Those Who Hope

Scripture: Isaiah 40:31
But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Observation:
This verse came to mind this morning because I am running my second half marathon tomorrow.  And in this instance, I am squarely in the middle of the category of "those who hope."  I am hoping I can haul myself 13 miles.  I am hoping none of my joints give out.  I am hoping that my inconsistent training was enough.  In the words of Bon Jovi, I'm going to be "livin' on a prayer" tomorrow (which by the way is one of the songs on my running playlist.)

But I have a feeling this is not exactly the kind of hope that Isaiah is talking about here.  Several times in the new testament, the Bible calls life a race:

• 2 Timothy 4:7- I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
• 1 Corinthians 9:24- Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
• Philippians 3:14- I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
• Hebrews 12:1- Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

And sometimes our race feels impossible to finish.  We run completely out of strength.  But looking at the Isaiah verse, we see exactly when our strength will be renewed… when we hope in Him.  Other translations say when we wait on Him.  Our strength won't be renewed when we push ourselves a little harder.  Our strength won't be renewed when we try to control life a little more.  Because our strength is not within us… it is in the Lord.  So when we hope… when we wait… when we trust… when we surrender… that is positioning ourselves for the Lord to renew our strength.

Application:
I love the word "soar" here.  To me, it is symbolic of weightlessness and freedom.  That's exactly what I want to feel.  I want the Lord to take the heaviness of trying to do life myself off of me.  I want the exhaustion of trying to fix things in my own strength to be lifted.  And God is making that promise right here.  He says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

He tells us that when life speeds up to an unsustainable pace, he will sustain us.  But what about when life slows back down to a walk?  That's when I am tempted to try to rely on my own strength again.  God reminds me here that he wants to carry me at whatever speed life is moving.  He wants to be my strength all the time.  He promises to help me soar if I will just surrender my hope to him.

Prayer:
Lord, you are amazing.  Thank you for promising to be my strength.  God, I want to stop fighting you on that.  There are several situations in my life that I just continue to try to carry in my own strength.  So I pray that you would reveal those areas of my life to me so that I can surrender them to you.  I know that you have "immeasurably more" for me if I will let you work through me.  Thank you for Jesus!  In his name…. Amen!

Confident in this…
Miranda