Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never becomes faint or weary; there is no limit to his understanding. ²⁹ He gives strength to the faint and strengthens the powerless. ³⁰ Youths may become faint and weary, and young men stumble and fall, ³¹ but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:27b-31

Every time I go through a trial, I ask God for relief. I’m sure you do too. Many times when we pray for God’s help in a difficult situation, we feel like heaven is silent. It’s like our prayers are bouncing off the ceiling. “God, why aren’t you responding?”

That's the situation in Isaiah 40. Isaiah's countrymen are in misery (there's a foreign army attacking them). They're calling out to God, and He doesn't seem to be responding. "Am I hidden from you, Lord? Why are you not responding?" Isaiah replies (v. 28, my paraphrase), "Let me tell you about our God: He's eternal.
There never was a time when He wasn't alive, around, and aware. And He's the Creator. He made everything, even the parts that seem to be falling apart right now. He's tireless. Don't think for a minute that He isn't responding because He's sitting in a corner, taking a rest. And He's omniscient, there is nothing He doesn't know, see, and understand."

“And you know what this Always-existing, Almighty, All-knowing, Never-tiring, Creator-of-everything does? He gives strength to people like you, who call to Him when you’re in trouble. Sixteen-year-olds can run long distances, but they eventually tire. Seventeen-year-olds can dance and jump with great agility, but they also trip from time to time. But people like you – people who trust God, find super strength whenever they call out to Him. Sometimes, He gives them so much strength, it's like they're flying over their terrible circumstances. At other times, He gives them extra strength so that it feels like they're running through the problem unhindered. At still other times, He gives them just enough strength to stay upright and put one foot in front of the other as they endure their trial day after day."

The God of all grace has three kinds of grace He employs when we’re hurting. Super- abundant grace energizes us to fly. Extraordinary grace empowers us to run. And sustaining grace enables us to endure.

Replay the pivotal verse for a minute: “…those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not become weary, they
will walk and not faint” (v. 31). Normally when we talk about modes of transportation, we move from slowest to fastest. We’d expect Isaiah to say, “those who trust in the Lord walk, run, fly.” Not, “fly, run, walk.”

God is using this reversal of the expected order to tell us something about the way He works. Usually, when we're in trouble, we want God to remove the trouble miraculously.
We want super-abundant strength to make the problem go away. Isaiah is saying, "That's not the normal way God does things. He is more interested in helping us develop
faith and character than He is in alleviating our ailment. Pain is one of the tools He uses to help us grow. When we're in a trial, we want instant relief. And sometimes God gives
it. But not often." 1 Pet. 1:6-7 says, “…now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold
which, though perishable, is refined by fire.…”

Isaiah continues, “More often, when we call out in our pain, instead of super-abundant strength, God gives extraordinary empowerment. Instead of letting us fly over our problem, He empowers us to run through it with less effort than we’d expect.” (I believe that’s what I experienced when my sister died. I had only been a Christian a short while.
God shielded me from the full force of the pain because of my young faith and young age.)

Isaiah 40:31 is saying, "Sometimes when we pray, we get super-abundant strength to soar over our situation. More often, we get extraordinary empowerment to run through
it. But, most often, when we pray, God uses the situation we are in to build faith and character by giving us grace to endure each day, so that we're able to walk and not faint
in the midst of our sorrow."

Father, thank You for always hearing, always responding, and always doing what's
best for me. Given the choice, I always want to fly over my problems. Thank You for
giving me what I need more than what I want, to help me grow through every
situation. In Jesus' name, Amen!