Renewing Strength (Isaiah 40:31) - Charles Spurgeon Sermon

Devotional

Day 1: When Granite Cracks and Iron Rusts

Human strength—whether physical, mental, or spiritual—wears thin like weathered stone. Even Samson’s legendary power crumbled to dust, proving flesh fails as surely as grass withers. Finite bodies and minds cannot bear eternal burdens. Yet God’s strength flows unbroken, a river fed by infinite springs. Those who admit their frailty find His might rushing into their cracks. [01:26]

“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 40:30-31, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you seen your own “granite” strength crack this week? How might your weariness become an altar for God’s unending power?

Day 2: The Cipher and the Unit

A zero alone is nothing, but placed beside the One, it becomes ten. Human effort—prayers, resolve, righteousness—dissolves like mist unless linked to divine math. Trusting achievements or intellect for salvation is building on sand. Yet when emptiness clings to Christ’s fullness, weakness becomes a vessel for resurrection power. [10:11]

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:9, ESV)

Reflection: What “zero” have you been clutching as security? How might releasing it position you to receive Christ’s multiplying grace?

Day 3: Gaping Mouths in the Nest

Baby birds cry relentlessly, throats stretched wide for food they cannot self-produce. So must believers approach God—not politely sipping, but desperate, expectant, demanding nourishment only He can give. Small prayers reveal small gods; bold hunger invites divine surprise. The feast comes not to full stomachs, but empty beaks. [22:14]

“Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. […] I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” (Psalm 81:10, ESV)

Reflection: When did you last pray with the raw, shameless need of a starving fledgling? What keeps your spiritual mouth shut tight?

Day 4: The Husbandman Waits for Fruit

Impatient children dig up seeds, demanding instant harvests. Saints too fret when prayers seem unanswered, ministries unfruitful. Yet God works in seasons—roots deepening underground before stalks surge upward. True waiting isn’t passive; it’s tilling soil while trusting hidden growth. The farmer’s patience births orchards from acorns. [30:05]

“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9, ESV)

Reflection: What “seed” have you been tempted to dig up in frustration? How might waiting deepen your dependence on the Grower?

Day 5: Dying Well on Borrowed Strength

Saints don’t expire—they graduate. A dying man testified: “My strength? In my God.” Final breaths become doxology when life was a long apprenticeship in leaning. Weakness perfected through decades of dependence makes death a homecoming flight. The tomb becomes a cocoon; resurrection awaits those who spent themselves on Christ’s inexhaustible reserves. [52:27]

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:26, ESV)

Reflection: If today were your last, what would your final words reveal about your lifelong source of strength? How does eternity reshape today’s struggles?

Sermon Summary

Isaiah 40:31 sets the failing creature beside the unfailing Creator, and the contrast is everything. Human strength, whether of body, mind, or spirit, must spend itself in due time. Physical force fades like grass, till Samson himself grows thirsty, dies, and yields his mighty muscles to the worm. Mental strength also fails, for the skull of a sage carries no weight of wisdom, and death pays no regard to science, eloquence, or theology. Spiritual strength, so far as it is regarded as lodged in the man himself, may wax weak, for the devout may grow lukewarm and the strong believer may doubt.

All strength apart from God is derived strength, and therefore measurable. The river runs because its fountain lives, but the reservoir dries when no springing well lies beneath it. God’s strength, by blessed contrast, never declines, never labors, never grows old. His almightiness is not diminished when boundless wants draw upon him, no more than the sea is lessened when an infant dips a cup into it. Isaiah’s promise therefore joins human nothingness to divine omnipotence, and the cipher becomes something when the unit stands before it.

“They that wait upon the Lord” describes the true church. Waiting means dependence, for the church rests not on its righteousness, prayers, resolves, attainments, or religiousness, but on God in Christ Jesus. God’s word is its only creed, for the Bible and the Bible alone is the faith of Christians. The doctrines of Scripture are its battle-axe and weapons of war, and the Spirit alone makes the gospel the power of God unto salvation. Eloquence, music, incense, candles, excitement, and philosophy cannot breathe life into dead souls. The Spirit of the Lord blesses the truth, and he blesses the truth alone.

Expectation also belongs to waiting. The church ought to be like young birds in the nest, nothing but gaping mouths before God, believing that he can save not only one now and then, but hundreds and thousands. Patience completes waiting. The little word “wait” is not child’s play, for seed must grow and fruit must ripen. Faith kills fret, worry, hurry, and haste.

Waiting saints still need renewed strength because they are human and imperfect. Elijah may stand on Carmel and then tremble before Jezebel. Sin drags down even those who have walked in the light. The promise therefore meets fainting, falling spirits, saying that the Lord fills the glass again.

