Just Keep Walking: Lessons from Isaiah

My heart inclines towards certain passages of Scripture. It just needs to cherish those trusty truths and dwell on the past faithfulness of God in order to be strengthened for the current day’s struggles, temptations, and troubles.

Sometimes the Lord will refresh my heart with a new insight to a passage. But other timesHe directs me to a place we have tarried before. He invites me to sit with Him and remember the way He comforted and sustained, gave peace and strength in previous days. 

As I’ve traveled into motherhood, the Lord has continually brought to mind a few verses in Isaiah. They have been a source of refreshment and encouragement through several trials and uncertainties.

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:28-31

Do you notice how the last part doesn’t make the progression from walking to running to soaring, but rather the opposite? I will forever remember the teaching I heard on this in an Old Testament class at Union by one of my favorite professors, Dr. Kelvin Moore. There is an intentional reason for this order of things. The author describes different stages in life: mounting up with wings like eagles, running, and walking. He goes from what is least common to what is most common.

There are moments in this Christian journey when we feel like we are soaring. Happiness, joy, peace, excitement fill our hearts. Our yearning for the Lord and His Kingdom cannot be contained. These mountaintop experiences give us such renewed energy for the faith and set our hearts on fire for our great God. Praise God for moments like that. But, most of life is not lived on the mountaintop.

Most of life is not spent soaring like eagles.

Most of life is not even spent running.

Most of life is spent walking.

Usually fainting is not a consequence of merely walking. But the author declares that our God will renew our strength and give us the ability to walk and not faint. Why? It’s the everyday walking that wears us down. The dirty floors, piles of dishes, stressful jobs, financial hardships, endless laundry to do, continuous meals to prepare. The feelings of loneliness, inadequacy, weakness. The subtle temptations and the giant reminders from the enemy of past sin. Thinking about daily struggles is enough to make you want to faint.

But this is a call to remember that the Lord provides what His people need.

Some days it takes everything you have to simply breathe. So just keep breathing. And know that Lord is holding you and calming your weary soul.

Some days will be painful. And on those days know our God comforts, heals, restores. And just know He will give you the strength to keep going.

Some days won’t necessarily be hard, but will just feel mundane. And so when you feel stuck, know the Lord is sustaining you and growing you even in the routine.

And everyday, know the Lord is preparing you for something greater. That greater thing may come in this life, but if it doesn’t it will most certainly come in the next.

So keep walking, my friend. It’s in the walking that we learn to truly trust our Savior and depend on Him for our every need.