We are all too familiar with the government’s problem of deficit spending — spending far more money than the available resources. What about us as believers? Do we overspend our spiritual resources? Do we even draw upon the resources available to us? Read Isaiah 40:25-31.
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. What does this passage say about the best of human resources (verse 30)?
2. How would you answer the questions posed in verse 25?
3. According to this passage, how do we draw upon God’s unlimited power?
APPLICATION
The word translated “hope” in verse 31 [NIV] literally means “wait for.” Waiting runs contrary to the principles of our modern busy world, yet waiting for God is a powerful Biblical concept repeated time and again in the Old Testament. (See Psalm 130:5-6 for a graphic example. Check your concordance for others.) Here in Isaiah it is seen as the solution to spiritual deficit spending (see also Psalm 27:14).
PRAYER
• Reread verses 25-26 and 28 and praise God for His power.
• Ask God to teach you how to wait for Him in your day-to-day life.
• Ask Him to help us as a church develop deeper dependence upon Him.
Key Verse
…yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength…
Isaiah 40:31 (NASB)