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Receiving Strength
Isa 40:28-31
(28) Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
(29) He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
(30) Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
(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.
(Act 1:4) And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
Erik Weihenmayer had a dream. He wanted to climb Mt. Everest. Almost 90% of those that attempt to climb that mountain do not make it. For Erik, no one like him had made it before. You see Erik is blind. Add to that fact that almost everyone that climbs Everest gets sick. They call it the Khumbu Krud. It comes from a mixture of high altitude, dirty food and impure water. Dysentery on a mountain, when outside of your tent flap it is 30 degrees below zero, isn't the most comfortable situation. Yet they pressed on and achieved their goal.
The measure of a man's strength is not his determination when he is strong, rested and healthy; it is when he is weak, tired and sick. Will you go on then?
God says it a little differently:
(Pro 24:10) If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.
As with our physical man growing tired and faint, so our spiritual man needs time to renew and receive strength. What do we do?
The disciples had become faint. Their Master had been crucified. They had huddled together hiding from the authorities. Days before Peter had cursed and swore that he knew not the Lord (Matt. 26:74, Luke 22:61). With Peter's encouragement, they had made steps to go back to their old life of fishing and forsake the ministry. They had no might.
Then Jesus came and he told them to "wait. For the promise of the Father" The same word Isaiah had used years before; "they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength."
So, to the upper room they went. 500 had heard the command, but like today, many then didn't want to wait. When the answer wasn't an instant one, they began to leave the upper room. Weak ones were influenced by others whom they followed down the steps back to their old powerless life. There were only 120 left, but these were they who had said "I won't quit! I won't leave till God gives me what I need! I will wait!" and we know what happened. They received POWER after that the Holy Ghost came upon them. To them that had no might, He increased their strength, to them that were faint, and He gave power.
Don't face a wicked world without what you need. Wait!
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