Renewed Wings: The Divine Exchange of Strength
The Scripture
"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."
— Isaiah 40:31 (KJV)
The Reflection
In our fast-paced world, the word "wait" often feels like a waste of time. We think of it as sitting in a doctor’s office or standing in a long line. However, the Hebrew word for "wait" in this verse is qavah, which originally meant "to bind together by twisting." Think of the strands of a rope being woven together to make it unbreakable.
Waiting on the Lord is not passive idling; it is the process of weaving our lives into His. It is an active expectation, a binding of our weak will to His sovereign power.
The promise here is not just that we will "get" strength, but that we shall "renew" it. The Hebrew word for renew (halaph) literally means to "exchange." When we wait on God, a divine transaction occurs: we give Him our exhaustion, our "burnt-out" spirits, and our limited human effort, and in return, He gives us His limitless vitality.
Isaiah uses the eagle as the ultimate metaphor for this renewal. An eagle doesn’t reach great heights by flapping its wings frantically; it finds a "thermal"—a rising current of warm air—and simply stretches out its wings to be carried upward.
Soaring: Sometimes God gives us the grace to rise above the situation entirely.
Running: Sometimes He gives us the burst of speed to finish a difficult task.
Walking: Most often, He gives us the "plodding" strength to just keep putting one foot in front of the other without fainting.
Whether you need to soar, run, or simply walk today, the source is the same: the strength found in the "weaving" of your heart into His.
The Prayer
Lord God, the Creator of the ends of the earth,
I admit that I have been trying to run this race in my own power. I am weary, and my own strength has proven to be limited. I come to You now to "exchange" my heavy heart for Your divine energy. I choose to wait—to bind my thoughts and my hope to You alone.
Teach me to catch the "thermal" of Your Spirit so that I may soar above the anxieties of this day. Give me the endurance to run the path You have set before me and the quiet persistence to walk through the mundane moments without losing heart. I thank You that Your grace is sufficient for my every weakness.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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