especially the first of the competitors. With what a spring doth he advance, in his last steps, to lay hold on the prize! It is the same in the Christian race; the near approach of salvation drives off lazy slumbers, and sets all the powers of the soul in animated motion. [1342]
[1342] Travellers tell us of some countries which are so full of aromatic plants and flowers that they perceive the fragrance at some distance, and are highly refreshed by the pleasing gales. Do you not think it is the same with the Christian traveller, as he hears up towards the heavenly country, of which “the land flowing with milk and honey” was a figure, a shadow, a very inadequate resemblance?—Lavington.
APPLICATION.—Let those who are running the race set before them be encouraged. You are in the way of mercy, and may expect not only to be kept from falling, but to have a continual increase of grace. Let the way be never so long, the ascent never so difficult, the opposition never so great, and your strength never so small; what are all these to the power and promise of God? Only—
1. Take care that you begin well. Be sure that your first step in religion is right. Remember that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life,” and that “no man cometh unto the Father but by Him.”
2. Avoid hindrances. Many such will be thrown in your way [1345]
3. Keep heaven and your Forerunner in your eye. The soul that looks unto Jesus can never lose its way (P. D. 2312–2314).—Samuel Lavington: Sermons, vol. ii 379–396.
[1345] Hindrances of various kinds we must expect to meet with: the world and our hearts are full of them; but there is a world where we shall get entirely above them; where there shall be nothing within us, nor without us, to stop our course or interrupt our joy.
“There, to fulfil His sweet commands,
Our speedy feet shall move;
No Sin shall clog our wingèd zeal,
Or cool our burning love.”
O Christians! with such prospects before us, is it not strange that we run no faster now? that when heaven, in respect to some of us, can be at no great distance, it should be possible for the comparatively trifling concerns of the world to engage our attention? that we do not spurn it from us with indignation, like the Pilgrim, who ran through Vanity Fair shutting his eyes and stopping his ears?—Lavington.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On v29He gives strength to the tired; and to the…
He gives strength to the tired; and to the weak he gives renewed energy
These two lines share similar meanings and emphasize that Yahweh strengthens those who have no strength. (See: Parallelism)
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He gives strength
"Yahweh gives strength"
they will soar with wings like eagles
People receiving strength from Yahweh is spoken of as if the people were able to fly like eagles fly. An eagle is a bird often used as a symbol for strength and power. (See: Metaphor)
they will run and not be weary; they will walk and not faint
These two lines share similar meanings. People receiving strength from Yahweh is spoken of as if they were able to run and walk without tiring. (See: Parallelism and Metaphor)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv29, 3140:29 The weak in this context are those who…
40:29 The weak in this context are those who face persecution or oppression (such as the Babylonian exile); the Lord is their only recourse (see 49:4-5; 50:4; Pss 68:9; 119:28).
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v30 They that trust in their own virtue, and do…
They that trust in their own virtue, and do not acknowledge that all cometh of God.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv29–31 Isa 40:29 He giveth power to the faint; and…
Isa 40:29 He giveth power to the faint; and to [them that have] no might he increaseth strength.
Ver. 29. He giveth power to the faint.] How then should he himself faint? or why should any good man’s heart fail him? The Jews among their benedictions (whereof they are bound to say a hundred every day), have this for one, Blessed be God who giveth power to the faint.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv29–31 He hath strength enough not only for himself, but…
He hath strength enough not only for himself, but for all, even the weakest of his creatures, whom he can easily strengthen to bear all their burdens, and to vanquish all their oppressors.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv29–30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary,.... Such…
Even the youths shall faint and be weary,.... Such as are in the prime of their strength, and glory in it, yet through the hand of God upon them, by one disease or another, their strength is weakened in the way; or they meet with that which they are not equal to, and sink under, and are discouraged, and obliged to desist. Some think the Babylonians and Chaldeans are here meant, the enemies of Israel, and by whom they were carried captive. The Targum interprets this clause, as well as the following, of wicked and ungodly men; and so do Jarchi and Kimchi: it may be applied to the Heathen emperors, who persecuted the church of God, and were smitten by him, and found it too hard a work to extirpate Christianity out of the world, which they thought to have done; and also to all the antichristian states, who have given their power and strength to the beast:
and the young men shall utterly fail; or, "falling shall fall" (f); stumble and fall, die and perish; or, however, not be able to perform their enterprise.
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(f) "corruendo corruent", Montanus; "labefacti cadent", Castalio.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv30–31 The youths - The youngest and strongest men, left…
The youths - The youngest and strongest men, left to themselves.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v31 Verse 31. They shall mount up with wings as…
Verse 31. They shall mount up with wings as eagles - "They shall put forth fresh feathers like the moulting eagle"] It has been a common and popular opinion that the eagle lives and retains his vigour to a great age; and that, beyond the common lot of other birds, he moults in his old age, and renews his feathers, and with them his youth. "Thou shalt renew thy youth like the eagle," says the psalmist, Ps 103:5; on which place St. Ambrose notes, Aquila longam aetatem ducit, dum, vetustis plumis fatiscentibus, nova pennarum successione juvenescit: - "The eagle lives to a very advanced age; and in moulting his youth is renewed with his new feathers."
Phile, De Animalibus, treating of the eagle, and addressing himself to the emperor Michael Palaeologus junior, raises his compliment upon the same notion: -
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Τουτου συ, βασιλευ, τον πολυν ζωοις βιον,
Αει νεουργων, και κρατυνων την φυσιν.
"Long may'st thou live, O king; still like the eagle
Renew thy youth, and still retain thy vigour."
To this many fabulous and absurd circumstances are added by several ancient writers and commentators on Scripture; see Bochart, Hieroz. II. ii. 1. Rabbi Saadias says, Every tenth year the eagle flies near the sun; and when not able any longer to bear the burning heat, she falls down into the sea, and soon loses her feathers, and thus renews her vigour. This she does every tenth year till the hundredth, when, after she has ascended near the sun, and fallen into the sea, she rises no more. How much proof do such stories require! Whether the notion of the eagle's renewing his youth is in any degree well founded or not, I need not inquire; it is enough for a poet, whether profane or sacred, to have the authority of popular opinion to support an image introduced for illustration or ornament. - L
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v29 Isa 40:29-31. He giveth power to the faint —…
Isa 40:29-31. He giveth power to the faint — He hath strength enough, not only for himself, but for all, even the weakest of his creatures, whom he can easily strengthen to bear all their burdens, and to vanquish all their oppressors. The prophet seems to speak with an especial reference to those among God’s people whose faith and hope were very low, which he would support, even until the time of their promised deliverance. Even the youths shall faint — Those that make the greatest boast of their strength, as young men are apt to do, shall find it fail them whenever God withdraws his support. But they that wait upon the Lord — That rely on him for strength to bear their burdens, and for deliverance from them in due time; shall renew their strength — Shall grow stronger and stronger in faith, patience, and fortitude, whereby they shall be more than conquerors over all their enemies and adversities. They shall mount up on wings as eagles — Which, of all fowls, fly most strongly and swiftly, and rise highest in their flight, and out of the reach of all danger. Instead of, They shall mount up, &c., Bishop Lowth reads, They shall put forth fresh feathers, like the moulting eagle; observing, “It has been a common and popular opinion, that the eagle lives and retains his vigour to a great age; and that, beyond the common lot of other birds, he moults in his old age, and renews his feathers, and with them his youth. Thou shalt renew my youth like the eagle, says the psalmist, on which place St. Ambrose notes, ‘Aquila longam ætatem ducit, dum, vetustis plumis fatiscentibus, nova pennarum successione juvenescit.’” The eagle extends his age to a great length, while the old feathers failing, he grows young by a new succession of feathers. See note on Psa 103:5.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv29–31 He giveth power to the faint - To his…
He giveth power to the faint - To his weak and feeble people. This is one of his attributes; and his people, therefore, should put their trust in him, and look to him for aid (compare 2Co 12:9). The design of this verse is to give consolation to the afflicted and down-trodden people in Babylon, by recalling to their minds the truth that it was one of the characteristics of God that he ministered strength to those who were conscious of their own feebleness, and who looked to him for support. It is a truth, however, as applicable to us as to theresa truth inestimably precious to those who feel that they are weak and feeble, and who look to God for aid.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v31 Eagles, who grow young, when they get new feathers,…
Eagles, who grow young, when they get new feathers, Psalm cii. 5. (St. Jerome) --- In this and the following 26 chapters the prophet chiefly comforts his people, as he had rebuked them for their crimes in the first part. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv29–31 Not only does He "not faint" (Isa 40:28) but…
Not only does He "not faint" (Isa 40:28) but He gives power to them who do faint.
no might . . . increaseth strength--a seeming paradox. They "have no might" in themselves; but in Him they have strength, and He "increases" that strength (Co2 12:9).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv29–30 29. He giveth power — So far from becoming…
29. He giveth power — So far from becoming faint himself, as the God of power and wisdom he giveth strength to the fainthearted always.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv30–31 30. Even the youths shall faint …] Better: And…
30. Even the youths shall faint …] Better: And though youths faint and are weary and choice young men stumble (the protasis to Isa_40:31). Natural strength at its best is exhausted, but—
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv29–31 (29) He giveth power to the faint . .…
(29) He giveth power to the faint . . .—i.e., to them pre-eminently—their very consciousness of weakness being the condition of their receiving strength. (Comp. Mat_5:6; Luk_1:52-53; Luk_6:21.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv29–31 He giveth power to the faint. So far is…
He giveth power to the faint. So far is he from being "faint" himself, that he has superabundant energy to impart to any that are faint among his servants.
Weakness made strong.
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"He giveth power to the faint," etc. The.pilgrim to Zion is often weary. Lassitude and faintness steal over the soul, and energy is gone. At such seasons we cannot recover ourselves. No effort of will can give tone to the spirit and zeal to the activities.
I FAINTNESS RELIEVED. Our principles have not changed; nor have our ideals. To live for Christ is still our aim. But somehow the heart, which is the centre of the life, beats feebly. God has varied ways of relieving our weakness and restoring our strength. But whatever the instrumentality, it is God that does it, God"s Spirit that fills it. Blessed hours are those when the heavenly breath revives the soul; when the graces lift up their faded heads like dew-bathed flowers; when courage revives, and the soul rejoices in God.
