SATURDAY, JUNE 20 · VERSE OF THE DAY
But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
— Isaiah 40:31
Context
This sits in the opening movement of Isaiah 40–55, often called 'Second Isaiah' — comfort poetry written to Judean exiles stuck in Babylon around 540 BCE. They'd been there two generations. The temple was rubble. The Davidic monarchy was over. Many assumed Yahweh had either lost to Babylon's gods or just walked away. So the prophet starts with 'Comfort, comfort my people' and builds to this: your God isn't tired. You might be, but he isn't. The original audience wasn't Instagram-scrolling burnouts — they were refugees staring at imperial monuments wondering if their faith was delusional.
What it's actually saying
The Hebrew verb for 'wait' here — qavah — means something closer to 'bind yourself to' or 'twist together with.' It's active, not passive. The metaphor isn't sitting in a waiting room. It's tethering yourself to something while the storm pulls at you. 'Renew their strength' is literally 'exchange strength' — like a changing of the guard. You run out; God doesn't. Then three images of upward/forward motion: soar (rare word, used mostly for eagles), run (sustained speed), walk (the daily grind). The order matters. It ends with walking because that's actually the hardest part — not the dramatic moment, but Tuesday. The claim is that people lashed to this God will be able to keep moving when everything says stop.
How to apply it today
Pick one ongoing thing in your life that requires you to keep showing up when you don't feel like it — a relationship that's stuck, a job that grinds, a responsibility you didn't choose. The verse isn't promising you'll suddenly enjoy it or that circumstances will shift. It's claiming that the capacity to keep walking comes from outside you. So try this: before you do that hard thing tomorrow, spend thirty seconds acknowledging out loud that you can't sustain this on your own. That's it. Not a long prayer. Just naming the reality. The verse suggests that's when the exchange happens — when you stop pretending you're fine.
Sit with this
Think about the last time you hit a wall — physically, emotionally, relationally. What did you do? Did you push harder, distract yourself, quit, ask for help? Write a few sentences about what 'waiting on God' might have looked like in that specific moment. Not what you wish you'd done. Just what it could mean to tether yourself to something bigger than your own tank when the tank is empty.
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