DEVOTION: April 6

We’re told to wait on God to renew our strength. That if we wait on Him, we’ll spread our wings and soar like eagles. We’ll run without fatigue, we’ll walk and stay refreshed. And so we do it, just like Isaiah taught us. We wait.

Most of the time our waiting is fairly passive. We sit and stew, worry and wonder. We question God over and over, not out of desperation but out of doubt: Are you sure you’re on the job here?

But the waiting we’re supposed to do isn’t passive, but powerful—the Hebrew word meaning to bind or twist together, strong, robust, like a rope. To wait on God like we’re dangling off a cliff, hanging on to Him with all our might, as if life and death depend on it (because it usually does). It takes great strength to wait like that—yes, mental and emotional strength, but physical strength, too. 

So we sweat and are breathless, but never let go. And then He promises to restore that strength back to us. It gets renewed; a post-workout recovery, new gains. 

Perhaps, though, the renewed strength He gives isn’t a physical healing or the vitality we desire. Maybe it’s a strength that helps us endure, helps us persevere; that enables us to stand firm when faced with temptation, or turn away from the path He didn’t light up for us. Maybe it’s a strength that makes it possible for us to withstand trials of many kinds; to be pressed but not crushed, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed.

Maybe the renewed strength we get is simply Christ’s grace. Grace that isn’t just sufficient, but is arkeō: possessed of unfailing strength. A grace that is enough; not in the sense that it’s merely adequate, but that it needs nothing else added to it. Grace that does all the work, all by itself. 

Our weakness and waiting, intertwined with His grace. One mighty strong rope; a cord of three strands is not easily broken.

How can you actively wait on the Lord today? How might He be renewing your strength?

“But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] will gain new strength and renew their power.” (Isaiah 40:31, Amplified)

– Monica