Isaiah 40:28–31
They Shall Renew Their Strength
The big idea
The God who does not get tired gives strength to people who do — and the promise is addressed to the exhausted, not the strong.
Context you need before you preach it
Isaiah 40 opens the section addressed to a people in exile: "comfort my people". These are not the confident. They are a defeated, displaced community wondering whether God has noticed.
The chapter builds an argument from God's incomparability — nations like a drop in a bucket, rulers brought to nothing — and then lands it, unexpectedly, on personal fatigue.
The outline
The God who does not grow weary
v. 28Everlasting, creator, unsearchable. The argument is cosmic before it becomes personal.
He gives power to the faint
v. 29The transfer runs from the one who never tires to those who have nothing left.
Even the young collapse
v. 30The text pre-empts the objection. Youth and natural strength are not exempt — everyone runs out.
Those who wait will renew
v. 31The order is descending — mount up, run, walk. Not a crescendo. The final promise is the ability to keep walking, which is the hardest thing.
Application
- The promise is conditional on waiting, which is the one thing exhausted people are worst at.
- Notice the descending order in verse 31. Walking without fainting is presented as the climax, not the consolation prize.
- Fatigue is not a spiritual failure; the text assumes it as universal.
Where preachers go wrong on this text
- Preaching verse 31 as an energy promise, as though waiting on God removes tiredness. The exile did not end that week.
- Missing the descending order and preaching it as escalating triumph, which reverses the text.
- Detaching it from the exile setting, which is what makes it credible to people in a long hard season.
Other ways to structure it
The outline above is one defensible reading, not the only one. If it does not fit the congregation in front of you, these are legitimate alternatives:
- Preach the whole of chapter 40, letting the cosmic argument build to the personal promise.
- Preach it specifically to burned-out ministry workers, paired with 1 Kings 19.
- Preach the descending order in verse 31 as the entire structure.
Illustrations that fit this text
Frequently asked questions
What does "wait on the Lord" actually mean?
The Hebrew carries the sense of expectant hoping and of being bound to something, closer to active dependence than to passive delay. It is not doing nothing; it is stopping the attempt to generate your own strength.
You have preached this passage before
Probably more than once, and the earlier version had a line in it you would want back. Transcribe your sermons and every text you have ever preached becomes searchable by reference — $19/month for as many as you preach, and the first one is free.
More from Isaiah
Preaching resources for Isaiah — themes, famous chapters, and background for the whole book.
Preach it alongside
Matthew 11:28–30
Come to Me, All Who Labor
Psalm 34
Taste and See
2 Corinthians 12:7–10
My Grace Is Sufficient