Renewal comes by waiting still. Christ feeds the hungry soul, gives rest to the weary, bathes the faint in the Spirit, and breathes heavenly life again. Prayer, fresh consecration, entire dependence, and renewed action carry the weak back into God’s strength. The gospel calls even the unconverted away from self into Christ, whose blood and promise are good to live upon and good to die upon.

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Key Takeaways

1. Derived strength must spend itself [04:18] Human power is not evil merely because it is human, but it is unsafe when it is trusted as final. Body, mind, zeal, resolve, and religious effort all have a measure, and every measured thing can be exhausted. The soul that leans on its own staff near an eternal precipice will find that the staff was never made to bear such weight. [04:18]
2. God’s fullness cannot be diminished [08:27] Divine strength is not a larger version of creaturely strength, but another order altogether. God may supply boundless wants without becoming less sufficient, as the sea remains full after an infant fills a cup. Faith draws largely because God is not a reservoir waiting to run dry, but the everlasting fountain. [08:27]
3. Waiting joins weakness to omnipotence [10:31] Waiting upon the Lord is not idleness, nor is it a pious name for despair. Waiting casts nothingness upon omnipotence, depending, expecting, and patiently abiding until God gives the blessing in his own way. The weak soul becomes strong, not by discovering hidden reserves within, but by being linked to the living God. [10:31]
4. Truth needs the Spirit’s power [17:47] Eloquence, novelty, and outward display may move the natural man, but they cannot make a dead heart live. The gospel is the instrument, and the Holy Ghost is the power by which sinners are truly converted. The church loses strength whenever it trusts the polish of the weapon more than the hand of God who wields it. [17:47]
5. Patience is faith’s calm leisure [31:08] Impatience belongs to spiritual childhood, always digging up seed to see whether it has grown. Faith can work, pray, watch, and still refuse to quarrel with God’s time. The calm soul does not run after every fad when fruit delays, because God’s husbandry is perfect from the first.

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Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:46] - Renewing Strength from Isaiah 40
[01:10] - Human Strength Must Fail
[06:52] - Divine Strength Never Fails
[09:24] - Weakness Linked to Omnipotence
[12:37] - The True Church Waits
[14:11] - Scripture Alone as Creed
[17:30] - The Spirit Gives Gospel Power
[21:56] - Expecting Great Things from God
[26:05] - Patience in the Lord’s Time
[32:08] - Why Saints Need Renewal
[37:52] - Weakness Must Not Remain
[44:24] - How Strength Is Renewed
[47:06] - Prayer and Fresh Consecration
[50:21] - Christ Is Good to Die Upon

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Isaiah 40:28-31
“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.” [00:00]

Zechariah 4:6
“Then he said to me, 'This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.'” [17:47]

Psalm 27:14
“Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!” [26:05]

Isaiah 8:20
“To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.” [14:11]

Observation questions

In Isaiah 40:28-31, what contrast is drawn between the Lord and even the strongest human beings?
What kinds of human strength are described as failing in due time: physical, mental, or spiritual? [01:03]
According to Isaiah 8:20, what standard is to govern what the church believes and listens to? [15:21]
What three parts make up waiting upon the Lord: dependence, expectation, and what else? [26:05]

Interpretation questions

Isaiah says that even youths faint, yet those who wait upon the Lord renew their strength. What does that suggest about the difference between natural strength and strength received from God? [10:37]
If waiting upon the Lord includes dependence, expectation, and patience, how does that challenge the way people often think about faith as either passive or hurried? [31:01]
Zechariah 4:6 says, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit.” Why is that especially important when thinking about conversion, ministry, and spiritual fruit? [19:05]
If God’s Word alone is the church’s binding rule, how should that shape the way believers test teachings, methods, and popular trends? [15:03]

Application questions

Where is the greatest temptation right now to lean on personal strength—health, ability, experience, discipline, emotions, or religious effort? What begins to happen when that strength is treated as enough? [05:10]
Waiting upon the Lord means looking away from self to God in Christ. In this season, what does that look like in a practical way in prayer, in temptation, or in discouragement? [13:11]
Some mouths are barely open before God, expecting very little. Have expectations in prayer grown small? What would it look like to ask God for larger things with childlike trust? [22:38]
Faith does not dig up the seed every day to see whether it has grown. Where is impatience showing up most clearly right now? Is there a place where there has been fretting, forcing, or rushing ahead of the Lord? [28:35]
Even faithful saints can drop from Carmel to fear, from zeal to exhaustion. When weakness comes, is the first instinct to hide it, fight it alone, or bring it honestly to the Lord for renewed strength? [33:20]
Renewed strength comes through waiting still: feeding on Christ, resting in him, seeking him in prayer, and yielding afresh to him. Which of those has been most neglected, and which seems most needed now? [44:50]
The gospel is good to live upon and good to die upon. Is there a settled confidence in Christ alone, or is there still some secret reliance on personal goodness, effort, or spiritual performance? [52:50]

