Bilbo Baggins and the Exhausted Soul
Text: Isaiah 40:25-31
“But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength…” —Isaiah 40:31
In my most exhausting days I find myself feeling a lot like Bilbo Baggins in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring:
“I’m old, Gandalf. I know I don’t look it but I’m beginning to feel it in my heart. I feel thin… sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.”
Lord of the Rings
Maybe you’ve found yourself feeling that way sometimes… worn down, weary, and stretched much too thin. The demands of responsibilities and relationships outweigh the resources banked in your soul. Tiredness is natural, and our life’s work and God-given assignments will inevitably drain us at times (just ask all the mothers you know). But sometimes our fatigue can come from a place of not abiding in Christ’s sufficiency in the daily stuff of life.
We could be burning the candle at both ends for approval of others, misaligned ambition, fear of failure, or that lure of trying to match (perform) those “appearances” we are seeing in everyone else’s social media platforms. One of the surest ways to deplete yourself today is to get caught up in trying to run a race you were never meant to run.
Regardless of where the exhaustion comes from, there is good news for the worn down and tired. God has promised, “I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish” (Jeremiah 31:25).
Isaiah 40 was written to a weary people who likely had some trouble imagining a bright, hopeful, and energetic future. Isaiah’s call went out to comfort those who had been exiled from their homeland. The prophet ascribes the supremacy of God over every pagan religion to which many of Isaiah’s contemporaries had succumbed, and El Elyon’s sovereignty over the cultural gods with which the exiles were surrounded. The “Holy One” of Israel is declared incomparable in “the greatness of his might” (v. 26).
Such a God will never forget even one of his people, and Isaiah has a word for those who would question if their way is “hidden,” “disregarded,” or even forgotten by their God (v. 27)…
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 to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
(Isaiah 40:28-31)
In verse 28, the statement that the Creator “does not faint or grow weary” suggests that there is more to come for the suffering exiles. God has not given up on Israel. He isn’t done yet. He will finish what He has started in her (Philippians 1:6), and those “waiting for the Lord” shall find endless supplies of fresh strength and vitality. The Hebrew phrase here means to hope, to anticipate, to eagerly look for with expectation, and to trust. Think about what that might look like for you as you seek to abide in Him this week.
PRAYER
Everlasting God, you are incomparable in your greatness and able to give strength to the weary and power to the faint. Holy Spirit, teach us to wait upon you for that daily sufficiency in running without getting weary, and eagerly expecting your presence always before us.
Questions for Reflection and/or Group Discussion
- What sorts of circumstances cause contemporary people to become weak and weary?
- What wonder of nature did the Holy One use as an example of His power? (Isaiah 40:25-26)
- How did God respond to Judah’s assertion that He had forgotten them? (vv. 27-28) What were God’s special promises to the weak and weary? (vv. 29-31)
- Why is it important for us to remember that God is infinitely higher than we imagine ourselves to be?
- What will it look like for you to “wait for the Lord” this week?
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