In one of our favorite Bible verses, Isaiah made a great promise to those who hope in the Lord. Their strength will be renewed so that—
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
You’ve probably read that verse many times, but have you ever wondered why Isaiah 40:31 is laid out in that order?
Soar. Run. Walk.
Doesn’t that seem, well, anti-climactic? Most of us would have reversed the order and presented it as a matter of increasing skill. We would have written:
They will learn to walk,
And then they will get a running start,
And then they will take off and soar like eagles.
But the order in which the verse is written it really is the order in which we need God’s power.
You hear unwelcome news. Your husband comes in and says he doesn’t have a job anymore. The doctor looks over the lab results and says, “It’s cancer.” A relative calls us to break the news that a loved one has died. At first, even in the midst of tears, it’s almost as if we’re watching it happen to someone else. We even amaze ourselves at how calm we are, how decisive we are with our choices, how determined we are to overcome. What is that? We are soaring on wings like eagles.
But fast-forward. Now it’s two months into the chemo, four months into unemployment, nine months into the grief. Very few of us are still soaring. It’s then we need strength to run, strength to walk, strength to just keep putting one foot in front of the other. God has promised us his provision for those times, too.
We need the kind of strength that enables us to endure over the long haul. In John 16:20-33, Jesus offered us a joy that can even survive grief and a peace that can even survive instability. Read that passage ahead of time and study it with the Hillcrest Family this Sunday at 10am!
--Tom
Tom Goodman serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter. If someone forwarded this email newsletter to you, sign up here to receive Tom’s weekly devotional in your email inbox.