Sermon Clips

But the glorious Lord is just as ready to make more. He is still the same forever and ever. In your dire necessity, you may draw largely upon him, but you cannot exhaust him. You may bring your boundless wants and have them all supplied, but you shall no more diminish his all sufficiency than when an infant dips his cup into the sea and leaves the sea brimming over upon 10,000 leagues of shore. [00:08:24]

I am always sorry when in order to promote a revival, false doctrine is preached. I will preach no false doctrine if I know it. No, not to save the world. Of this I am assured that if the truth will not save a man, a lie will not. If the bare unaltered truth of God will not break a man's heart, then it certainly will not break when it is rounded and toned down and made to look pretty so as to suit the prevailing taste. [00:16:48]

You may go through the world ranting and raving, or you may go arguing and discussing, but you cannot touch a dead heart to make it alive, either by excitement or by philosophy. You cannot breathe into the nostrils of a dead soul the life eternal. Though your winds should blow hot with fanaticism or chill with rationalism, spiritual life can only come in God's way. [00:20:20]

What a sweet thing is the calm leisure of faith. He that believeth shall not make haste. Fret and worry, hurry and haste are all slain by the hand of faith. God has plenty of time. Nay, he fills eternity, and therefore he can bear with man's waywardness with much long suffering. You and I are in feverish haste. But when we get to be linked with God, we also can wait, even as God waiteth to be gracious and hath patient compassion upon men. [00:31:01]

You are weakness itself. But if you are united to the divine strength, you shall be infinitely strong. The cipher is nothing, but with a unit before it, it becomes 10. A man is nothing, but with God in him, he makes hell tremble. [00:10:11]

A church such as a church ought to be consists of men who depend upon the Lord alone. For waiting signifies dependence. Their hope is in God. They rest in God's righteousness as their righteousness and they receive the great sacrifice provided by God to be their atonement and their acceptance. No man is really a Christian who finds his hope and confidence within himself. He must be looking out of himself to God in Christ Jesus. [00:12:45]

Let every man know therefore that whatever his strength may be of body, mind, or spirit, if it be his own, it will fail him one day. Let him see to it therefore that he does not trust it, especially that he does not trust it with eternal hazards or rest upon it for his soul's safety, for which it never can be equal. [00:05:10]

The point I have to do with is this. What does God say? What does his word say? Within the covers of the Bible, you find all theology. Nothing outside of this book is binding on a Christian man as doctrine in the least degree. Whatever. The Bible and the Bible alone is the faith of Christians. To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. [00:15:00]

Many in these days think that we want a great deal besides the spirit of God. But they are in error. They think that the world is not to be converted and men saved in the old-fashioned way of preaching the word of God with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. But let me assure you that it is to be converted in that way and in no other. [00:19:42]

So far as even spiritual strength is of the man himself, so far as you can conceive of it, apart from the immediate operation of the Holy Ghost, it also cannot be depended on. The most devout may grow lukewarm. The strongest believer may doubt, the most sanctified may backslide. It is a heavenly strength. But so far as it is transfused into our humanity and becomes a part of ourselves, it also may wax weak. Though blessed be God, it can never utterly die. [00:03:18]

Human strength is of many kinds, but in any form it will spend itself in due time. God can lend to men immense physical force. But though a man had the strength of a lion and an ox combined, he would one day fail. The force of flesh must fade like the grass to which it is likened. [00:01:03]

Creatures have their rises and their falls. And to us also there must be times when we need to renew our strength, and we shall renew it. For here the promise comes, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. [00:37:32]

On the other hand, what a contrast there is as to divine strength. That never fails. It seems almost a superfluity to say as much as that. It abides in joyous fullness, never in the least diminished. [00:06:47]

If we can bring these two together, if by an act of faith you that are human can be linked with the divine, what a wondrous thing will happen. Then the sacred words of the text will be fulfilled and your strength will be renewed. [00:09:28]

The three together, dependence, expectation, patience, make up waiting upon the Lord. This patience is to the uttermost desirable in a thousand matters that we may endure affliction, persevere in holiness, continue in hope, and abide in our integrity. [00:26:05]

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