“Mount up with wings as eagles”

         Yesterday I lamented the sad spectacle of people who got so discouraged that they “quit.” They “gave up” and no longer made the effort to fulfill the purposes for which God created them. It's one thing to realize that you are without strength and it's something completely different if you don't avail yourself of the strength which God gives you. We all must go “from strength to strength” in the Lord. The most significant point is that our strength comes from the Lord. ^“Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee. . . . They go from strength to strength [in the Lord].” Psalm 84:5-7

          That's why the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 said that he was thankful for his weakness “so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” That's why God told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 12:9

          After reading the scriptures that I sent to you yesterday, one of our students at Christ's College in Taipei wrote to me yesterday, “. . . It has been really encouraging during hardship in my life at this current time. I feel God is speaking to me in person and it really strengthens my heart. . . .” Aye! We do indeed experience God “in person” when He speaks to us through His word! How thankful we should be! “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” Romans 8:16 ESV And the Holy Spirit of God also “bears witness” in our hearts to the truth of the Word of God that we are reading. “When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. . . “ John 16:13

           Here again God is speaking through His servant, “We are troubled on every side, yet not overwhelmed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.” 2 Cor. 4:8-9

           Our strength comes from the Lord: ^“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31 They are restored and renewed by the power of God. And the meaning in the original Hebrew language is even stronger than in English. Waiting patiently on the Lord we are changing or exchanging the strength we already have in ourselves for a better strength in God. “Implied is a condition of weakness or lack of strength. What strength is possessed by those who wait upon the Lord will be exchanged for strength that is real indeed. Instead of stumbling they will grow stronger and stronger.” Edward J. Young, the Book of Isaiah, Vol. 3, pp. 68-69

          ^“Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” Psalm 27:14