II STRENGTH INCREASED. "To them that have no might." Further than this we cannot go. And it should comfort those who regard their experiences of feebleness as indications that they are not the children of God, that such a state is recognized in Holy Scripture as possible to us. "No might." Patience gone. Endurance gone. Perseverance gone. It is almost like moral paralysis. But it is not, indeed, so. The nerve is weakened, but not snapped. Divine communication can and will come, even to the most enfeebled and dejected. While we say "no might," there is a little strength, or it could not be "increased." And this increase is often very slow and imperceptible. When we are physically feeble, we cannot measure progress as we inhale the air of sea or mountain; only steadily does the tide of health, like the ocean tide, return. But it does come, if we wait upon God; for God is faithful who hath promised. It is all of him. W.M.S.
Vers. 29-31. The need and the gift of spiritual power.
What Israel wanted in captivity the Church of Christ now needs in its present situation, surrounded by an unsympathizing or even hostile world. It lacks power to do that which it was created to accomplish. Potentially, it has within itself all that is required to complete the great work of regeneration which its Divine Master began; in simple fact and in sad reality, it has failed to discharge its function. Every Church should be a great power for good in the country, in the neighbourhood in which it is planted; every Christian man should be a real power for piety and virtue in the circle in which he moves. We ought to have power to "witness a good profession for Jesus Christ," power to live an elevating, influential life, power to execute a useful and abiding work for cur Lord. Can we say that this is the case with our Churches, with ourselves? Must we not regretfully admit that it is not so? We note
I THE PREVALENCE OF HUMAN WEAKNESS. Probably the "faint, and those who had no might," among the exiled Israelites were the dispirited, the dissatisfied, the despairing those who had lost hope in God and had no expectation of ever seeing again the land of their fathers. So with the Israel of God; the faint and the weak include:
1. Joyless souls, who have no gladness in God, and no happiness in his service, who walk even in the "path of life" with no brightness in their countenance and no elasticity in their step. But they include also:
2. Half-hearted souls, whose devotedness to Christ is seriously defective, who cannot say, "With my whole heart have I served thee," who seem to think that a very large amount of selfishness is consistent with loyalty to the Lord, and who are often falling "out of rank" when they should be walking on in the march or actively engaged in the battle.
3. Faint-hearted souls, who have no courage to attempt anything for their Master and their fellow-men, and who consequently allow their life to pass on and away without achieving anything in the field of sacred usefulness.
4. Souls open to temptation; those who have gained such an imperfect control over themselves that they lie exposed to the gusts of temptation, and their best friends are continually solicitous lest they should dishonour themselves and the Name they bear.
II THE INSUFFICIENCY OF HUMAN STRENGTH. There were those in Israel from whom, in the natural course of things, strength, vigour, fortitude, might have been expected. But in vain: "Even the youths shall faint," etc. There are those in the Church of Christ whose physical constitution, or whose natural temperament, or whose intellectual capacity or acquisition might give them the appearance of strength; it would not be expected of them that they would become "weary," still less that they would "utterly fall." But no reliance can be placed on such natural supports, such unspiritual resources. These souls are not strong in the deeper sense in which the Church needs strength. They are subject to the inroads of pride; they are liable to fall under the assaults of passion; they are tempted to withhold from God the glory which is due to his holy Name; they may do nothing to commend the Divine Saviour himself and his glorious gospel to the hearts of men; and, "not gathering with" Christ, they only "scatter abroad" the seeds of error and of wrong.
III THE GIFT OF DIVINE POWER. "He giveth power... he increaseth strength." God has access to our human souls direct and immediate access. He can "lay his hand upon us," and touch the secret springs of our nature, calling forth all that is best and worthiest, "strengthening us with strength in our soul." He can communicate to us so much of "the exceeding greatness of his power" that we can, through him and in him, become strong indeed; can attain to strength of:
1. Resistance; so that we shall be able to stand in the evil hour of temptation.
2. Endurance; that we can be calm, peaceful, acquiescent, even under the severest and the most lasting trials.
3. Steadfast piety; that we become "living epistles of Christ," etc.
4. Sacred joy.
5. Faithful utterance.
6. Perseverance in every good work. God gives us of the refreshing, renewing, invigorating influences of his Holy Spirit, and we run without weariness, we walk without tainting.
IV THE CONDITION ON WHICH IT IS CONFERRED. This includes
(1) a patient waiting for the exercise of God"s power on our behalf; and also
(2) an earnest appeal to him in believing prayer that he would fulfil his word. The truly reverent spirit will devoutly seek the Divine blessing, and confidently look for its bestowal. To expect without seeking is presumption; to seek without expecting is unbelief; to do the one and not to leave the other undone is obedience and faith in happy union. C.
He who has power alone can give it.
"He giveth power to the faint." "The final verses of this chapter are remarkable for the frequent occurrence of "fainteth" and "is weary." They come in every sentence, and if we note their use we shall get the essence of the hope and consolation which the prophet was anointed to pour into the wounds of his own people, and of every heavy-laden soul since then. Notice how, first, the prophet points to the unwearied God; and then his eyes drop from heaven to the clouded, saddened earth, where there are the faint and the weak, and the strong becoming faint, and the youths fading and becoming weak with age. Then he hinds together these two opposites the unwearied God and the fainting man in the grand thought that he is the giving God, who bestows all his power on the weary. And see how, finally, he rises to the blessed conception of the wearied man becoming like the unwearied God. "They shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint (Maclaren).
I A MAN MUST GIVE WHAT HE POSSESSES. He only truly enjoys it by giving it. The miser who holds is miserable. To have anything is simply blessed because we can share it, we can give it. This is more true than we think it, in all the best relations of life, even under our present depraved conditions. Ideally it is the only noble conception of life. Mothers only care for possession because it brings power, to give. Thinkers only acquire truth for the joy of imparting. We are permitted to think that this is true of God. He has no joy in possession. His joy is giving. He is always spending and working; and the gift of his Son is only the sublimest instance of what he is always doing giving away his possessions.
II A MAN CAN ONLY GIVE WHAT HE POSSESSES. We seek out each man for the skill he possesses. This man can give us healing, that one comforting, and this one teaching. Each has his own possession, and each can help us in his own way. No one man can do all things for us; and we are foolish indeed if we expect of a man what he has no power to give.
III WHAT GOD HAS IS THE FULL, ABUNDANT SUPPLY OF ALL OUR WANTS. "My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." In the passage now before us the provision of God for us is gathered up into the significant word "strength." Paul"s great want is also our great want the great want of every man the world over, in whom a trace of the Divine image is left. It is power "power to perform that which is good;" some spiritual force to act on our souls, and make us more than conquerors over self and sin. And that is within Goal"s ability. To bestow it is the purpose of his good will. "Giving power to the faint" is his Divinest work. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv29–31 He giveth power to the faint
Isa_40:29-31
He giveth power to the faint
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The Divine Helper
I.
OUR SPIRITUAL CONDITION IS INTIMATELY KNOWN TO THE DIVINE FATHER. He knows the strong and the faint alike. As a wise Shepherd, He is acquainted with the state of His entire flock.
1. There is our inherent antagonism to evangelical truth. Man is prone to self-leaning. When we leave the Cross we faint; while we glory in its Sufferer we are armed with irresistible might!
2. There is the seductive influence of worldly association.
3. There is the fierce battle for daily bread.
4. There is our ever-recurring unbelief.
II. MORAL FAINTNESS DOES NOT INVALIDATE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. Were all the faint to be excluded, how many of you would remain as children of God? Does the parent cast off the crippled child? It will be necessary, however, to guard this assurance with two explanations--
1. It contains no encouragement to moral indolence. You are not to exonerate yourselves from the stern duties oF life on the plea that you are faint. The toiler grows strong; exercise develops muscle.
2. It affords no palliation for inconsistency. We are never allowed to plead weakness as a reason for sin.
III. INFINITE POWER IS ACCESSIBLE TO THE MORALLY FEEBLE.
1. God never communicates surplus power. As thy days so shall thy strength be.
2. Gods method of communicating power teaches the dependence of humanity. Gods alone is original; but it is enough for man if he can shine with radiance borrowed from the Fount of uncreated light.
3. Gods willingness to communicate power fearfully increases the responsibility of the Church. What power we might have! I regard the declaration in the following aspects
(1) As the sublimest encouragement to the Church. He giveth power to the faint. Who is this Being represented, in the pronoun?
(2) As the tenderest assurance to the penitent. The bruised reed He will not break, the smoking flax He will not quench.
(3) As the highest tribute to the work of Christ.
(4) As a glorious pledge of Gods interest in humanity.
(5) As a presumptive proof of mans immortality. But how so? Can they who faint be immortal? Why all this feeding like a shepherd? Why this gentle tending--this inspiration of life--this sustaining of vigour--this communication of power? Is the mysterious process undertaken when God has determined that all shall end in dust? Does the Divine Being sustain merely that earthly life shall be prolonged? Why should Jehovah stoop to impart power to the faint, when He knows that in a few brief years the faint one will have crumbled to dust? (J. Parker, D. D.)
Almighty God helps the weak
The arguments which demonstrate the folly and guilt of worshipping false gods, and of confiding in them, equally demonstrate the duty and obligation of worshipping the true and living God, and of placing our confidence in Him. Indeed, to remove our adoration from an idol is doing but little, unless at the same time it be given to the Holy and Great Jehovah; it is but renouncing polytheism--a grievous and horrible delusion--for atheism, a delusion still more horrible and grievous.
I. JEHOVAH, THE TRUE GOD, IS A BEING OF UNLIMITED POWER (Isa_40:26).
II. THE POWER OF JEHOVAH, THE TRUE GOD, IS LIKE HIMSELF, UNDIMINISHABLE AND ETERNAL. He fainteth not, neither is weary. That the power of Jehovah, the true God, is undiminishable and eternal, is proved by the conservation of nature, as the existence of that power is proved by natures production. Were the hand which framed the universe utterly withdrawn, the universe would return to its original nothing. The motion, order, and safety of all things depend upon God. What a contrast does this perfection of undiminishable and eternal power form to the weakness of the creature--of fallen and helpless man especially! Weakness is the attribute of the human body. Man is no less weak as it relates to his mind. Sublime therefore in the highest degree is this account of Jehovah. He never lets fall the reins of dominion; He never retires, overcharged, by attention to His friends, resistance to His enemies, or the superintendence of all!
III. THE POWER OF JEHOVAH THE TRUE GOD IS CONDESCENDINGLY EMPLOYED IN BEHALF OF FALLEN, HELPLESS MAN. He giveth power to the faint, etc. Let us attend to some instances in which this truth is illustrated.
1. In His providential interpositions in favour of the more helpless of men. Some persons constitutionally feeble in body, or perhaps made so by disease, are often mysteriously succoured. The victim of oppression also ever finds a Friend in heaven.
