Seeds for 08/22/2024 - Pause & Reflect - Isaiah 40:30-31
In this series on prayer and scripture, we have been following the acronym P.R.A.Y. as a guide for prayer. The P and R often stand for “Praise” and “Repent” but an alternate could be “Pause” and Reflect.” Sometimes, this is exactly what we need to do. This week we are looking at passages that speak to this important dynamic in prayer.
Scripture:
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 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.
Observation:
These verses are a wonderful source of strength from scripture. How might it speak to a practice of pausing and reflection? Here are some thoughts and observations.
First, hope is not something we can do hurried. We can wish, we can beg, we can desire, we can be desperate. But we cannot hope, at least not biblical hope. Why? Because biblical hope is more than wishing. Biblical hope is a settled confidence in the person and promise of God.
Second, the affirmation, “but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength” comes on the heals of fatigue and disappointment. In those moments, it is vital to pause and collect ourselves. That is exactly when we need to pause and reflect on our source and foundation. To practice hope is to operate from a inner place that has a growing capacity for stillness—even for a moment, a breath or two—before the Lord.
Third, pausing presupposes hope in One who has “the whole world in His hands.” Our strength is a limited resource. But His is unlimited. Pausing is an act of hope in the God who can renew.
Fourth, the final famous lines of verse 31 display the fruits of pausing to recenter on our hope in the Lord: “They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
Application:
Where do you need to pause and recenter your hope on the Lord?
Where do you need His strength?
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for the hope I have in you. Lead me to pause and rest in you, that I may rise in your strength. Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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