but they that wait upon Jehovah shall renew [their] strength they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not tire; they shall walk, and not faint.
In this chapter Israel complains that God has lost sight of them. His answer does not change their circumstances. It changes where their strength comes from. The promise ends with three pictures: flying, running, walking. Commentators read that order in more than one way.
The Complaint Behind the Promise
The verse is God's reply to people who thought their situation had escaped His notice.
Hamilton SmithCreation itself testifies to the power and glory of God. Yet Israel turned to idols. God rebukes that unbelief. They acted as if their road, with all its hardships, was hidden from Him, and as if He did not care about the rights of His people. What folly! The God His people deal with is everlasting. He is always present as the LORD — the I AM. He is also the Creator of the ends of the earth. There is no place hidden from Him.
What "Wait" Asks Of Us
The word carries more than sitting still. One writer traces its range:
H J VineThe word "wait" in Isaiah 40:31 means looking to Him and to no one else. It also carries waiting for Him, and expecting from Him. It is a very full word. That is why translators render it in different ways. One English word cannot hold all of its meaning. So we are to wait on God alone. We are to look to Him, wait for Him, and expect from Him only. As we do this, we grow in knowing what is on God's mind. That knowledge pushes out the things we had on our own minds that do not match His.
One writer links this waiting to prayer:
Hamilton SmithHands that hang down, and knees that are feeble, may well speak of hands seldom lifted up in prayer, and knees seldom bent in prayer. Long before, the prophet had said, "Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength" (Isaiah 40:30-31). Are we not, too often, powerless in public because prayerless in private?
Natural Strength Has To Fail First
The verse before this one buries the best that human nature can offer. That failure is deliberate:
Hamilton SmithBut if He gives strength, we for our part have to learn that we need it. We also have to learn that our own strength cannot hold up the people of God in the trials they meet. So we read that the "youths" and the "young men" — the picture of human nature at its freshest and strongest — will faint and grow weary and "stumble and fall". It is often a hard lesson to learn that the strength of nature cannot keep us in the path of faith.
Renew, Or Exchange
One writer notes that the word behind "renew" can also be rendered change. That shifts the whole picture — not our old strength topped up, but His strength taking the place of ours:
The Bible TreasuryTheir youths and young men were the ones you would expect strength and energy from. They had failed completely, and everything had collapsed. Then came the clear and blessed promise, no less for us than for Israel: "they who wait for the LORD shall renew, or change, their strength."
The exchange is often felt in an ordinary hour of discouragement:
A J PollockLow moments come. Weakness makes itself felt. Our circumstances look too hard to handle. In that weakness we wait on the Lord. We bring the low mood and the weakness into His presence, and they pass away. They cannot survive there. We get up off our knees with new strength — not in the body, but in the soul.
Mount, Run, Walk
The three verbs describe three different rates of movement:
A J PollockMounting up with wings like eagles gives the idea of power over the elements themselves — life at its most vigorous. Running does not carry the easy, graceful mastery over gravity that flying does. It suggests real effort instead, and real effort still points to strength. Walking is slow, sedate, step by step. The one that runs is not weary, the one that walks does not faint.
Commentators differ on why the order descends. Others read the descent as a climb in value, the hardest thing coming last:
H J Vineso that they may rise above the distractions of this world; or better still, run through them without tiring; or better yet, walk quietly with God despite them, and not faint.
One writer fills in what each of the three pictures means:
J T Mawson"they shall mount up with wings like eagles" — rising in triumph over every difficulty and low mood. "they shall run and not be weary" — never tiring in their errands of service and mercy for the Lord to others. "and they shall walk and not faint" — treading the upward road with steady endurance.
Summary
- Source. God never faints or grows weary, so He is the one supply that cannot run dry — the promise rests on His nature, not on our effort.
- Emptying. Youths faint and young men fall on purpose. Learning that our own strength cannot carry us in the path of faith is the doorway into this verse.
- Exchange. "Renew" may also be read as change — we do not get our strength topped up, we trade it for His.
- Waiting. The word means looking to Him, waiting for Him, expecting from Him alone. In practice it is bent knees and lifted hands. We are often powerless in public because we are prayerless in private.
- Endurance. Flying, running and walking cover every pace of life. The last is the hardest: walking quietly with God through the distractions, and not fainting.