IV.
As we turn to these words today, let’s take notice of how the focus passage ends,

He gives power to the faint
       and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary,
       and the young will fall exhausted,
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
       they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary. (Isaiah 40:29-31)

Read the passage once again, with the above words as background for your reading and meditating.

V.
Isaiah 40:12-13, 25-31 (NRSVue)

Who has measured the waters of the sea in the hollow of his hand
       and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
       and weighed the mountains in scales
       and the hills in a balance?
Who has directed the spirit of the Lord
       or as his counselor has instructed him?

To whom, then, will you compare me,
       or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high and see:
       Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
       calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
       mighty in power,
       not one is missing.
Why do you say, O Jacob,
       and assert, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
       and my right is disregarded by my God”?
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
       the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
       his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint
       and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary,
       and the young will fall exhausted,
but those who wait for 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.

VI.
What holds your attention the most in those closing words of this passage?

Maybe God’s gifts to us?

Maybe that we (at any age?) can be “faint … weary … and fall exhausted.”

Or even that “the Lord shall renew their strength”?

Can you recall times when your “… wait for the Lord… “ renewed you, strengthened you, and overcame your weariness so you could “walk and not faint”?

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}