Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never becomes faint or weary; there is no limit to his understanding. He give strength to the faint and strengthens the powerless. Youths may become faint and weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who trust in the LORD will renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not become weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:28-31
As we get one week deeper into our Lenten Journey with Christ, we may be experiencing a bit of weakness in holding to that promise we made to eliminate something from our daily life that we chose to give up for this 40 day period. We may be tempted to cut out that positive thing we added to each day. Walking with Jesus on this journey to the Cross is not supposed to be easy. It is to remind us of the price Jesus chose to pay for our sin.
The thing we eliminated or added as we began this journey is probably something that we know helps us stay connected to Christ and his intentional journey to the Cross. There is also no doubt that if we fall short of our promise God will forgive us. That is God’s nature, to love and forgive us, but we can also ask God for strength to stay the course when we grow weary.
In Isaiah we have this promise that God made to the people of Israel centuries before and still is His promise to us today. He will give strength to us when we are faint and strengthen us when we are powerless. We can call on him in prayer for strength when we are tempted to falter in our promises and in our failures.
Regardless of where we are in life, whether we are experiencing success or struggle, whether our focus is on our life’s profession, at the workplace, in the classroom, at home or in our congregation where we worship, we can put our trust in the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never becomes faint or weary and there is no limit to his understanding.
When our hope is in the Lord and our trust is centered in God our relationship with God will strengthen us and keep us focused on the journey rather than on the weaknesses that sometimes get us sidetracked.
Prayer keeps us focused, bolsters our hope, and keeps us connected to the one who strengthens us for this journey. So let’s keep praying.
Sue is NLS Spiritual Director, since 2019 and is a retired Lutheran Pastor (ELCA). Active in VdC since 1995, she has served two terms on the Board of the Texas VdC Secretariat, and also on the Texas Gulf Coast VdC Board as Spiritual Director since its start-up in 2017.
