Strength Renewal

 There’s a lot going on in the world today, both near and far away.  The war in Ukraine continues to drag on with daily reports of death and destruction.  Then there’s the news of a possible COVID variant that is spreading.  And now, at least in the Great Plains, we have out-of-control wildfires that have hit Central Kansas grasslands recently.  And those fires continue to be ignited and spread by the March winds.  You know, with all that is happening right now, it can become easy for us to hit the doldrums of life and living.  We become bogged down by all of the stuff that bombards us daily…stuff that seems to suck the spring out our step, sap our energy & drive, and cause us to want to just stay in bed and pull the covers up over our heads.  We don’t eat as we should.  We don’t exercise as we should.  We don’t interact with others as we should.  We ignore the laundry, the dishes, and the bill-paying.  You know the feeling.  You’ve been there.  You may be there right now.  You know full well what I’m describing.

Sometimes even in our gilded society of hot and cold running water, comfortable transportation, air conditioning, instant communication, and all the food we could possibly want, we become tired.  We get weary.  Life still presses in on us.

We still battle cancer, dementia, and heart disease.  We deal with sometimes untimely death.  We struggle with mental health issues and disability.  Families and relationships become estranged.  We experience divorce, societal breakdown, the gulf between liberal and conservative, and religious fanaticism.  The struggles are real.

So, where do we go?  What do we do?  Do we stay in bed all day?  Do we never get dressed our go out of our homes?  Should we seek medical or mental health care?  Maybe we could go on a sort of permanent vacation or just slip away to another city…another state…and start over.  Or we could become advocates for change, joining this group or that non-profit or some other do-good organization.  There are all sorts of ways to help mitigate the effects of human misery, none of which is perfectly satisfactory.

However, I’d like to point you to a place you may not often think of when thinking about possible cures for what ails you.  And although you might at first glance think this is a “religious” thing, in truth it isn’t so much religious (as many people think of the word) as it is practical, good advice.  I’m pointing you to the Christian Bible, the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament, chapter 40, verse 31.  Here’s what it says.  “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.”

That word “renew” when examined closely, actually means to exchange one thing for another.  In this instance, we are exchanging our feebleness for the strength of God.  We will gain new strength…strength from God himself.  That newly-imparted strength will enable us not only to soar like eagles and run without becoming weary…but the last part of that verse says we can walk…continuing to simply put one foot in front of the other in ordinary, everyday life and living…and not grow faint in so doing.

Yes, some of us will soar.  Some of us will run.  But many of us will just be walkers…going through the routine of life while we continue to encounter, battle, and deal with those things that life in this fallen creation gives us from time to time.  Our own strength will not be sufficient.  By our own strength we will fail.  We will give up.  We will lose hope.  But by the strength given us by God, we can continue to go down life’s path, not growing weary, not growing faint.

I don’t know what your situation is now.  You may be in great shape, ready to conquer the world.  You may already be soaring and running.  But I suspect that many of you who are watching this are at least at times feeling overwhelmed and out of energy and strength.  Some of you may not even know how you will finish out the day or face the day to come.  However, if you are a Christian, then “Because He Lives,” you can indeed face tomorrow, tapping into the strength provided by the unmerited favor God bestows on you.

May God bless you this day and every day.