Isaiah 40:21-31 (NRSV)
Read Isaiah 40:21-31 on biblegateway.com
Verse 21Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? Verse 22It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in; Verse 23who brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing. Verse 24Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows upon them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. Verse 25To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One. Verse 26Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing.
Verse 27Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God"? Verse 28Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. Verse 29He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Verse 30Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; Verse 31but those 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.
Devotion
Why did Israel, exiled in Babylon, say, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”? Maybe they had prayed for rescue, for return home, but nothing had changed. That is usually why we say, “My way is hidden from the LORD.” We feel, “God can’t see my problem or surely God would have done something.” But the prophet knows something about God’s faithfulness that can be trusted even when God is silent and seemingly unresponsive: “Those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength … ”
Don’t you hate that word “wait?” It’s not my favorite, either. But it is what faith in God is about – faith is waiting for God to act. Jesus waited all day Friday (“My God, my God, why … ?”) and all day Saturday in a tomb. But on the third day he mounted up with wings like eagles!
Prayer
Faithful God, patience is not our strong suit. Fill us with such confidence in your promises that we might wait, full of hope, for your salvation. Amen.