Reflections on Isaiah 40:28-31
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 strengthens the powerless.
Margaret cares for her four grandchildren, three boys and a
girl, ranging in age from 8 to 16. She
lives not far outside Zambia’s capital city of Lusaka, but her village is a
world apart from that modern city.
Even youths will faint and be
weary, and the young will fall exhausted
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| Me & Margaret in front of her new house. |
I visited Margaret in the summer of 2005. World Vision had built for Margaret a
three-room brick house to replace the mud and thatch hut she shared with the
children. We were there to see the work
that World Vision had done with the money raised by youth groups such as the
one from my church. We were also there
to see how HIV/AIDS has taken the lives of so many young parents, leaving
grandparents, such as Margaret to raise children left as orphans. We saw as well how many young children have
fallen victims to this disease as it is passed from mother to child. It was a sobering and powerful trip on many
levels … a true mix of tragedy and great joy.
Margaret was so pleased with her new home. She invited us in and showed us around. We saw not only the new house, but also the
old one-room hut that had been their home for so many years. You could see a lot of sky through the gaps
in the thatched roof. I wondered what it
must have been like to weather the rainy season in such a hut.
We also saw a silo type structure for storing corn grown in
the summer months, but that was not all we saw.
Just to the right of the new house was a miniature hut on stilts made
from tree trunks. It was thatched on top
too, but without gaps. It was well cared
for in a way that the other mud and thatched structures were not. Maybe it was new or maybe it was special, but
what was it for? It was raised an inch
or two above my head. Perhaps it stored
food of interest to local African wildlife, like the way we have to protect our
food from bears and raccoons and other critters when we camp. Still something didn’t add up. I had to know what it was for. I asked our Zambian translator to ask
Margaret. I was not prepared for what I
heard.
… but those who wait for the Lord
shall renew their strength,
The hut was certainly special. She had made it to welcome doves that might
be on their way to somewhere else, but might also like to rest and take shelter for
a time. Doves, she continued, symbolized
the Holy Spirit, the power of God in the world and she wanted God to know that
she expected the Spirit and welcome its presence. She was ready to receive whatever God sent
her way. She had great faith that God
was good and that God wanted good for her and her grandchildren. Even in the face of all that they had
suffered, God had provided for her and she, in this unusual way, wanted to
provide something in return. She was
ready for God and she expected the Spirit to come.
they
shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they
shall walk and not faint.
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| While I was there, Margaret had a visitor. |
I think of Margaret often and wonder how my expectations of
God compare to hers. Have I created a
life of welcome for the Spirit to have its way with me? Have I trusted fully in the goodness of God,
even when my circumstances seem to the contrary? Certainly, I have not suffered as Margaret
has suffered, nor have I had to trust as Margaret has trusted. In so many ways our lives are apples and oranges. In my comfortable first-world life, I have
yet to fall exhausted and I have yet to fully mount up with wings like eagles,
but thanks to Margaret, I know that it is possible and for that I thank God!
