Experiencing God’s Renewal

Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young me shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up on wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:30,31, ESV)

Our need for renewal has never been greater. When we consider we are learning how to live through a pandemic and facing the probability it will take on the nature of an endemic, living at a time where mental health is at an all-time low, suicide intent and completions at an all-time high, financial distress abounding, loneliness from isolation prevalent, lawlessness and violence increasing, domestic dispute and abuse on the rise, death from sickness becoming more and more part of our experience, and wars all around. There is an increasing need to experience renewal. People are showing their weariness and the need to experience renewal on every level of life is real and pressing.

We can look for ways to renew, and some of them work, if only for a brief period. After our daughter and her husband had managed to get some time away, to have a breather from obligations and the pressures of life, family, and careers, they returned home feeling renewed, unfortunately that feeling only lasted for a brief period. It wasn’t even a week later when my daughter said she’d all but forgotten what that feeling of being renewed was like. How quickly it had disappeared. Sometimes little things can help us achieve some sense of being renewed: a short vacation, a spa day, sitting by the water on a warm day, they are wonderful ways to feel renewed but the renewal that comes is short-lived, it does not last.     

There are external ways to experience short-term renewal and a way we can experience renewal for the inner person and that is by letting God enter our weariness and exhaustion. Isaiah wrote that God would renew us in such a powerful way even our physical strength is impacted, we will be like that strong eagle that takes flight, ready to run our race with freshness and not feel faint or weary any longer. God can turn our exhaustion around, able to take our tiredness, our condition of feeling faint and replace these with a supernatural strength and energy that does not go away or fade. Let’s Pray,

Lord, you have a way of entering in and renewing us. thank you for all the ways you give us to renew—some are actually very helpful, but when we want a renewal that begins on the inside, desire to experience a renewal at the core of our being, you are the only One we can turn to, and you never fail us. Amen

Questions for Examination and Soul-Tending:

How do you renew when you are weary? How does the Lord’s promised renewal inspire you?

How will you incorporate today’s message into your plan of self and soul-care?