Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
Sometimes we look at different verses and struggle to figure out how they mesh together in our lives. Sometimes it feels like they collide, and it's not something that actually applies to real life situations. Our verse today is actually a verse that we look to quite often, but in the reality of the context of life, I want to talk about the authenticity of how we can make this applicable today.
Our Verse of the Day today is Isaiah chapter 40, verse 31. It says, "But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint."
What Really Renews Us?
Now, if we were to rewrite this verse to be something that we probably find more palatable to the way we normally might live, it's those that are on vacation will have renewed strength, will soar high with wings as eagles, will run and not grow weary. They'll walk and not faint, where it's like, I feel renewed, I feel refreshed. Some of you may be thinking right now, oh, for me, it's going out fishing. For me, it's going shopping. For me, it's sitting down in a quiet moment and having a cup of coffee. For another, could be golfing. You can go through that list of things where, all of a sudden you are in this setting and you feel your strength being renewed.
Do you know what? That's why I say, again, the context of Scripture colliding with the context of life. What does this really look like? Because when you pull away from that situation—vacation, golf, fishing, a cup of coffee—and now you're dealing with the reality of not knowing where your next paycheck is going to come from, not knowing how you're going to get through your marriage, not knowing what the next turn is in this relationship that's significantly impacting your life, not knowing how to work through the situations that you're dealing with at work, not knowing the situations you may have with children or parents, you find yourself trying to navigate the reality of life in the context of this Scripture.
God's Capability
I want to just have some real talk around what this could look like. First and foremost, we have to be reminded of God's capability, because when He's talking about trusting God and waiting on the Lord, we have to understand the context of that. The context in verse 28, it says, "Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weary or weak, and no one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion."
I want to focus on that last part. The rest is so powerful. But the last part is literally saying the context of our season of life or where we're at, that's not actually what gives us our strength. It's saying, you know, even a young person gets tired. But it's life bearing down on us and all these things that we list in our head.
What Is Mine to Do and What Is God's?
That's why I would love to give a practical perception of this context of life versus this context of Scripture colliding together. Now, if you sat down and you started making a list of things that you needed to get accomplished, maybe it's around the house or something else, you would start identifying, oh, these are the things I can do. But boy, this over here, I'm going to need somebody who's an expert in that. I need somebody else to do this. I don't know how to do that, so I'm going to have to get some help or have someone else do that.
Yet we have these situations come in our lives, and it's this God-sized burden of life's situations and circumstances that we now don't do the same thing for that. We put this massive burden on our shoulders, and then we wonder why we can't soar. We wonder why we can't move forward. We feel like we can barely get through the day. We can barely get up, let alone soar.
That's why taking time to assess and say, Lord, help me understand what is mine to do and what is Yours. Because You are the expert in my life. What is Yours that I surrender? That I trust You with it. That I wait for You to show up to do this because that's beyond my capability. I think you will find that we don't have to have these situations that produce a season, a small season of peace and calm, to have the strength and renewed strength. We can find it in the midst of it.
God Lifts Us Above
God will lift us up above it, and what we were neck deep in before, we are able to see that as we trust Him and wait for Him to show up in it, that He lifts us up to be able to see more clearly, and He rises us above that. We can see more clearly through the situation we're trying to navigate. It is such a beautiful dynamic, and I pray for you that as God reveals Himself to you through this verse and through the context of Scripture meeting the context of your life, that you will find a way to let God take the God-sized burden off your shoulders, to soar high and be renewed in strength.
