Isaiah 40:29 —Strength for the Weary

We find sufficient strength for the weary in all powerful, all sufficient, Almighty God. A strength available to anyone who turn to Him.

Several decades ago, at our wedding, my uncle offered words of wisdom to this young, know-it-all couple. He warned us of the dangers of affluence and trusting in personal strength, cautioning us that in those times the tendency toward self-sufficiency will pull us apart. He went on to challenge us to value the seasons of weakness and want — the times when we would learn to need and value each other the most. His experience and wise counsel have spoken to me many times over the years, bringing comfort and direction.

We live in an upside-down world, applauding the strong and despising the weak, exulting the wealthy while debasing the poor, and honoring the abrasively powerful and despising the humility of the meek. Jesus came and tipped more than the tables of the temple money changers. He tipped the cultural norm, exposing its misdirected value system, introducing us to the higher principle of servitude and benevolence. Like my uncle, Jesus cautioned us to not rely in our own might, but rather to embrace the gift of weakness.

“He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”
Isaiah 40:29

Job

As Christians, we pray for quick solutions to any evidence of weakness, and rightly so. But what if God desires to teach us lessons found only through weakness. The Hebrew word for weary means to be fatigued or exhausted. Who hasn’t felt this way to one degree or another?

To the place of our weakness, God comes! He comes bringing “much, many, or great powerfulness.” Where else could we find Him completely sufficient? How else would we discover the Father’s arms of immeasurable strength, holding and sustaining us at our weakest most vulnerable moments.

Yet, we tend to deny or cover up all evidence of spiritual, emotional, and physical weakness. All the while, God waits. He waits for us to acknowledge our need and seek His help. Often in pride, we refuse.

No one in recorded history experienced the level of complete deprivation as Job in the Bible. The enemy targeted and stripped righteous Job of every source of strength and comfort. His friends accused Job of moral failure. God turned the assaults of the enemy into ultimate praise and the restoration of all Job had lost. What’s more, Job saw and experienced God in and through his weakness in new ways, discovering an even greater revelation of God’s goodness and majesty.

“I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.”
Job 42:5

Oh, may we see God more clearly during our times of weakness, as He brings strength to the weary.

Paul

Perhaps the first person who comes to our minds when we consider weakness is Paul. God knocked this one-time slayer of Christians off his high horse, throwing him to the ground, blinded and void of any power. This turn-around moment sent Paul on a new trajectory to bring many people to Christ from the nations around him.

What a reversal! What transformation God brought through weakness.

This man, who once held a high and privileged position of authority, found embracing weakness difficult. We all do! However, he realized the necessity of weakness in the hands of a mighty God. His life resonated with God’s words spoken over him,

“… My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.“
2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Only when He gives strength to the weary, do we truly become strong.

Strength for the Weary

As years pass, I see my weakness ever more clearly. There is no shame in weariness or weakness. God uses such seasons to reveal His strength and power to overcome. May these Bible verses breathe life and hope:

• “My health my fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever” Psalm 73:26.
• “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” Matthew 11:28.
• “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” Romans 8:26.

Embracing our points of weakness never comes easy for any of us. It didn’t for Job or Paul either. Even Jesus, who humbled Himself, becoming a man and dying on the cross, travailed in prayer as He submitted His will to the Father, accepting the cross — willingly weak before the cruelly powerful.

In that weakness comes strength — God’s strength! The unbeatable, unsurpassable strength of the Almighty One. And in Him, alone we realize this truth,

“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”
Philippians 4:13

Prayer

Lord, give us the grace of embrace the weakness we carry within these frail jars of clay (2 Corinthians 4:7-9). Teach us, Lord, to number our days with wisdom — to know that what is today will not always be (Psalm 90:12). Times and seasons come and go to each of us. You alone, O LORD, are with us in and through all of them. Thank You, for the loving arms of our Heavenly Father, supporting, sustaining, and protecting us in our weakness.
May You, O LORD, be honored throughout the days of our lives. May we discover and encounter You even in our frailty and may the praise of our lips always rise to You. Oh, LORD, we don’t know what to do but our eyes are on You, our constant strength and our sure salvation (2 Chronicles 20:12). You, alone, give strength to the weary.
Oh, Father, with grateful hearts, we give You thanks. We will ever bring You praise.

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