BEYOND THE DESIRE TO GIVE UP

BEYOND THE DESIRE TO GIVE UP Isaiah 40:28-31 In our journey through Isaiah, we'll continue to look at God's amazing prophetic encouragement to His people (Is. 40) as they would find themselves in the pain and questions of exile, certainly tempted to give up on living faithfully for Him. In the past two weeks, we've seen how God gave to them a picture of His unwavering love (vs. 1-11), sovereign power and infinite wisdom (vs. 12-28). Today we'll see how God offered them (as He continues to offer us) strength to continue moving forward. When we want to give up, God offers to give strength; the kind of strength that comes from waiting on Him. What does it mean to wait on God? We focus on the truth of God's love, power and wisdom as foundational. (vs. 11,28) We surrender our timelines and outcomes to God's timeline and outcome. (Jer. 29:10-11) We continue to follow as God leads, asking and trusting for needed strength. (Is. 33:2; Ps. 37:34) How does God promise to provide strength? The word strength has the connotation of having the "capacity to act." Sometimes God gives strength to soar and following is easy. While this is the ultimate fulfillment of God's promise, He offers foretastes of this fulfillment now (Is. 25:9). Sometimes God gives strength to run and we have capacity to do what is before us. In these times, we need to remember to live dependently and continue to draw life from God so we don't grow weary (Is. 33:2; Phil. 4:12-13). Sometimes God gives us strength to walk one step at a time knowing the needed strength will be provided (2 Cor. 12:9).