2. In the work of our redemption by Christ Jesus. When we were yet without strength Christ died for the ungodly. (Rom_5:6). One of the most afflictive circumstances attending mans fallen state is that of utter helplessness. When sin entered into the world it not only erased from the soul of man the image of his Creator; it also annihilated, as far as man was concerned, all the means of his recovery. The nerves of obedience were cut, and the spirit of reverence and love utterly blasted.
3. In that invigorating peace communicated to the heart of man, when he believes to the salvation of his soul. Perhaps we are never fully prepared for the mercy of God, through the sacrificial merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, until we see that there is mercy in no other way.
4. In that successful resistance which is made by the faithful Christian, to the assaults of our great spiritual adversary, the devil.
5. In the season of personal affliction.
6. In the case of every one who dies in the Lord. (J. Bromley.)
The aid of the Holy Spirit
No words can do justice to the feelings of joy and gratitude which this gift should excite in all those who partake in its inestimable benefit. When the heathen sage had sketched out virtue in her goodliest forms; when he had pointed to the steep and arduous path which must be trodden by her successful votaries; when he had urged his disciples to enter upon it by the most stimulating motives with which the light of nature could supply him, what could he do more? What words of cheering import could he address to them, when sinking with dismay under a sense of their own infirmity, when trembling with apprehensions of failure, from a comparison between their strength and the task allotted to them? He had no authority to refer them to one who giveth power to the faint, and increaseth strength to them that have no might. What he could not, the Christian philosopher can say. (J. Marriot, M. A.)
A spiritual tonic
I. THE SPIRITUAL HEALTH OF THE HEBREW CHURCH HAD FALLEN BELOW PAR.
1. They felt they had lost the favour of God. Their way was hidden from Him, and they walked in darkness, as if they were the sport of chance or the victims of fate.
2. They felt they were left to the mercy of man. It appeared as if judgment upon them and their way was transferred to caprice of men.
II. THE IMPAIRED SPIRITUAL STRENGTH OF THE HEBREW CHURCH MIGHT BE RESTORED. The people needed--
1. Faith in the power of God.
2. Hope in the pity of God. He does not crush the feeble and the faint, but increases their power.
3. Love for the service of God. As the hearts of the people became enthusiastic for the worship of Jehovah, and longed to get back to Zion to restore the temple and rebuild the city, their energies would revive as an incoming tide; revived spirit would bring revived strength.
III. WITH RESTORED SPIRITUAL HEALTH THE HEBREW CHURCH WOULD RESUME ITS WONTED ACTIVITIES. The people are promised--
1. Renewed vigour. Strength would come from waiting upon God.
2. Renewed vivacity. The people are told they shall mount, walk, run, without weariness or sense of exhaustion.
3. Renewed vitality. Though the body may grow old, and physical life decline, the soul shall remain young. (F. W. Brown.)
Gods power in the heavens and on earth
(with Isa_40:26):--These two verses set forth two widely different operations of the Divine power as exercised in two sadly different fields, the starry heavens and this weary world. The one verse says, He is strong in power; the other, He giveth power. In the former verse, the greatness of His might sustains the stars; in the latter verse, a still greater operation is set forth in that to them that have no might He increaseth strength. Thus there are three contrasts suggested; that between unfailing stars, and men that faint; that between the unwearied God and wearied men; and that between the sustaining power that is exercised in the heavens and the restoring power that is manifested on earth. There is another interlocking between the latter of these two texts and its context, which is indicated by a similar recurrence of epithets. In my second text we read of the faint, and in the verse that follows it again we find the expression faint and weary, while in the verse before my text we read that the Lord fainteth not, neither is weary. So again the contrast between Him and us is set forth, but in the verse that closes the chapter we read how that contrast merges into likeness, inasmuch as the unfainting and unwearied God makes even the men that wait upon Him unwearied and unfainting. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Unfailing stars and fainting men
(with Isa_40:26):--
I. A SAD CONTRAST. The prophet in the former of these verses seems to be expanding the thoughts that lie in the name, the Lord of hosts, in so far as that name expresses the Divine relation to the starry universe. The image that underlies both it and the words of my text is that of a commander who summons his soldiers, and they come. Discipline and plan array them in their ranks. The plain prose of which is that night by night, above the horizon, rise the bright orbs, and roll on their path obedient to the Sovereign will; because He is strong in might, not one is lacking. Scripture bids us think of God, not as a creative energy that set the universe in motion, and leaves it to roll or spin, but as of a Divine Presence. But in our second text we drop from the illumination of the heavens to the shadowed plain of this low earth. It is as if a man looking up into the violet sky, with all its shining orbs, should then turn to some reeking alley, with its tumult and its squalor. Just because man is greater than the stars, man fails, whilst they shine on unwearied. For what the prophet has in view as the clinging curse that cleaves to our greatness is not merely the bodily fatigue which is necessarily involved in the very fact of bodily existence, since energy cannot be put forth without waste and weariness, but it is far more the weary heart, the heart that is weary of itself, weary of toil, weary of the momentary crises that demand effort, and wearier still of the effortless monotony of our daily lives. It is ever to be remembered that the faintness and the ebbing away of might, which is the truly tragic thing in humanity, does not depend upon physical constitution, but upon separation from the Source of all strength.
II. ANOTHER SAD CONTRAST, MELTING INTO A BLESSED LIKENESS. He fainteth not, neither is weary. He giveth power to the faint. Is that not a higher exercise of power than to preserve the stars from wrong? What are the consequences that the prophet traces to this restoring power? They shall mount up with wings as eagles, etc.
III. THE WAY BY WHICH THESE CONTRASTS CAN BE RECONCILED, AND THIS LIKENESS SECURED. They that wait upon the Lord--that is the whole secret. What does waiting on the Lord include? Keep near Him; keep still: expect. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Two operations of Gods power
(with Isa_40:26):--
1. The strength that restores is greater than the power that preserves.
2. The power that is given to the faint is greater than the strength that keeps the stars from falling, because there is in it an actual communication of actual Divine strength. God keeps the planet in its course by an act (for we must not speak about effort in regard to Him) of power brought to bear upon it. But He brings strength to us, not by ministration from without, but by impartation within.
3. Once more, this mirror gives us back the reflection of a power which is not only restoration and communication, but multiplication. To those that have no might He increaseth strength.
4. The power that redeems, ministers not only restoration and communication and multiplication, but assimilation. There is in the context a very remarkable play upon words. Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the ever lasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? He stoops to the faint, and gives them strength, and what is the result in them? They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. What God is, Gods child in his measure becomes, unfainting and unwearied like his Father in the heavens. God gives, not omnipotence, but something that is a kind of shadowy likeness of it. All things are possible to him that believeth. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Encouragement to the weary
I. THE LORD SPEAKS OF HIS PEOPLE AS BEING SOMETIMES FAINT. The expression is very significant; it implies that there is life, yet life for a time dormant, inactive, powerless either for defence, service, or enjoyment. There is one, for instance, who has watched long by the bedside of a beloved sick one. Others, again, are sorely tried by anxieties connected with their business; by the difficulty of providing daily bread. There, again, is another deeply vexed and grieved with the plague of his own heart. Of such as these the Lord seems to be speaking. He giveth power to the faint. His people are further described as having no might. Self-sufficiency is one of the plainest marks of the ungodly. And thus are they led truly into the third mark of His people, which the Lord here mentions, They that wait upon the Lord.
II. HOW HE DEALS WITH THEM. Three expressions are employed to describe this.
1. To the faint giving strength, because, under their sore trials and afflictions, they have utterly fainted; their strength has for a time entirely departed--to them the Lord gives strength.
2. Then observe the other word describing His dealings--He increaseth strength. That is a very suitable word. It is the experience of every gracious soul, that his own strength decreaseth. He learns more fully that he hath in himself no strength. Wherever the Lord removes any of the props of the believers earthly pride and self-sufficiency, there He reveals Himself as the believers strength. So that growth in humility is necessarily connected with growth in spiritual strength.
3. They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They renew their strength because the Lord renews it. He manifests Himself to them just at those times and in that manner in which they are led to see their need of Him.
III. THE BLESSED RESULTS OF THE LORDS DEALINGS WITH HIS PEOPLE. These also are described as three-fold--
1. They shall mount up, borne aloft heavenward, with a power in comparison with which the eagles mighty wings are powerless. And why? Because they are borne aloft by omnipotent grace. This is one blessed result to those who wait upon the Lord--heavenward tendency.
2. There is also promised zeal and rapid progress in their heavenly course. They shall run and not be weary. Waiting upon the Lord, they shall be so renewed in strength, that not only their affections, desires, and hopes shall be lifted up to heaven, but they shall also be carried forward swiftly and mightily in their gracious course. They shall run in the way of Gods commandments, and not be weary. Look at all mere human strength; how soon it fails, how quickly it is exhausted.
3. This is the third blessed result--a steady perseverance in the way to Zion. Whilst their progress is running for zeal and success, it is walking for steady persistency unto the end. It is harder sometimes to walk than to run. There are many who would gain heaven if it were to be won by a hasty run; but when the heavenly course requires not merely a short, quick, impulsive run, but the slow, weary, painful walk, they soon grow tired, and ready to give all up. (G. W. Hills.)
The influence of the Holy Ghost: the doctrine abused by neglecting means
The grand subject here is, waiting upon the Lord. The term is of frequent occurrence in Gods Word. It sometimes means nothing more than a quiet, restful frame of soul; and sometimes it will be found to set forth a waiting for the Lord, a patient waiting on Him in expectation of deliverance. But waiting on Him seems to imply more than this; it implies a diligent use of those means that He has appointed for the communication of His grace--waiting on Him in the use of those means. It is not an indolent waiting.
I. GODS GRACIOUS COMMUNICATION OF NEEDFUL HELP TO HIS POOR, TRIED, WEAK, AND HELPLESS PEOPLE.
1. Every creature is of necessity weak; it is not his fault--it is his nature. When Adam left his hold on God he necessarily fell; as necessarily as any branch would fall if cut off from the parent stem. The creature has no power to sustain himself, nor to help himself; and it was never intended that he should have.
2. If man as an unfallen creature is weak; well may we say, that as a fallen creature, he is altogether weakness.
3. But even as a renewed creature he is weak, and if left to himself, unable to cope with one enemy, or to maintain his own standing for one single moment. Without Me ye can do nothing.
4. Besides this, there are certain periods in which the believer is more than ordinarily faint and weak. There are many things that try him.
