Living by Faith: Daily Devotional Thoughts

THURSDAY, 22 AUGUST 2024

TEXT: Isaiah 40:12-31

12. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?

13. Who has directed the spirit of the Lord, or as his counselor has instructed him?

14. Who did he consult for his enlightenment, and who taught him the path of justice? Who taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

15. Even the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as dust on the scales, see, he takes up the isles like fine dust.

16. Lebanon would not provide fuel enough, nor are its animals enough for a burnt offering.

17. All the nations are as nothing before him; they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

18. To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?

19. An idols? –A workman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts for it silver chains.

20. As a gift one chooses mulberry wood –wood that will not rot- then seeks out a skilled artisan to set up an image that will not topple.

21. Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

22. It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in;

23. who brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.

24. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows upon them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

25. To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? Says the Holy One.

26. Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing.

27. Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”?

28. 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.

29. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.

30. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted;

31. but those 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.

(New Revised Standard Version Holy Bible)

TOPIC: THE LORD WILL RENEW YOUR STRENGTH

The greatness of the God we serve is beyond human comprehension. We talk about that part of Him that we know when we come in contact with people and converse with them.

But there are people who do not know Him at all and try to equate Him with things created by human beings.

When we reflect on the series of questions Prophet Isaiah raises, we shall discover that God is greater than we ever think. He went on to establish some great facts that show how great our God is and the things He will do for those who trust Him.

We need to do more reflection on verse 29-31 as we continue in this journey of faith so that we are renewed by Him.

QUESTION: Who do you look up to when you need strength and renewal?

PRAYER: Grant me the power to fulfil the mandate You have given me as I continue my journey of faith in the midst of my daily challenges, dear Lord. Amen.