"Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing." (Isaiah 40:26) Beholding the glory of the heavens above reminds us of the great power and intelligence of our God. He created the universe exactly as it needed to be in order to support human life on earth. There are exactly as many stars as there should be. There is exactly as much matter as there should be. There is exactly as much gravity as there should be. The earth is the perfect size and in the perfect position in our solar system. Can we not call upon a God who can do this? Can we not trust Him to know the answers to our problems? Can we not depend upon His strength?
The God who spoke into being everything that exists has His eye on us at all times. He is aware of our needs and He is able to supply those needs. We must never fall for the lies of the devil (or of our own frail mortal minds) that the Lord cannot see us or help us. Apparently some of the people of Isaiah's nation thought their troubles were too severe for the Lord to help them---perhaps some even thought He didn't care about their plight---so the Lord reminds them that there is nothing He cannot do for them.
"Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, 'My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God?'" (Isaiah 40:27) Have you ever been in so much distress that you wondered whether the Lord could even see you? Have you ever wondered whether He cares? Some of Isaiah's people were struggling with such thoughts and the Lord assures them that He sees them, that He cares about them, and that He will strengthen them. "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom." (Isaiah 40:28)
The Lord never needs a nap. He has always been alert, all the way back into eternity past, and He always will be alert, all the way into eternity future. Besides not growing weary in Himself, He never grows weary of us! We may think that He grows tired of rescuing us over and over. We may think that He is weary of how many times we mess up. We may think that He actually doesn't even like us very much. But nothing could be further from the truth! Could the God who gave His own Son for us ever grow tired of coming to our aid? No, no more than a loving parent would ignore the needs of his child, even if that child has fallen into a problem of their own making.
The Lord's strength is not like man's strength. Human strength is going to fall short. No matter how young and fit a person may be, that person is going to need sleep and food and recreation in order to keep going. But the Lord never needs any of those things and, because His strength is inexhaustible, He always has a supply of it for us. "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." (Isaiah 40:29-31)
A soaring eagle is not frantically flapping its wings; it is being held aloft by the wind below it. In this same way, the child of God does not have to frantically flap his wings and depend on his own strength. Our own strength will run out. But when we place our hope in the Lord and in His strength, He upholds us. He takes on the burden. He bears us up.
I need some bearing up, don't you? I can't do this on my own and the good news is I don't have to do this on my own and neither do you. Our God will hold us up! Our God will strengthen us! Our God will encourage our weary minds and our weary spirits and our weary bodies!
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