Key Verse
“But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)
Most of us know what it is like to be tired in a way that sleep does not fix. Not just physically drained, but depleted — the kind of weariness that settles into your bones when you have been carrying something heavy for a long time without seeing the end. A difficult marriage. A child who is struggling. A calling that costs more than you expected. That is the tiredness Isaiah is talking about.
The exiles voice what many of us feel but are afraid to say out loud: “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God” (v. 27). These are not atheists. They are believers who have hit the wall. They know the right theology — God is sovereign, God is good — but it does not feel true anymore. The gap between what they believe and what they experience has become unbearable.
Isaiah does not scold them for the complaint. He redirects it. “Have you not known? Have you not heard?” — not new information, but a gentle reminder of what weariness has made them forget. The everlasting God does not faint or grow weary. His understanding — the Hebrew tevunah, meaning purposeful wisdom — is beyond searching out. God has not lost track of them. He is doing something they cannot yet see.
Then comes the promise that has sustained weary believers for twenty-seven centuries: “They who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength.” The word for “wait” — qavah — does not mean sitting passively. It has the sense of a rope pulled taut, of binding yourself to something and holding on. To wait for the LORD is to fasten your hope to him when everything else is giving way. And notice the progression: soaring like eagles, running without weariness, walking without fainting. That is not a crescendo — it is a descent into the ordinary. We may occasionally soar. More often we need to run. Most days, we just need enough to keep walking. God promises strength for all three.
Here is the counterintuitive heart of it: the strength comes not from trying harder but from depending more. We stop generating our own energy and start drawing on his. That is not weakness — it is the wisest thing a finite person can do before an infinite God. If you are running on fumes today, the invitation is not to dig deeper into your own reserves. It is to stop, bind yourself to the God who never tires, and let his strength show up where yours has run out.
Cross-References/ Further Reading
Psalm 27:13–14 — David’s exhortation to ‘wait for the LORD’ and ‘be strong’ in the face of opposition, echoing Isaiah’s call to patient trust.
Matthew 11:28–30 — Jesus’ invitation to the weary and heavy-laden to find rest in him — the New Testament counterpart to Isaiah 40:31.
2 Corinthians 12:9–10 — Paul’s discovery that divine power is perfected in human weakness, the experiential fulfillment of waiting on the LORD.
Lamentations 3:25–26 — Jeremiah affirms that the LORD is good to those who wait for him, written from within the exile Isaiah anticipated.
Jordan Lange
Program Development & Staff Training Administrator
