Wednesday's Word: Run and not be Weary

But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; the shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

What visual imagery. Have you ever run and not eventually grown weary? If you’ve run much at all, you know there’s always that point where your legs begin to struggle to keep up, your arms get tired, and your lungs burn as they try to draw in more and more air. For some, it’s after a few feet, for others, they can run miles and miles. But for most, eventually, we grow weary, fatigue sets in, and we stop running.

But what about those world class runners, olympic racers, ultra marathon types, who run hundreds of miles and do NOT grow weary? Can you imagine the countless miles they train to be able to accomplish a 100 mile run? What the discipline of their diet, water intake, and sleep must look like?

I ran a marathon thirteen years ago in Nashville. I prepared for this race over four months by training in long distance, speed and strength, but I also learned very quickly how important adequate sleep and proper nutrition where. Your body can’t operate under these demands if you don’t properly train, fuel, hydrate, and rest. I spent countless hours and approximately 500 miles in training. I strengthened and rested my body. But running is almost as much a mind game as it is a physical one so I had to teach my mind to know and trust that my body could do the thing we were training it to accomplish.

Sorry for the way too close up of my strained face…..this was before 50 takes to get the right lighting and expression!

All for 26.2 miles. Four months, 500 miles and hours of training, changing my lifestyle, all culminating in a race that took me 3 hours and 52 minutes.

But what about the race of life? What about the hills and valleys of our day to day? What about the daily grind, the repetitive frustrations we face? What does our training look like for the long, exhausting days of parenting? Or our work? Or our marriages?

How can we justify hours and months and sweat and tears in preparation for 26 miles, but not for the toddler years, or the preteen stages, or loss, hurt, marriage, infertility…… the list goes on and on.

The truth is, we need to practice our faith. We need to strengthen our prayer life. We need to spend hours in the Word and daily rest in the Lord. This life is a race, Hebrews 12:1-2 And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, and it requires effort on our part to run it well. It takes faith and trust and trials to learn to wait on the Lord.

It took me 500 miles to prepare my body to effectively run 26 without growing weary, but it was worth it when I finished the race. The same is true, friends, of learning to wait on the Lord, because as the rest of this scripture tells us, our strength will be renewed. We will mount up with wings like eagles. Picture that! Picture the beauty and strength, the majesty and grace as an eagle soars. We will run and not grow weary, walk and not faint. But we must learn to wait on the Lord.

This is not easy, though it sounds as if it should be. We are a nation, generation, people who do for ourselves. We know best, or think we do anyway. We have knowledge at our fingertips, although we tend to trust google and society over God’s Word. We demand control and we want what we want- NOW. We are like my eight year old who groans his complaint, “Why can’t I just do what I want to do, when I want to do it?!”

God wants us to wait on Him. To trust in His timing and provision for our lives. To find rest and strength in Him. And with more certainty than I’ve possessed up to this point in my life, I can say, if you can learn to do this, He will provide all you need. You WILL run and NOT grow weary.

Do NOT hear me say trials won’t arise, or that it will be a picture perfect existence….we are never given a promise that looks like that….but we can be assured that our Father who created us and loves us beyond all comprehension will keep His Isaiah 40:31 promise.

Have a blessed and encouraged day friends! In Him,

~Jules

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