5. Oftentimes too, through want of watchful, prayerful, holy seeking and turning over the page of conscience, he weakens his little strength. But it is to these very souls that the Lord communicates strength. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength. The necessities of Gods people seem to touch the very heart of God. But there is something in the very glory of God that constrains Him to grant them
His help in their hours of need. This was Davids plea: pardon mine iniquity, for it is great, but for Thy names sake, he says.
II. OBSERVE THROUGH WHAT CHANNEL IT COMES. It is not a natural channel; it is not the strength of nature, but it is in the way of waiting dependence on Himself. There is a wondrous analogy between the operations of God in grace and in nature. God has given to us the promise that seed-time and harvest shall never fail while the world remains; but does this hinder the necessity of casting in the seed? Does it hinder the necessity of ploughing the land before it, and of harrowing it in, and protecting it? The more I look at this appointment of God, the more I see of infinite wisdom in it. I am in great distress, in great need, no one knows of my pressure. Perhaps I tell my friend, but I find no relief at all. And now I cast myself on the Lord--God reveals Himself to me as my Father-it quiets me, it comforts me. See how the Lord makes one step preparatory to another, and makes one thing the means of obtaining another. Prayerfulness leads to strength; that leads to courage; that leads to submission; that leads to patience, and that leads to praise. Observe the same, too, of all other means of grace. Talk we of the Bible, or hearing the Word unfolded? In prayer we speak to God; in His Word He speaks to us by His Spirit. Look at the very means of grace themselves: there is the unfolding of the same wisdom in the means appointed. What a suitable and reasonable ordainment it is!
III. THE ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY OF THIS CHANNEL OF COMMUNICATION. They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. When God puts forth His promise He pledges all that is in Himself to fulfil that promise. This is Gods appointed way. Perhaps we can say there are no instances upon record in which it was otherwise, but I dare not say that God may not in one moment so break in upon a mans soul, by the holy anointing of the Spirit, as to give him the most perfect conviction that he is a child of God. See the greatness of the communication. They shall run; they shall walk; and they shall mount up. Concluding remarks--
1. Would that the saints of God did more deeply feel that they are fainting and full of weakness!
2. Though it is no small mercy to be deeply conscious of our utter weakness before God, take heed how you abuse this glorious doctrine of the blessed Spirit by living a life of ceaseless and useless complaint. There is an observation, I think in Owen, that the religion of some consists in little more than in going from house to house, from friend to friend, from saint to saint, telling ones nothingness, sinfulness, and wretchedness. They make a sort of secret balm of it.
3. What vast encouragement is here! (J. H. Evans, M. A.)
Causes and cure of fainting
I. WHAT MAKES US FAINT?
1. We will consider the case of the awakened sinner.
(1) They may very well faint, for they have made a most alarming discovery.
(2) They have tried to escape from their dangerous position, but they have not succeeded.
(3) We have known some grow so faint through a sense of sin and a dread of its punishment and a consciousness of their own inability to save themselves, that they have even wished to die; yet, when they have looked at their condition aright, they have asked themselves what use death would be to them?
(4) Perhaps also, at such a time, a sore trouble may happen to the man; for, in the parable of the prodigal son, it appears that he was quite as much influenced by the peculiar circumstances without as by his sense of sin within.
2. I pass on to another character, namely, the child of God in his fainting fits. There is a degree of sinfulness about some of those faintings which is not found in others.
(1) Sometimes the children of God faint through want of faith (Psa_27:13). So the cure of fainting is faith, and the best way to prevent fainting is to believe.
(2) Some are brought into a state of faintness through a selfish want of resignation e.g., Jonah and the gourd. It was not alone the heat of the sun that caused him to faint; it was also the heat of his temper. Some of those who have lost dear children seem as if they will not forgive God for taking them.
(3) There are children of God also who fall into faintness through trusting in themselves. Even the youths shall faint, etc. Why is that? Because the youths felt themselves able to do anything.
(4) Faintness may also arise from another cause which is sinful, namely, neglect of prayer.
(5) Children of God fall into faintness because of the length of the way.
(6) The heaviness of their burden.
(7) A sense of weakness.
(8) Another frequent cause is the spirit itself sinking (Psa_42:1-11.).
(9) Some get faint through lack of spiritual food.
(10) Sometimes Gods children faint when they are in adversity.
(11) There are some who faint through increasing infirmity.
II. HOW THE LORD DEALS WITH HIS FAINTING PEOPLE. He giveth power, etc.
1. See how tenderly the Lord deals with His fainting people. He does not desert them, saying, They are no longer any use to Me; they can do nothing for Me; I will leave them where they are. He gives them power.
2. What sort of power?
(1) You may be sure that He does not give them any of their own. That has all gone from them.
(2) It will be sufficient for the emergency, for He has all-sufficient power. As thy days, etc.
(3) It is a power that the devil can neither defeat nor take away.
3. Why is it that He gives power to the faint?
(1) Because, in His great goodness, He looks out for those who need it most.
(2) Because they will praise Him most for it.
(3) Because they will be sure to use it. When a person who has been faint receives power from God he will be likely to be sympathetic, tender, and gentle towards others; at least, that is how he should be.
Conclusion--
1. If God gives power to the faint, let us be thankful if we have fainted and have been revived by Him.
2. Let us have done with fainting in the future, because we ought to have no more fainting now that we have received Gods power. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Strength attracted by weakness
We have seen a little weakling child draw to its cot some strong and burly man, the champion athlete of the country-side. Such a spell can weakness exert over might, and helplessness over helpfulness. It is the burden of Scripture that the strong should bear the infirmities of the weak, and not please themselves. Such is the law of Gods existence. All that He is and has He holds in trust for us, and most for those who need most. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Gods strength for the weak
Many of us are too strong, self-reliant, and resourceful to get the best that God can do. Jacob must halt on his thigh ere he can prevail with God and man. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Gods untiring patience
God is ever blotting out sins from His remembrance--never tiring. I will tell you what it is like. It is like the infinite, tireless patience of the sea. The children ply their spades upon the sands, to make work for the sea. They heap the sand up, they dig deep into it. Hundreds of them disfigure the hard, golden surface, and leave their scars upon it; and then quietly the old sea turns upon its course, and rolls its waves across the sands, and every trace of scar is obliterated, becomes as if it had never been; when the tide ebbs again there is no trace upon the smooth, shining surface of the sand to show that it had ever known disturbance. Day after day, day after day, the scene is repeated, and the sea is never tired of putting things to rights; it never complains, it never resents the new work imposed upon it. And the secret is that there is such infinite reserve of power that all that man can do frets it no whir. It is only a question of time, and it will put all things to rights again. Again and again, as I have stood by the sea, this sense of its tirelessness has come over me. It fainteth not, neither is weary. And it has seemed to me an emblem, as the stars are emblems, moving on their courses, as the world is an emblem, swinging through space, as nature is an emblem, pursuing so patiently and unweariedly her age-long business--of that mighty God whose glorious characteristic it is that He fainteth not, neither is weary; but He giveth power to the faint, and increaseth strength to him that hath no might. (C. Silvester Home, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v31 Isa_40:31. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew…
WAITING ON GOD
Isa_40:31. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
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I. Two conditions are necessary to physical life, viz., repose and activity. So, also, in the spiritual life, there are two conditions of health, viz., passivity and exercise. The former is expressed by waiting, which implies—
1. Passivity—a state in which we are the recipients, in which we do nothing, but quietly expect something to be done. As men “wait for the morning,” they wait for the salvation of God; for the fulfilment of His promises; for the coming of the Lord.
2. Confidence in God, an assurance that He will reveal Himself, that He will accomplish His Word.
3. Desire and expectation. Men who wait for the morning both expect it and long for it; so those who wait for God—for His salvation, for His coming—expect it and long for it (Psa_130:6).
4. Patience and submission—patience, because we know that the good waited for will not be granted before God’s time; submission, because we know that it is in God’s power to grant or to withhold, and that our only hope is in Him.
Waiting, therefore, is the opposite
(1) Of indifference;
(2) of despair;
(3) of rebellious discontent. (See vol. i. pp. 178, 179, 332.)
II. Those who wait on the Lord renew their strength.
1. Because God flows in upon the soul, imparts larger measures of life; as occurs in sleep. As touching the ground, according to the fable.
2. Because God approves and blesses those who thus confide in Him and long for Him.
III. Times in which we should wait.
1. In seasons of devotion, private and public.
2. In times of sickness and sorrow.
3. In times of spiritual dearth.
4. All the time of our continuance in this world is a time of waiting for the salvation of God.—C. Hodge, D.D.
We have here some of the benefits of waiting upon God as they appeared to the fervid soul of the prophet Isaiah. True messenger of the old covenant, he continues to speak under the new. Let us listen to this old message, which is also new. What does the prophet say? He says:—
I. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” This sounds as if this godly life of theirs involved a considerable tax upon their spiritual strength; as if they were in danger of becoming “weary and faint in their minds.” Is this really so, Christian tradesman, householder, citizen, preacher, worker in the Lord’s vineyard? What do you say, you who suffer and you who are tempted? To all such this promise of Scripture will be very welcome. The least it can mean is—
(1.) That they shall stand their ground. But it must mean something more than that they shall not retreat, though in such a warfare as ours not to have yielded is itself a victory. It must mean, they shall advance, they shall make sure and steady progress against the foe. But the margin speaks of this renewal as a change of strength, as if it would remind us—
(2.) Of the many-sidedness of the grace of God, and its perfect adaptability to our ever-changing needs. Whatever we need for the journey or the conflict, for prosperity or for adversity, prayer will obtain it for us (H. E. I. 2363–2374).
II. “They shall mount up with wings as eagles.” This seems to say that the life of communion with God is not a long series of vapid and unemotional hours, a dead level of mechanical and spiritless employments, but a life that has rare and glorious experiences, holy aspirations, ennobling thoughts, ecstatic emotions, spirit-stirring hopes. “Wings as eagles.” What does this mean? Climb where the eagle makes her nest and look. It means—
1. Purer air. Very pure is the atmosphere in which the eagle soars; she leaves all the fogs and mists of earth beneath her.
2. Clearer vision. The eagle sees things in their real relation to each other. What a mighty difference this often makes in our estimate of their nature! Premeditated insults below become mere forgetfulness above; irreparable injuries, mere scratches upon the skin; formidable duties, precious privileges.
3. Untroubled quiet. No one knows but he who has the secret of this Divine communion how deep a quiet God breathes about the heart that loves to speak with Him. In a peace that passeth understanding the praying spirit listens to the still small voice of God.
