"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

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In this Sunday’s message Pastor Josh Kelsey showed us that God doesn’t answer exhaustion with sentiment, but with revelation of who He is. In exile, Israel felt forgotten and abandoned, but God responded by lifting their eyes to the Everlasting God who never grows weary and by inviting them to wait and see God reveal how His Spirit carries His people through every kind of season.

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Hebrew: Qavah — “to bind, braid, twist together; to wait with tension and expectation.”Waiting on the Lord is not passive delay; it is actively intertwining your identity with who God is until His strength becomes your strength.

God answers exhaustion with revelation, not sentiment.

• Israel’s confession was, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my cause is disregarded by my God” - Isaiah 40:27.
• Their exhaustion wasn’t only from exile; it was from misreading God’s nature treating silence as abandonment and delay as disinterest.
• God responds not by lowering the bar of truth, but by lifting their eyes: He is everlasting, Creator of the ends of the earth, never fainting, never weary. Isaiah 40:28–29.
• In seasons where you feel forgotten, God’s primary gift is revelation.
• He gives power to the faint, not because they finally prove themselves, but because He is faithful when they are spent.
• The Hebrew Qavah pictures a rope being braided under tension to “wait on the Lord” is to let your identity, emotions, and expectations be twisted together with the truth of who God is until your weakness is held inside His strength | Psalm 27:14; Lamentations 3:25.

Waiting means braiding your life into God’s strength.

• Qavah means to braid, bind, twist the audience would've pictured rope-making.
• A rope gains strength in tension, not relaxation.
• God invites His people to intertwine their identity, hope, and perspective with who He is  not with their feelings.
• Pressure seasons are not evidence of abandonment; they are where God strengthens you the most.
• You either break under pressure or become stronger through qavah, depending on whether you braid into His character.

God does not refill your strength. He exchanges it.

• Isaiah doesn’t describe “getting topped up”  he describes trading weakness for divine strength.
• Humans reach their limit: can’t love anymore, can’t be patient anymore, can’t push anymore.
• Limits are good because they expose God’s limitlessness.
• The exchange means the end of self-reliance and the beginning of Spirit-empowered endurance.
• Israel could not get out of exile by their own strength; they needed His.

Grace does not help you fly. Grace lifts you.

• Isaiah uses the eagle because people understood sandstorms, heat storms, and violent vertical winds.
• Eagles don't flap in storms, they lock their wings and let unseen wind carry them higher than their normal altitude.
• Grace is the Spirit’s wind: unseen, not self-generated, not earned.
• Discernment is sensing the shift in pressure so you position yourself before the storm surrounds you.
• The storm you thought would destroy you becomes the very mechanism that elevates you.

God gives strength not just for elevation but for assignment.

• Eagles return to the ground because elevation is temporary assignment is ongoing.
• They must feed their young, build, protect, and hunt.
• Spiritual highs are not meant to keep you detached from reality; they are for renewed perspective as you return to real mission.
• Some believers “stay in the clouds,” never returning to usefulness but maturity means descending with purpose.
• Elevation = perspective.
• Ground = purpose.

The greatest miracle is not flight, it is long-term faithfulness.

• Walking is the biblical metaphor for covenant life: Adam and Eve, Enoch, disciples on the Emmaus road.
• Jesus walks with discouraged disciples who feel like failures, opening Scripture until their hearts burn again.
• The miracle is not the occasional moment of soaring it’s not fainting over a lifetime.
• Faithfulness in monotony, discouragement, and confusion is where God proves Himself faithful.
• Long-term devotion is greater than short-term spiritual intensity.

Their exhaustion came from misreading God’s nature.

• Israel believed God had ignored their cause that misbelief produced deep spiritual weariness.
• They tried to save themselves from exile in their own strength, which led to burnout and despair.
• Wrong assumptions about God distort how we interpret pressure, storms, delays, and silence.
• Isaiah corrects their theology before addressing their emotions.
• When you believe wrong about God, you will live wrong in your circumstances.

Jesus does not just give strength, He becomes our strength.

• Jesus is the only One who perfectly waited (qavah), soared above opposition, ran with endurance, and walked in covenant faithfulness.
• Because He conquered sin and death, His very Spirit now animates us, not just His teachings.
• We don’t imitate Him by willpower; we participate in His life through the Spirit.
• Strength is not a boost He hands you, it’s His endurance living inside you.

The spirit gives strength to rise, run, and walk beyond human ability.

• Rise: soaring above storms through unseen currents of the Spirit (not striving).
• Run: mission, urgency, purpose; not competition or career comparison.
• Walk: steady obedience, the most efficient spiritual movement; letting Scripture open your eyes like Emmaus.
• Each mode requires the Holy Spirit, not self-generated energy.
• Only the Spirit determines which season you’re in: soaring, running, or walking.

God is never weary. Therefore,  hope is never gone.

• The anchor of Isaiah 40 is not human endurance, it is God’s unending strength.
• He does not faint, grow tired, or reach emotional limits.
• Because God doesn’t wear out, His people are never without hope, no matter how depleted they feel.
• Your hope is not built on how much you have left, but on how much He never runs out of.
• If He is never weary, your story is never stuck, never over, never beyond redemption.

Discussion Questions

• Where am I relying on my own strength instead of exchanging it for God’s?
• What storm in my life could become elevation if I stopped fighting and let the Spirit lift me
• Am I meant to rise, run, or walk right now and what does faithfulness look like in this season?