Whose Strength are You Leaning On?

strength

But those who wait for the LORD’s help find renewed strength; they rise up as if they had eagles’ wings, they run without growing weary, they walk without getting tired. (Isaiah 40:31, NET)

This is for all the men out there. Raise your hand if you are a doer, if you look at a problem and immediately look to your own strength to solve it. I believe there are lots of raised hands right now (and ladies, I see some of your hands raised as well!).

Most men, whether they admit it or not, want to solve problems. When there’s a problem with plumbing, men want to fix it. When the car won’t start, men want to figure out why and get the car running again. And, truthfully, these things are okay. But men often apply the same thinking to problems in the family or with spiritual problems. We want to fix the relationships between us and our kids. We want to solve the problems in our marriages. These things are okay, too.

But here’s the thing. Men look to do all of these things in their own strength. When it comes to broken pipes or a faulty engine, we can look to our own strength. But when it comes to our relationships, when it comes to problems of an emotional nature or of a spiritual nature, trying to solve the problems in our own strength will make the problems worse, and will cause us to grow frustrated and weary, or both. So, what should we do? The answer to that question is that we must wait on the Lord and put all of our hope and trust in Him (Isaiah 40:31). The Lord does not grow tired. He does not grow weary. And He has the strength that we need.

“But I can’t wait,” you may say, “I can’t just sit around and do nothing!” I get it. Waiting is hard. It goes against our DNA as men. But waiting on the Lord does not mean sitting around and doing nothing. It requires action on our part. Waiting on the Lord means meditating on His character and His promises, on who He is, what He can do, and what we mean to Him. Waiting on the Lord means praying, lifting up the problem and asking Him for help. And waiting on the Lord means giving Him the glory He is due, worshipping Him with our hearts, minds, and strength.

God promises to renew our strength when we wait on Him, when we put our trust and our hope in Him, rather than trying to solve our problems on our own. How? In Isaiah 40:31, the Hebrew word translated as “renew” means to change, alter, or replace. When we wait on the Lord, when we seek His help with our problems, He replaces our weakness with His strength. As a result, we will rise up on wings like an eagle, able to run without growing weary and to walk without becoming faint. His strength is perfected in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9), and He will show us the way in which to tackle the problem at hand, He will remove the obstacles in our path (Psalm 18:32).

When you face a problem in your marriage, when a crisis arises involving your kids, don’t lean on your own strength. Wait on the Lord, meditating on who He is and what He has promised. Pray for His help, and, most importantly, give Him the glory He is due by worshipping Him. When you wait on Him and lean on His strength, He will be there to help you through the problem.