4. Rare landscapes greet his eye who mounts up with wings as eagles. We know what it is to look on Nature from the level. Can you fancy what it must be to look from eagle’s wings? Can you fancy what it is to have beneath you the beauty of the earth from horizon to horizon? So is it with those that wait upon the Lord. Lifted up on faith’s strong eagle pinions, over the great world of God’s written revelation, what prospects they rejoice in! What order, beauty, harmony, and sublimity they descry! Or if these pinions raise him above the world of human life, it is still the same with him; he sees what none other sees—God overruling all things, causing all things to work together for good to them that love Him.
5. Unclouded sunshine. It is possible to get above the clouds (Joh_15:11; 1Jn_4:18; Eph_3:19).
III. “They shall run and not be weary.” Theirs shall be capacity for the most strenuous exertion.
IV. “They shall walk and not faint.” Is not this the same as saying that we shall have the power of steady perseverance, of patient endurance under protracted trials? Did the prophet put this last because patience is one of those Christian graces that has its perfect work the latest—because the bearing of the Lord’s burden is often a much more difficult thing than the doing of the Lord’s work? And was it because he would encourage us by the assurance that that power, difficult as it is, shall yet be ours through prayer?
All this has but one lesson: BE MEN OF PRAYER.—John H. Anderson: Christian World Pulpit, vol. iii. pp. 84–87.
THE STRENGTH WE NEED
Isa_40:31. But they that wait upon the Lord, &c.
Divine promises are made to character. The character here described is one who waits on his patron for a benefit, on his master for direction. It is the believer’s expectant, obedient look. It probably here describes the attitude of the believing Jews in Babylon in expectation of deliverance.
For all action strength is required. It is more easy to describe than define. There is the strength of a fortress, of an army, of a labourer. There is intellectual strength and moral strength. This last is required in the Christian life. There is an immense power of evil adverse to it, resistance to which requires moral strength. The text suggests the source whence it is derived, the constancy with which it is supplied, and the achievements by which it is distinguished.
I. THE SOURCE WHENCE IT IS DERIVED.
From the Lord on whom we wait. This is the point of connection between the text and what precedes. The prophet has contrasted the Divine power with the helplessness of heathen gods. He speaks of the power displayed in creation. When we contemplate its ample details, we conclude that power equal to their production is Omnipotence. The question is not affected by the fact that, while operating on matter, He is Himself immaterial. We do not understand the connection between mind and matter. But we know that mind operates on matter directly or indirectly. All science, all mechanical and engineering skill, is the indirect command of matter by mind. It can also command it directly. When the centurion came to Jesus pleading for the cure of his sick servant, it was not necessary for the Saviour to go to him (Mat_8:13). Who can explain the contact of the will of Jesus with this sick man at a distance from Him? Yet it was real and effectual. Thus with a word, the expression of mind and will, God at the creation “spake and it was done.” It is illimitable, inexhaustible power (Isa_40:28).
Nor is it only the power that controls matter. Equally immeasurable is He in the region of intellect. Hence the prophet advances to this as the completion of his statement. “There is no searching of His understanding.” We cannot understand the manner of the Divine thought. It is beyond us, as the thought of the mathematician is beyond the babe. But we know that it comprehends everything that exists, or will exist, or can.
And moral strength is His. He is holy; He is essential holiness. His will is the extremest removal from moral evil and accordance with righteousness. When He made man, He made him in His image; when He formulated laws for man’s government, though fallen, they expressed His essential righteousness; and this is His demand, “Ye shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy.”
And this is the source of human strength. Will any man say that his physical strength is self-created and independent? Or that his intellectual strength is independent of God? He who gave it sometimes takes it away. Our moral strength comes from Him. For what is it? Is it not the inclination of the will to the good, the righteous, the holy? Is this the natural disposition of man’s will? Was it not lost in the Fall? Is not human nature proverbially weak in resistance of evil? How can it be made strong? “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.” He not only pardons the past by the power of the atoning sacrifice; He provides by His Spirit a change of heart for the sinner. This regenerating power is the beginning and centre of the soul’s strength.
II. THE CONSTANCY WITH WHICH IT IS SUPPLIED.
The body becomes weary by exertion. The over-wrought brain becomes incapable of effort. Both must be recruited by rest and suitable aliment. And the soul’s strength gives way under the pressure of evil unless it is constantly replenished from the Eternal source. The difference between such as are permanently strong and such as are weak is the difference between such as rely on their own sufficiency and such as wait on the Lord. Youth is the time when self-confidence is greatest. But if the young Christian becomes confident in the self-perpetuating power of that determination of his will that has been given by the grace of God, he will be in danger of spiritual exhaustion and consequent powerlessness. “Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall.” Strength is maintained by constant inflowing from God. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” There may be an allusion to the supposed renewal of the eagle’s strength. Very impressive is the contrast between Nature when exhausted and weary in winter, and the springtime, when reinvigorated from secret sources and her strength put forth anew. Pleasant to the toiler, weary in mind and body with his work, is the quiet evening with his family, the night’s sleep, the Sabbath change and rest. Sweet is returning strength when the crisis of disease has passed, and the power which illness has exhausted is felt again. Thus spiritual forces are liable to waste. They need repair. Bring them to the source of strength. Use the means of grace. Seek the Spirit’s help. “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” How blessed the experience of Paul (2Co_4:16).
III. THE ACHIEVEMENTS BY WHICH IT IS DISTINGUISHED.
“They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.” Weakness seeks ease; strength seeks action. It is described—
1. As elevation. Like the eagle, whose flight is upward toward the sun. Nearer in thought and feeling to God.
2. As progression. In the path of Christian experience, character, service. It becomes easier from habit, as the daily task. And new strength is supplied.
The practical lesson of the whole is, that to fallen men God is this true source of moral strength. “My strength is made perfect in weakness.”—J. Rawlinson.
RENEWING STRENGTH
Isa_40:31. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength &c.
Human strength is of many kinds—physical, mental, spiritual; but every form of human strength must of necessity spend itself; for the world of which it forms a part decays, and by and by, like a worn-out vesture, the heavens and the earth shall be rolled up and put away. All strength apart from God is derived strength, and is consequently measurable, and must come to an end. The river runs on and the brook fails not, because they come from fountains that are not affected by drought; but cisterns are dried and reservoirs fail, because they have no springing well at the bottom of them; and if the pipes which supply them cease to flow, they are soon left dry as a threshing-floor. Let every man know, therefore, that whatever his strength may be, of body, mind, or spirit, if it be his own, it will fail him one day. Mingled with all things human there are portions of that all-dissolving acid which fell upon man’s nature when Infinite Justice said, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
On the other hand, Divine strength never fails. It seems almost a superfluity to say as much as that: it abides in joyous fulness, never in the least diminished. The Lord was God when as yet this sun, and moon, and all these stars slept in His thought like unborn forests in an acorn cup; and He will be God when all this brief creation shall melt back to nothing, as a moment’s foam dissolves into the wave that bore it and is lost for aye. God changes not; the fountain of His almightiness still overflows. You may bring your boundless wants and have them all supplied, but you shall no more diminish His all-sufficiency than when an infant dips his cup into the sea and leaves the sea brimming over upon ten thousand leagues of shore.
What then? These two things seem very far away—man with his faintness, his strength gradually drying up: God with His eternity and inexhaustible omnipotence. If we can bring these two together, if by an act of faith you that are human can be linked with the Divine, what a wondrous thing will happen! Then the sacred words of the text will be fulfilled.
“They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” When the heart drinks life from the heart of God, and man is at one with his Maker, then all is well.
“From God, the overflowing spring,
Our souls shall drink a fresh supply;
While those who trust their native strength
Shall melt away and droop and die.”
I. WE SEE HOW A TRUE CHURCH MAY BE DESCRIBED. “They that wait upon the Lord.”
1. A Church such as a Church ought to be consists of men who depend upon the Lord alone; for waiting signifies dependence. Their hope is in God. They rest in God’s righteousness as their righteousness, and they receive the great sacrifice provided by God to be their atonement and their acceptance. No man is really a Christian who finds his hope and confidence within himself; he must be looking out of himself to God in Christ Jesus. If Christians are what they ought to be, they depend upon God alone in their Church capacity.
(1.) God’s Word is their only creed: they do not add to it anything whatever—no, not a sentence, a gloss, or a thought. A true Church of God will say, “We wait upon the Lord for teaching: this Word of the Lord is to us our infallible source of doctrine, and that alone.” Those who wait upon the Lord for their creed shall never need to give up their faith for something better, but they shall renew their strength.
(2.) A true Church waits upon the Lord for grace, and has faith in the doctrines of grace as the testimony with which it is to work. It says to the pastor, “Teach you what God has taught. Preach Christ crucified. Preach not your own thoughts, nor notions of your own inventing, but what is revealed of God—preach you that, for it shall be the power of God unto salvation.” If the bare unaltered truth of God will not break a man’s heart, then it certainly will not break it when it is rounded and toned down and made to look pretty so as to suit the prevailing taste. A Church that waits upon the Lord uses only the doctrine of Scripture as its battle-axe and weapons of war.
(3.) A Church that is waiting upon the Lord always knows where its strength lies, namely, in its God. What is the power with which men are to be converted? Eloquence, say some. The Church of God says, “Not so. Not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord.” I solemnly believe that so much of human oratory as there is in a sermon, so much there is of the weakness of the flesh; for all the power must be of God working with the truth through the Holy Ghost. Therefore we should use great plainness of speech, and never speak for the sake of the language, but always for the sake of the truth we have to say, that God may bless it to the hearts of men. No man in this world was ever converted except by the Holy Spirit, and never will any man be truly converted by any other power. The Gospel has salvation in it when the Holy Spirit works by it, but no other doctrine can save. Many in these days think that we want a great deal besides the Spirit of God, but they are in error. They think that the world is not to be converted and men saved in the old-fashioned way of preaching the Word of God with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; but it is to be converted in that way and no other. You cannot touch a dead heart to make it alive either by excitement or by philosophy. Spiritual life can only come in God’s way, and it is God’s way by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. God’s Word will not return unto Him void; but man’s word is void when it goes forth, and void it remains to the end of the chapter. The magicians and their enchantments cannot compare with the rod of Moses. We mean, whatever others do, to keep to “waiting upon the Lord,” going to work in the Lord’s way, and depending upon the Lord’s power, and upon that alone.
