Waiting in Hope

 Psalm 147:1-11,20; Isaiah 40:28-31

Both of these passages tell of the power of God. In the Psalm it tells how great the Lord is abundant in power. He determines the number of stars, controls the weather, and gives food to the animals. It agrees with our Isaiah passage regarding God’s understanding. It is above measure in the Psalm and is unsearchable in Isaiah 40. It also tells about God being everlasting and the Creator who does not grow faint or weary.

What both passages tell about is who the Lord will use God’s power for. God will build up Jerusalem, will gather the outcasts, heal the broken hearted and bind up their wounds. The Lord will also lift up the downtrodden. This goes along with Isaiah who says God will give power to the faint and will strengthen the powerless.

I can imagine the Israelites shouting out, “but when will this happen?” The psalmist says the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear God, in those who hope in God’s steadfast love. Isaiah talks about God’s deliverance coming to those who wait for the Lord. This is expectant waiting – waiting in hope – to those God will give power to the faint, and strength to the weary. The Lord will renew their strength and then comes the beautiful metaphor of mounting up with wings like eagles, running and not being weary, walking and not being faint.

I love the choice of people God strengthens in these passages: the outcasts, the brokenhearted, the downtrodden, the faint, and the powerless. When life has left you brokenhearted, God will heal and bind up your wounds – the hurts that life can hand you. When you feel powerless to solve any problem, God will strengthen you. When you feel you are just too tired to go on – God will renew your strength. When you are hit with what you find to be unsurmountable problems God will help you walk or even run through them.

While in the midst of turmoil we must wait in hope for the powerful God – hoping in God’s steadfast love to deliver us, claiming the strength God gives us to endure as we wait hopefully. Amen

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