Friday - "Walk and Not Faint"

Written by Internet Campus member: Jess Reyes

Isaiah 40:31 - But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Isaiah 40:31 has always been one of my favorite Bible verses, especially as a youth because of the phrase "…with wings as eagles…". This phrase always makes me visualize myself flying through the air with chest pumped up like Superman, wearing new blue and white striped Nike running shoes; eagle wings extending out from both sides; with legs in a sprinter's stride. Later in life in university as a business major and having learned enough about business writing to be dangerous, I often wondered why the verse ended with "…shall walk and not faint." I had been taught to end writings with a big bang! The sharp hook! The huge buildup to a climax! Certainly this preferred writing style should have been used in this wonderful Bible verse. Doing so would have reversed the order of the words… faint to walk, weary to run, then end with the all powerful statement of "... with WINGS AS EAGLES!"

God in His infinite wisdom knows us inside out. He knows our hearts, soles, minds and needs, as large or small as they may be. And He knows all this at every stage of our lives and in every life experience. The strength I needed from the Lord as a youth for the problems, issues and opportunities before me then, made me feel I had "wings as eagles" in so many early life experiences. Strength needed leading a young friend to Christ was always like that, praying for help to teach a children's Sunday school class was always like that, standing up for fairness for a young friend was always like that too. But once I married, raised children, worked at ever more difficult jobs, all of this put heavy weights on my 'eagle wings' where running was all I could do; but the Lord was there to give me the added strength needed. As my wife and I aged, we have faced family and severe health issues that have changed our lives completely, adding more weight to our shoulders where 'running' became 'walking'; our Lord has still been there to give us even more strength to keep on going and not "faint.

To some extent the writing style mentioned at the start is really not in error. While the words mentioned …wings to run to walk to faint, in such a regression are all about me, each regressive word requires progressive units of the Lord's strength and power to overcome and keep us on the path to His glory.

The big bang, the sharp hook, the huge buildup to the end of Isaiah 40:31 really isn't about me or us, instead it is about Him and the maximum strength He gives us when we are at our very weakest. What more of a climax can we have as Christians than to be fully experiencing his power and strength when we have our greatest needs!

Thank you Lord for being with us regardless of our level of need and strength.