2. If we depend upon God, our expectation is from Him. We wait upon God as the birds in the nest wait upon the parent bird, expecting from her their food. Before she comes you hear their cries, and when she comes, if you look into the nest, you will see nothing but so many gaping mouths, all waiting, expecting to be filled by the mother-bird. That is just what a Church of God ought to be—a company of wide-opened mouths waiting to be filled by the Lord alone “Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it,” says the Lord. Do you not think that some Churches, and some Christians, have scarcely learned to open their mouths at all? Let us expect more of God, and we shall receive more. Is He not able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or even think? Expecting people, a flourishing Church. They are believers in the power of the Gospel, and they act accordingly. When I fire the gun, they are on the alert to pick up the birds, for they believe in the killing power of the Word. If a Church would but wait upon God in this sense of expecting great things from Him, it should have them; for He will never allow His people to complain that He has been a wilderness to them.
3. To make up waiting there is a third thing, and that is patience—to hold out and wait the Lord’s time and will. This patience is to the uttermost desirable, that we may endure affliction, persevere in holiness, continue in hope, and abide in our integrity. Patience is the long life of virtue, and sets on its head the crown of experience. It is no child’s play to continue to suffer affliction with joyfulness, and to remain for years perfectly acquiescent in the will of the Lord, let that will be what it may. That little word WAIT is a word fit for a father in Christ, and cometh not out of the mouth of a babe in grace. Some are ardent followers of Christ, but they do not seem to have learned the meaning of that word “patience.” They are working for Christ, and they are depending upon the Lord, and they are looking for results; but when they do not see them immediately, they are offended and depressed. You were much the same when you were children: you wanted everything there and then, and waiting was dismal work to you. It is the mark of the child that he is in a violent hurry where men are steady. The Lord sometimes sends us speedy results to our labours; but at other times it is not so—the truth works slowly and surely, and effects all the more precious results. We must wait for seed to grow and for fruit to ripen. If we really wait upon the Lord, we shall just keep on, resolved to abide in duty, determined to remain in prayer, undaunted in confidence, unmoved in expectation. We shall not fly into a passion with the Lord and refuse to believe Him any more, neither shall we run off to novelties and fall into the fads and crazes of the day. The Lord will not fail the soul that waits upon Him; all will be well; the blessing will come. What a sweet thing is the calm leisure of faith! “He that believeth shall not make haste.” Fret and worry, hurry and haste, are all slain by the hand of faith.
II. WE SEE WHAT THE LORD’S WAITING PEOPLE NEED. They need to renew their strength.
1. Because they are human. As the world is full of changes, so are we [1330] Creatures whose home is on the earth cannot always live upon the wing: they must feel faint at times; and hence the necessity of this blessed promise, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.”
[1330] Some friends never seem to be either high or low in their feelings: their life has neither hills nor valleys in it, but is comparable to an unbroken plain: they traverse a perpetual level. It is not so with others of us: we are all Alps and Andes. These favoured pilgrims march steadily and evenly through the world, always at one pitch and pace; but others of us who mount up into the heavens in burning zeal and holy joy, go low, very low down, into the depths, till our soul sinketh because of sorrow. The best and bravest of the saints are poor creatures. Elijah on the top of Carmel, when he has brought fire from heaven, cries, “Take the prophet of Baal; let not one of them escape!” Hear him as he pleads with God and unlocks the treasury of the rain. See him gird up his loins and run before the chariot of Ahab. There is a man for you! If ever hero-worship might be tolerated, it is in the case of “this my lord Elijah.” Look not too closely at the champion, for within twenty-four hours he is afraid of Jezebel, and soon he is whining, “O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.” Do you blame him? Do you fail to understand so sad a stoop from so great a height? Take heed of censuring a man so greatly approved of God as to be spared the pains of death. If you do as well as Elijah did, perhaps you may hear some nobodies blaming you in your hour of exhaustion; but as for me, I cannot censure him, nor can any man that has ever enjoyed the heavenly delirium of high-strung zeal in the Master’s service, and having been borne aloft on eagle’s wings, at last falls upon the earth in absolute exhaustion. After high excitement there will come reaction.—Spurgeon.
2. Because they are imperfect. Our natural corruption and the imperfection and infirmity of our flesh are about us still, and these bring us down at times till we say with David, “I am this day weak, though anointed king.” Because we are human and imperfect, we cannot always be at our best: the sky is not always clear; the sea is not always at flood; the year is not always at summer; the summer is not always in the zenith; the moon is not always at her full; the tree is not always adorned with fruit; the vineyard does not always flow with wine; roses do not always blush, nor lilies always bloom. Creatures have their rises and their falls, and to us also there must be times when we need to renew our strength. It must be renewed, for otherwise it will decline still further, and this would be painful, dangerous, and dishonouring. The Lord would not have us utterly fail, nor fall prone upon the ground in the heavenly race; therefore to those who have no might He increaseth strength.
3. We must renew our strength, for it is for our honour, comfort, and safety.
4. It is for God’s glory and for own own usefulness that we should be strong; and if we fall into decline and weakness, pray do not let us stop there. A pining sickness is an awful disease for a Church to die of. Do not linger in such a state. Up with you, and cry mightily unto the Lord, and you shall yet be restored.
III. HOW ARE WE TO RENEW OUR STRENGTH? If we are God’s people, we must renew our strength by continually waiting upon God. [1333]
[1333] When a man wants his bodily strength renewed, his purpose may be effected by eating a good meal. He has grown empty through hunger, and there is nothing in him; he must be filled up with substantial nourishment, and then the human engine will generate fresh force. Oh, ye who are weak in spirit, come and feed upon Christ!
Sometimes a man may renew his strength by taking a little rest. He has grown weak through stern labour and long fatigue, and he must be quiet and repose till he recovers. Oh, ye weary, heavy-laden, where is there rest for you except in the Christ of God?
We have known men’s strength renewed by breathing their native air. They have risen out of a hot and fœtid atmosphere into the cool breeze of the mountain-side, and the bracing breeze has made them strong again. Oh, to have the breath of the Spirit blowing upon us once again!—Spurgeon.
If a Church wants reviving, if saints individually want reviving, they must wait upon God—
1. In prayer. Oh, what a blessing a day’s prayer might be! If you cannot get as much as that, how much renewing may be gained in an hour’s prayer!
2. Add to that a re-dedication of ourselves to the Lord who bought us. This often helps us to renew our strength.
3. Then afresh realise your entire dependence upon God. Put yourself into the Lord’s hands absolutely. Be like the sere leaf that is carried by the breath of the tempest.
4. Then go forward to renewed action. In renewing your strength, ask the Lord that you may undertake fresh work, and that this work may be done to a nobler tune—that you may have more expectancy, more confidence, more faith, more God-reliance. What things are done by men in common life with self-reliance! But with God-reliance we work impossibilities, and miracles fly from us like sparks from the anvil of a smith. When a man learns to work with God’s strength, and with that alone, he can do all things.—C. H. Spurgeon: Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, No. 1756.
Isa_40:31. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, &c.
As it is the same God who works in nature and in grace, a most interesting analogy may be traced between His operations in both. When the earth is parched with the heat of summer, and its productions begin to languish from excessive drought, it is watered and refreshed by the showers of heaven, and its various plants and fruits not only resume their former health and vigour, but spring up and flourish with greater luxuriance and vigour. The flower, too, that had drooped and withered at the close of day, is revived by the cool and the dews of night, and in the morning puts forth its buds and expands its leaves anew, delighting the eye with the beauty of its colours, or perfuming the air with the sweets of its fragrance. For every degree of exhaustion in nature, the wisest and most adequate provision is made by its all—pervading and beneficent Author. In like manner, when the spiritual strength of the Christian is impaired, from whatever cause, if only he wait upon God, his decays of strength are recruited from above; new fountains are opened for his comfort; he rises up from the ground, on which he was sitting in feebleness and sorrow, and no longer with faltering, but with firm and steady steps, pursues the course of active duty or of patient suffering in which he is appointed to move. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” Observe—
I. TO WHOM THIS COMPREHENSIVE AND ANIMATING DECLARATION IS MADE. “They that wait upon the Lord,” i.e., those who
(1) earnestly desire the enjoyment of His favour; and
(2) diligently attend to, and take peculiar delight in, all His service and will.
II. THE IMPORT OF THE DECLARATION. It implies—
1. That the principles of the spiritual life within them shall be gradually strengthened and increased. These principles are faith and love—faith in the Son of God, through whom, as the propitiation for sin and the beloved of the Father, they are justified and accepted and saved; and love to Him as having redeemed them unto God by His precious blood, and given them the first-fruits of His Spirit, that they may live to His praise and be heirs of His glory. These principles are strengthened by the very act of waiting upon God, for thus our knowledge of Him is increased. And the more we know of Him, the more our faith in Him and love towards Him will strengthen.
2. That increased communications of Divine grace shall be made to them.
III. THE EFFECTS OF ITS FULFILMENT.
1. The devotions of those who wait upon God become more elevated and intense. “They shall mount up with wings as eagles.” [1336]
[1336] At first, or when weakened by the influence of unbelief and corruption, the motion of the believer’s soul towards God and spiritual objects is but feeble and inconstant, like the flutterings of a new-fledged bird, stretching its wings and attempting to fly, but, from want of habit or of strength, attempting it with little success. But when, in waiting on the Lord, their faith and love become more vigorous and steady, and the circumstances that rendered them languid and fluctuating are removed, like the eagle, which, after its feathers are renewed, mounts from its rocky nest stronger and livelier and more beauteous than before, and with expanded wings soars above the lower regions of the air, as towards the orb of the sun itself—they rise above the influence of the world and its vanities; and as their heart ascends in devout aspiration to the God of mercy and grace, they approach more nearly to the full radiance of the Sun of Righteousness, and rest their desires and affections more intensely on Him, as the brightness of the Divine glory, and the source of ineffable light and bliss. They are not only visited with peace and joy in believing, but are almost, like Paul, raised as to the third heaven, and see and hear things that are unutterable and full of glory.
Such elevated enjoyment is not indeed vouchsafed to every believer. Nay, there are many who perhaps never reach it on this side the grave. But their devotions do in every case become more exalted and habitual as they go on in their course in the strength of the Lord. Perhaps their mental constitution is incapable of such intenseness of meditation and of feeling; or it is not necessary for the particular duties and service assigned them; or their natural temperament is so melancholy and desponding, that were they to be indulged with such high manifestations, their depression might become deeper after these manifestations were over, and the fearful suspicion that they were altogether delusive might sink them in greater distress than before. But one thing is certain, that by all who truly wait upon the Lord progress will be and is made, both in the strength and the countenance of devotional habits, of spiritual affection, and of heavenly-mindedness; and that the grace which they ask in prayer and receive by faith gradually raises them to a far higher state of Christian attainment than that by which the beginning of their spiritual life was marked. Of the degree of this advancement they may not, indeed, be always conscious, for their humility will increase in exact proportion to their other real attainments.—Dickson.
