Daily Verse
Friday, July 31, 2026
Hope
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Friday's Reflection
Isaiah 40:31 — But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Hope and waiting are deeply connected, and Isaiah brings them together in one of the most beloved promises in all of Scripture. To wait upon the Lord is to hope in Him actively — not passively killing time until something changes, but trusting, leaning, expecting, with our eyes fixed on God. The promise attached to that kind of waiting is strength. Not strength to make the waiting end faster, but strength to endure it well — strength that is renewed, again and again, precisely as we wait. The waiting itself becomes the place where God renews us.
Notice the strange order of the images Isaiah uses. We might expect him to build from small to great — walk, then run, then soar. Instead he reverses it: mount up with wings as eagles, run and not be weary, walk and not faint. There is a wisdom in that order. The soaring moments of the spiritual life — the mountaintop experiences, the answered prayers, the bursts of joy — are wonderful, but they are not where most of life is lived. Most of life is the long walk, step after ordinary step, the unglamorous daily faithfulness of not fainting. And Isaiah promises that those who wait on the Lord will have strength for that too — strength to simply keep walking and not give up.
This is hope for the long haul. Anyone can keep going during the soaring season. The test of hope is the long walk through the valley, the season that drags on with no end in sight, the prayer that has gone unanswered for years. Isaiah's promise is that hope in God does not run out in those seasons — it renews. The strength is not stored up in advance; it is supplied fresh, day by day, to those who keep waiting on the Lord. The hope that waits on Him will not faint, because the One it waits for never does.
Prayer: Lord, teach us to wait on You — not passively, but with active, expectant hope. In the long seasons when the soaring moments are rare, renew our strength to simply keep walking and not faint. We wait on You, and we will not be disappointed. Amen.