“Let the people renew their strength.” Isaiah 41:1 (KJV)

All things on earth need to be renewed. No created thing sustains itself. “Thou renewest the face of the earth,” was the Psalmist’s cry. (Psalm 104:30) Even the trees, which do not themselves clamor for care, and do not shorten their lives with labor, must drink of the rain of heaven and absorb the hidden treasures of the soil. The cedars of Lebanon, which God has planted, only live because day by day they are filled with sap freshly drawn from the earth. (Isaiah 14:8)

In the same way, a man’s life cannot be sustained without constant renewal from God. As it is necessary to repair the waste of the body by frequent meals, so we must repair the waste of the soul by feeding on the Book of God, or by listening to the preached Word, or by the soul-quenching table of communion.

How depressed will our souls become when God’s provisions are neglected! What unfortunate Christians are those who live without the diligent use of the Word of God and secret prayer! If our piety can live without God, then it is not of divine origin. It is only a dream. If God had begotten it, it would wait on Him as the flowers stay on the dew. Without constant restoration, we are not ready for the perpetual assaults of hell, or the stern afflictions of heaven, or even for the strifes within.

When the whirlwind is loosed, woe to the tree that has not absorbed the fresh sap and grasped the rock with many intertwisted roots.

When fearsome storms arise, woe to the mariners who have not strengthened their mast, nor cast their anchor, nor sought refuge. If we despise what is good and grow weaker, the evil will gather strength and struggle desperately for mastery over us. And so a painful desolation and a lamentable disgrace will follow.

Let us draw near to the feet of divine mercy in humble supplication, and we will realize the fulfillment of the promise: “They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.” (Isaiah 40:31, KJV)

Question: Where do you draw renewal from God? Are there additional resources that God has provided but you are not using?

Originally written by Charles H. Spurgeon.
Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2010.
used by permission

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The post Strength Comes from God appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31

Our Christian walk of faith is often a journey of waiting…and waiting, which we don’t always do with much patience. Put my name at the top of that list, but I am learning. Waiting is hard, because we don’t know what the answer will be. Neither do we know when the answer will come.

Yet, knowing that God holds the answer turns our waiting into trust. As a result, faith renews our strength to wait. And we will need a lot of strength, because we will do a great deal of waiting on our faith journey.

Everything we do, we do by faith. As faith is enabling us to trust and wait, it is also building more faith to help us wait on Him for the results. Many times, those results are a long, long time coming; and yet, faith is required day by day for the journey.

Our journey isn’t necessarily about the end result, but how we endure the unknown. Will we endure when we grow discouraged? Will we trust Him to renew our strength and move us out of the place of discouragement to a place of peace and hope again? In my experience, when I call out to Him with my discouraged heart, He is always faithful to lift me up again; then I can rest once again in knowing He is in control.

Faith is often a waiting journey.
Faith is not a walk of knowing.
Faith is not a knowing journey.
Faith is knowing Him,
Not knowing what the future holds,
But knowing the One who holds the future,
Knowing He is God,
Knowing He is Sovereign.

The choice to trust will help us wait. This choice will help us persevere and grow and learn; it will test us and teach us, and our faith will grow deeper. A deeper faith is the result of bravely waiting on the Lord.

By Kathy Cheek
Used by Permission

The post The Waiting Side of Faith appeared first on Thoughts About God.

I read a devotional the other day on trusting God through the fog, the writer recounting a difficult drive down a foggy mountain road and trusting God to take her safely home.

I have not had that experience of driving down a foggy mountain road. And yet, recently…I created my own fog on a bright sunny day.

Nothing had changed. A blinding fog did not roll in and obscure my view. I just took my eyes off what God can do and let circumstances overwhelm me with doubt and fear. I was not a friend to myself. I was a saboteur of my own journey.

For a while I let a thick fog swirl around me and swallow up my hope and faith and pull me into a dark place where discouragement filled my heart.

We all have those days when praying, waiting, and working toward something are met with discouragement. We often find we derail our confidence in the Lord with our own weakness and wrong thinking because for a while we take our eyes off of Him and instead let a fog of doubt and worry surround us. The fog comes rolling in when I take my eyes off of the Lord.

It is a miserable place to be when we feel like we have lost our way and can’t find a clear solution.

There are multiple possibilities for our discouragement. Here are just a few:

–    We become impatient because we have already waited a very long time for answers.
–    We might convince ourselves we have asked for too much or too big and back down from our asking.
–   We don’t see any signs of change in our difficult situation and hopelessness leads to great frustration.
–    Our task looks too complicated to complete and we feel like giving up.

We will all go through discouragement when faced with the above type scenarios. But will we let discouragement rule our lives, or will we place our trust in God to work those things that we can’t comprehend? Will we remind ourselves how He has worked for our good in other difficult times?

When I realized that all the negativity I was experiencing was a product of my own doing and that my reasons for discouragement were based on feelings and emotions run amuck, the fog began to lift and clear thinking prevailed. I stood my ground with faith and trust and let the sun break through all the fog.

When my self-imposed fog lifted and I experienced the fresh air of hope and faith once more, I truly felt a wave of energy surge through my body, heart and soul. God’s indwelling spirit renewed me and I welcomed His faithfulness to me as His strength overcame my weakness and I felt strong and whole. The sky was blue again, the sun was shining and all fog had lifted away.

“But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31

By Kathy Cheek
Used by Permission

Further Reading

•  How to Have a ‘Quiet Time’ with God
•  30 Day Guide for New Believers
•  Salvation Explained

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The post A Self Imposed Fog appeared first on Thoughts About God.