2. They acquire greater alacrity and perseverance in doing His will. “They shall run,” or march on, “and not be weary.” Here the metaphor is varied, and changed into one that is more common in the sacred writings, as expressive of Christian duty, which is frequently compared to running or marching (Psa_119:32, &c.) To those whose spiritual strength is renewed by waiting on the Lord, duty is not a task, but a delight. They are never so happy as when labouring in the sphere of service allotted them; and under the burdens which sometimes press upon them they are supported and cheered by the promises and grace of Him whom they serve.
3. They are enabled to manifest fortitude and patience under affliction. “They shall walk and not faint.” Here the metaphor is again beautifully varied, or rather another shade of the same image is presented for the encouragement of every traveller to the Heavenly Zion. Even when incapable, as it were, of increasing their strength or of being active in the service of God, grace is both promised and imparted for enabling them to move forward without fainting in the path of submission and suffering (Psa_23:4; H. E. I. 198–202).—David Dickson, D.D.: Discourses, pp. 198–222.
SOUL GROWTH
Isa_40:31. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, &c.
Men develop under a universal law of variableness. We do nothing continuously except breathe and pulsate. It is insanity to think upon one subject continuously. Health demands intermission, even retrocession. This truth may be seen in a larger way in our pursuits and actions. We pursue pleasure, engage in business, seek sociality intermittently (H. E. I. 2064–2066, 2073–2074).
Deep moral and religious thought and feeling are produced by a thousand concurrent influences. All endeavours to hold Christians, Churches, or individuals to a high emotive condition of religious feeling are vain. Virtue, morality, duties are perpetuated; but, in regard to these, we are changing. When reactions and backslidings take place, how shall men renew? How shall the words of the prophet be fulfilled? The method by which spiritual strength may be renewed and augmented must be learned from a study of the providence of God. We ought to take the Bible as men take charts. Human life is the interpreter of the Word of God (H. E. I. 549, 550, 560).
What, then, are some of the methods by which men, in the Divine economy, advance in spiritual impulse and rise permanently higher? [1339]
[1339] See H. E. I. 2473–2569.
1. We must not be biassed by any theory of Church or ordinances, nor by any preaching, to suppose that we are shut up to the dealings of God with us through these channels. The Church occupies a foremost place here; but the schools, books, newspapers, business, social influences work upon the human soul.
2. It pleases God to make the spiritual development of men depend on time-growth. The body is the first to develop, then the social affections, with the elementary forms of the intellect, then the moral elements, and last the spiritual nature. Many persons develop high religious emotions prematurely. Many may lose by neglect or by delay; but there is an element of time which must be taken into consideration.
3. Spiritual strength is renewed through the removal of false or imperfect views of truth. There is a relation between a man’s reason and things that are reasonable. The preaching of the Divine nature is, sometimes, not made drawing to men. It is not altogether human depravity that is at fault. Spiritual growth ought to be more to us than any orthodoxy or regularity of outward forms. Change of circumstances may give the needful impetus to soul-growth.
4. Many persons fail to come to the inspiration of the higher views of religion by reason of worldly prosperity, which tends to satisfy their lower nature (H. E. I. 3998–4014). In these circumstances, distresses, infirmities, and even great sorrows, are blessed of God to the opening of their nature and to the renewing of their spiritual strength. Troubles are well-diggers. We are rich and strong, not by the things which we possess, but by the amount of true manhood developed in us (H. E. I. 129, 130, 204–212).
5. It pleases God also to employ the companionship of friends and neighbours in developing their higher manhood. There is nothing so helpful to a soul as the contact of another soul. How much was there in Christ’s personal touch! Go about as a man among men (H. E. I. 1049, 1050).
6. When, by the use of these various instrumentalities, our souls have grown and come into the possibility of a higher spiritual disclosure, then there is a further soul-growth in us. We come to a state in which there is a direct influence of the soul of God exerted upon us—as direct as sight and voice to the bodily senses. Men may come, at last, into that state in which the Spirit of God shines with a steadfast lustre upon them (H. E. I. 974, 2840, 2900). Then there is the triumph of grace in the soul. Then intuitions become truths. What wonder that the dying saint should catch the sound of heavenly music!
CONCLUSION.—It is the privilege of all Christians to live this life, not today nor to-morrow, but as the result of patient continuance in well-doing, growing in grace, and in the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.—Henry Ward Beecher: Christian Age, vol. vii. pp. 102–106.
THE EAGLE-WINGED BELIEVER
Isa_40:31. They shall mount up with wings as eagles.
Scripture is full of parables, in which spiritual things are represented by natural. Here the believer’s progress is compared to the eagle’s flight.
I. THE WINGS WHEREWITH HE MOUNTS UP.
There are especially these two, the wing of faith and the wing of love.
1. The wing of faith. None can mount up to heaven without it, for it is a grace that looks not at the things seen in this world, but at the things that are not seen; and it mounts the soul to heaven and heavenly things (H. E. I. 1902–1907; P. D. 1164).
2. The wing of love. This grace, like faith, unites the soul to Christ. This is such a strong wing that fire cannot burn it; marytrs have found that the fire did not burn their love; no, it mounted up to heaven with the flame (H. E. I. 3337, 3338).
II. THE THINGS WHEREIN HE MOUNTS UP
1. Not in airy speculations. Some have a great deal of head-knowledge, but no heart love of the truth (2Th_2:10-11). There may be much speculative knowledge where there is no saving grace (H. E. I. 3091).
2. Not in sinful curiosity, to pry into the secrets of God (Deu_29:29). Many fall into this error in regard to the decrees of election and reprobation, the day of judgment (Mat_25:13), heaven (H. E. I. 1508–1518, 1793–1802, 2718).
3. Not in self-conceit and self-estimation, as some do who mount up in the pride of their hearts (Jas_4:6).
4. Not in fits and starts of devotion. Many who hear the Word seem to be mounted up in joy; but it is but a flash, and like a land-flood (Luk_8:6; Luk_8:13).
They mount up—
1. In holy meditation (Psa_104:34; Rom_8:5). They do not allow their thoughts to wander on the mountains of vanity (H. E. I. 3499–3504).
2. In holy desires (Isa_26:9).
3. In heavenly affections (Col_3:2).
4. In lofty designs. Their ultimate design is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever.
5. In righteous practices. This is seen in all their actions. The world’s standard is not theirs (1Co_10:31).
III. HOW THE BELIEVER MOUNTS UP.
Like the eagle—
1. Naturally. The eagle mounts not at man’s command, but by the instinct God has given it (Job_39:27). To the believer a new heart has been given, and it is natural to him to be mounting towards God. When the hypocrite mounts up, he is forced up contrary to his natural tendency, like a stone cast up into the air (H. E. I. 3008).
2. Highly. The eagle flies higher than other birds, and makes her nest on high; unlike the ostrich, that leaves her eggs in the sand.
3. Gradually. Though the eagle’s flight is strong and swift, it is gradual. So the believer mounts up, by degrees (Psa_84:7). He rises to more and more knowledge of God and more and more communion with Him, until faith and hope land in vision and fruition.
4. Frequently. The carnal professor mounts up only about the time of a communion, or when in some sore affliction, or during a revival, and whenever these seasons are over, he goes down as fast as he went up; but the believer mounts on week-days as well as on Sabbath-days, on ordinary Sabbaths as well as on communion Sabbaths.
IV. WHY THE BELIEVER MOUNTS UP.
1. Because it is as natural for him to do so as it is for an eagle. He hath a new nature, which ascends to heaven whence it descended (2Co_5:17; H. E. I. 1103).
2. Because he hath his nest on high; like an eagle, his all is above. Christ is all in all to him, and therefore rise he must.
APPLICATION.—
1. A word of terror to you that never mounted up towards Christ. What shall we say to you? You are not like eagles, but like ravens, that do not mount heavenwards, but wander to and fro upon the earth, as Noah’s raven did, and feed upon sordid things. You cannot fly to heaven, but flutter upon earth; and while you continue what you are, heaven you will never reach.
2. A word of comfort to the mounting soul. As the mounting soul is blessed, so is he safe as long as he is mounting; he is out of the reach of this world’s misery; safe against death itself. The eagle is never in danger but when she is on earth; we are never in danger when we are in Christ till we fly down to the earth. Therefore, seeing God hath renewed your strength to mount up as on eagle’s wings, O soar aloft; look down with a generous disdain upon the world and the vanities thereof, and keep your heart up in heaven. Mount, mount, mount; be always mounting, till you come to the throne of God and the Lamb.—Ralph Erskine, M.A.: Sermons, vol. ii. pp. 495–519.
He makes a very great mistake who supposes that the word “wait” implies an indolent passivity. The Hebrew word has brawn and bone in it; its signification is primarily to be strong—strong enough to hold out under pressure. Thence the word came to signify patience, as the opposite of discouragement and peevishness. When a soul is ready to do God’s will, and to submit cheerfully to God’s discipline, and to receive such fulness of supply as God is willing to bestow, that soul may be truly said to “wait on the Lord.” It is a great grace, and it leads to a great glory.
The man who thus waits on God renews his strength. He does more; he receives a wonderful inspiration. He “shall mount up with wings as an eagle.” Naturalists tell us that the special power of the eagle is in his wings. He can fly in the teeth of a gale, and go out on long voyagings towards the clouds, and play the aeronaut for hours without weariness. The sparrow twitters from the housetop; the dove is content to abide in the forest; but eagles are children of the skies and playmates of the storm. Even their nests are on the mountain crags.
So God means that every soul which waits on Him shall sometimes soar. Not creep or grovel in worldliness, or crouch in bondage to man or devils, but rise above all these baser things into the atmosphere of heaven. When a soul binds itself to God, it finds wings. Such an one has a citizenship in the skies. He catches inspiration from the indwelling Spirit. He rises above the chilling fogs of doubt, gains a wide outlook, is filled with ennobling thoughts, and actually feels that he is an heir to a celestial inheritance. He outflies the petty vexations that worry the worldling, and the grovelling lusts that drag the selfish and sensual soul down into the mire. His soul-life is hid with Christ in God. What cares the eagle, as he bathes his wing in the translucent gold of the sunbeam, for all the turmoil, the smoke, the clouds, or even the lightnings that play far beneath him? He flies in company with the unclouded sun. So a heaven-bound soul, filled with the joys of the Holy Spirit, flies in company with God.
