Renew Their Strength

Maybe it’s just me, but I sense a lot of weariness and wariness around me. Definitely within me, but also in a lot of others I see. The political realities unfolding before us don’t inspire hope. The economic situation for many is exhausting. And the state of our communities is overwhelmed by illness, addictions, overdoses, and isolation.

When I get in this weary and wary place, I make a point to pray, even though sometimes I don’t know what to say or ask for. Mostly because I wonder what God is doing, and I am confused as to why things seem to be getting harder, and I lack confidence that the Lord hears my prayers.

I’m not alone in this. There’s a beautiful poem from the prophet Isaiah in the Hebrew Scriptures, writing a sermon to the people of ancient Israel a few hundred years before Christ. There was much poverty and political oppression among his people, a soaring divide between the rich and the poor, and a lot of idolatry and adultery going around.

Isaiah sensed that people were wondering if God knew what was going on, if God was listening to them, and if God cared.

The poem is a response, but not in the way people expected. Instead of merely assuring them that everything will be okay, he points them to the character of God and invites them to respond to the Lord with renewed trust so that they can do something about their problems with hope. Not hope in “optimism” or “positive thinking”, but hope in God who is with them and working through them, in spirit, mind, body and community.

This is one of my favorite pieces of Scripture:

Why do you complain, Jacob?
    Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
    my cause is disregarded by my God”?
Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
    and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall; 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.

When Christ Jesus ascended into the heavens forty days after his resurrection, he reminded those who trusted in him that he would be with them always, “unto the end of the age” as they proclaimed and lived out his message of “good news.” On the day of Pentecost, ten days later, the Spirit of the Lord descended upon the believers, and sent them out into the world filled with faith, hope, love, and courage.

To trust in the Lord is to trust in his character and his promises. You begin to imitate those you trust, and that is the opportunity Jesus gives us – to have confidence in God that we can become like him: loyal, faithful, sacrificial, generous, persistent, enduring, courageous, focused, patient, loving, and joyful.

And so we pray, meditate, reflect, be silent, and become aware of the ways the God not just with us, but transforming us. This will be the way that we can then enter into the struggle of those around us and renew their strength too.

As you begin this day, make this adaptation of Isaiah’s poem your prayer:

Why do I complain, [insert name]?
   Why do I say, [insert name],
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
    my cause is disregarded by my God”?
Don’t I know?
   Haven’t I heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
    and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak.
I have grown tired and weary,
   my spirit is about to stumble and fall;
Lord, help me to put my hope in you,
   renew my strength,
that my soul may soar on wings like eagles;
   that my courage can run and not grow weary,
   that my faith can walk and not be faint.

Amen.