Isaiah 40: 25-30“To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One. Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out one after another calling each by its name. And he counts them to see that none are lost or have strayed away. O Israel, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles? How can you say God refuses to hear your case? Have you never heard or understood? Don’t you know that the Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth? He never grows faint or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to those who are tired and worn out; he offers strength to the weak. Even youths will become exhausted, and young men will give up. But those who wait on the Lord will find new strength. They will fly on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. I love this. It’s beautiful. No, it’s not full of pretty descriptions or flowery language, but if you think about the pictures it paints, there is such beauty there. We have a Creator who not only created the stars but calls them each by their own name. He checks to make sure not one single star is lost or strayed away. A god who cares that much about lifeless stars surely cares much more for the men and women He gave life to! You may love your house or your car or your diamond engagement ring or your HD TV or your computer, but if you have children, you love them infinitely more than all those things. He sees and hears everything I go through. I also love the bits about giving strength to the weak. As a mommy to two children under two-years-old I know something about exhaustion… I love knowing that God has all the strength I need to get through one more early morning.
Isaiah 30:15 …only in returning to me and waiting for me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. I can’t do anything to save myself except to return to and wait for God. The next part really hit me. Quietness and confidence is my strength. I so often think that action is strength. Doing things, being something. But, here it says quietness. “Be still and know that I am God.” Another translation says, “Be quiet…” Quietness means not telling God what to do, not rushing around trying to fix it; It’s letting go of control, surrendering, being still and quiet. That is so hard to do! Confidence is trusting God to be in control, that He made me exactly the way He wanted me to be, He knows what He is doing, and He will make it work out. By being confident that God has it well in hand, I can rest quietly and not squirm or mess things up with my meddling. This is strength because it’s harder to not do something sometimes than it is to do something. It takes strength to hold on and let God be God.