You may realise these happy experiences if you will but wait on Him. You will be surprised to find what an uplift there is in your religion. You will discover how it can carry you above base and sensual desires; how it can give birth to pure and holy meditations; how it can kindle joy in seasons of dark adversities and bereavements; how it can keep your hope as serene and shining as the morning star. Strive after this, by living less on self and more on Jesus. Live more like a son of God or a daughter of God, with the full feeling of adoption. Set your affections on things above. Don’t count these perishable things to be your treasures. Seek better ones in heaven. So shall prayer and Bible study, and the daily victory over sin, and the doing of God’s will, renew your strength. You will mount up with wings as eagles, until you grow heavenly-minded—“which is life and peace.” This is the “higher life” to which Christ calls every believer. And when you and I are inclined to nestle down in indolence and self-indulgence, God “stirs up our nests” and bids us fly towards Him.—Theodore L. Cuyler, D.D.
THE UNWEARIED RUNNER
(A Sermon to Young Men.)
Isa_40:31. But they that wait upon the Lord … shall run and not be weary.
Running is the young man’s pace. With overflowing strength and buoyant spirits, the danger is not that young men should not run, but that they should run amiss, or that they should attempt to run in the right road in their own strength. The text describes a character as well as gives a promise.
I. THE RUNNING.
There are different paces among the Lord’s servants. Ahimaaz is swifter than Cushi; John outruns Peter.
1. Running is the pace of energy. The puff-ball is the emblem of many a forceless life. Others work with both hands. If the Lord’s work is worth doing, it is worth doing well. Be it ours to outstrip the energy of this world.
2. Running indicates fulness of alacrity (Gen_18:7; Gen_24:46; 1Sa_3:4-5). Note how often Mark uses about Christ the words “straightway” and “immediately.” Every man should be as David with Goliath, eager for the fray; as Elisha, who left the oxen and ran after Elijah; as Philip, who ran to meet the chariot of the Ethiopian.
3. To run is to be diligent. That is hardly running in which a man starts and stops, and starts and stops again. Much of Sunday-school teaching is a very slovenly make-believe. Patient continuance in well-doing is crowned.
4. Running indicates thorough-going hearty zeal. E.g., Aaron running for his censer, and running in between the living and the dead, that the plague might be stayed (Num_16:46-50). Christ is dishonoured by our heartlessness, the Gospel is derided through our indifference, and souls are lost by our sloth. From all this it is clear that the runner is one whose spiritual life is intense. Young men should be runners.
II. COMMEND THE RUNNING.
1. Because it is a warming pace. Running is better than standing before a fire for warming one; active exertions are better for the Christian life than listening to sermons. Let spiritual dyspeptics turn their hands to work.
2. A ground-clearing pace. Creepers meet with more obstacles than runners.
3. A cheering pace. Runners have no time to become dispirited. David ran to fight Goliath. One can understand the Balaclava charge.
4. The winning pace (1Co_9:24). All our God-given strength must be put out to win.
5. A fitting pace for a believer. Jesus Christ declares that we should run for Him. Christians who fall in love with “life in earnest” become far happier men. This is to live in the light of God’s countenance, like Milton’s angel in the midst of the sun.
III. THE RUNNER’S GIRDLE.
“They that wait upon the Lord shall run and not be weary.” Waiting upon the Lord is essential to the running. They shall not be weary. Much running is short-lived. Many converts are converted back again. Not every bloom becomes a fruit. To wait upon the Lord is—
1. To yield yourselves, by God’s grace, to be His servant. Every hair of our head belongs to our Saviour. Consecration is needed to keep up the running so as to win the crown.
2. To go to Him for all your strength. Man’s natural strength is perfect weakness as to spiritual things; strong points left undefended lead to ruin. Dare to do great work for God, and you will be enabled to dare ever greater things.
3. To cultivate the expectancy of hope. Wait at the foot of Jacob’s ladder for the angels to bring down answers to prayer. (See Outlines, WAITING FOR THE LORD, vol. i. pp. 178, 179, 332, 333.)
IV. THE RUNNER’S STAFF.
“He shall not be weary.” Some are not weary of God’s work, though they often grow weary in it. To stand, and having done all, to stand, is impossible to flesh and blood; it is only possible to the God-sustained. How run, then? Running Christians have daily strength for daily needs; they find fresh matter of interest (if you want a novel, read your Bible); they look to the end, to the recompense of the reward (1Co_15:58).
CONCLUSION.—Let runners beware of slackening their pace.—C. H. Spurgeon: Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit (1869), pp. 337–348.
I. WHAT IS MEANT BY RUNNING. To run, in a spiritual acceptation, is to engage with great liveliness and zeal in the duties which God has appointed, and to persist in them with all our powers. Running includes—
1. Forwardness, in opposition to culpable delays. When a good work is proposed to some, they catch at any excuse for neglecting it; or, if they do set about it, it is with so much reluctance and indolence, that what little is done is of little worth. But the lively Christian, let God call him when He will, is eager to discharge whatever appears to be his duty (Psa_119:60). The angels are represented as standing round about the throne of God, hearkening to the voice of His word; as it were, watching every motion of His lips: and the instant they perceive the least intimation of His pleasure, they fly to execute it. Those who are truly God’s people do His will on earth as it is done in heaven: they do it promptly. Examples (1Ki_19:20; Mat_4:22; Mat_2:9; H. E. I. 3633–3638).
2. Perseverance and diligence. It is not every progressive motion that can be called running. The motion used in it is quick and animated, and that not for a step or two, but for a considerable way, even to the end of the course. It implies, therefore, not merely a forwardness in the setting about a good design, but diligence in prosecuting it, and perseverance to finish it. Our endeavours to please God and win the glorious prize must be strenuous, ardent, continuous. When a person is running for a considerable wager, he doth not loiter, nor enter into trifling conversation with every one he meets. No; he looks at nothing but the prize set before him; he will not suffer himself to be hindered by any one; he pushes on with unremitted ardour to the end of the race (1Co_9:25; Php_3:13).
II. HOW FAR THEY WHO RUN MAY EXPECT TO BE SUPPORTED.
1. They shall never be so weary as to lose their inward delight in religion. Though the flesh sometimes flags and tires, and the present lively feeling of joy and comfort diminishes, the willingness of the spirit still continues; the principle of delighting in God doth not expire; their love to Christ and their eagerness to serve Him are as strong as ever. They are quite vexed and impatient when they find that nature cannot keep up with grace.
2. They shall not be so weary as to throw off the practice of religion. They may forget themselves, as Peter did in the high priest’s hall, and speak and act very inconsistently with their professed devotion to Christ; but yet, if they be really born again, grace will recover them from this temporary fainting; a look from Christ will set all right again.
III. WHAT REASON THEY HAVE TO EXPECT SUPPORT.
1. They have the power and promise of God to depend upon (chap. Isa_41:10, Isa_40:27-29; Psa_63:8).
2. There is a boundless excellency in religion, calculated to afford continual refreshment. Whatever else men apply their minds and hearts to, they are soon tired of; they find an emptiness in it which makes them throw it aside with disgust (Ecc_7:6; 1Jn_2:16; H. E. I. 4969–4974). But ask one who lives in communion with God, and runs the way of God’s commands with an enlarged heart, whether he is weary of it and would rather be excused from it, and you know what his vehement and indignant answer will be (Joh_4:34; Psa_84:10). The toils and labours of religion have one advantage above all other pursuits—there is no climbing to the top; there is no sounding the bottom; there is no finding out the breadth or length of its excellency and sweetness.
3. The faster we run the nearer we approach to heaven. We all know that they who are running in a race feel new vigour when they come within sight of the goal, especially the first of the competitors. With what a spring doth he advance, in his last steps, to lay hold on the prize! It is the same in the Christian race; the near approach of salvation drives off lazy slumbers, and sets all the powers of the soul in animated motion. [1342]
[1342] Travellers tell us of some countries which are so full of aromatic plants and flowers that they perceive the fragrance at some distance, and are highly refreshed by the pleasing gales. Do you not think it is the same with the Christian traveller, as he hears up towards the heavenly country, of which “the land flowing with milk and honey” was a figure, a shadow, a very inadequate resemblance?—Lavington.
APPLICATION.—Let those who are running the race set before them be encouraged. You are in the way of mercy, and may expect not only to be kept from falling, but to have a continual increase of grace. Let the way be never so long, the ascent never so difficult, the opposition never so great, and your strength never so small; what are all these to the power and promise of God? Only—
1. Take care that you begin well. Be sure that your first step in religion is right. Remember that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life,” and that “no man cometh unto the Father but by Him.”
2. Avoid hindrances. Many such will be thrown in your way [1345]
3. Keep heaven and your Forerunner in your eye. The soul that looks unto Jesus can never lose its way (P. D. 2312–2314).—Samuel Lavington: Sermons, vol. ii 379–396.
[1345] Hindrances of various kinds we must expect to meet with: the world and our hearts are full of them; but there is a world where we shall get entirely above them; where there shall be nothing within us, nor without us, to stop our course or interrupt our joy.
“There, to fulfil His sweet commands,
Our speedy feet shall move;
No Sin shall clog our wingèd zeal,
Or cool our burning love.”
O Christians! with such prospects before us, is it not strange that we run no faster now? that when heaven, in respect to some of us, can be at no great distance, it should be possible for the comparatively trifling concerns of the world to engage our attention? that we do not spurn it from us with indignation, like the Pilgrim, who ran through Vanity Fair shutting his eyes and stopping his ears?—Lavington.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v29 He gives strength to the tired; and to the…
He gives strength to the tired; and to the weak he gives renewed energy
These two lines share similar meanings and emphasize that Yahweh strengthens those who have no strength. (See: Parallelism)
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He gives strength
"Yahweh gives strength"
they will soar with wings like eagles
People receiving strength from Yahweh is spoken of as if the people were able to fly like eagles fly. An eagle is a bird often used as a symbol for strength and power. (See: Metaphor)
they will run and not be weary; they will walk and not faint
These two lines share similar meanings. People receiving strength from Yahweh is spoken of as if they were able to run and walk without tiring. (See: Parallelism and Metaphor)
translationWords
people group
Yahweh
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv29, 31 40:29 The weak in this context are those who…
40:29 The weak in this context are those who face persecution or oppression (such as the Babylonian exile); the Lord is their only recourse (see 49:4-5; 50:4; Pss 68:9; 119:28).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.