Isaiah 40:21-31

21 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
23 He brings princes to naught
and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
24 No sooner are they planted,
no sooner are they sown,
no sooner do they take root in the ground,
than he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.
25 “To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.
27 Why do you complain, Jacob?
Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

Reflection
Our God is a God of triumph. He knows how frail we are and how quickly we can run out of steam, yet He fills us again and again, so that we can live for Him in greater and greater ways. His power has no end. And it is this same power and strength that He gives abundantly to those that hope in Him. May we truly rely on Him in all that we do, and see His mighty work through us as He fills us time after time so that we can soar on wings, like eagles.

Response
Let’s respond today by bringing all the things that weigh us down before the Lord, asking Him to refresh and revive us again, so that we can run for Him with all that we have and are. He is our hope and our deliverer, and He will meet us exactly where we are.

fueledbyramen:

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Judah Ronch, Dean of UMBC’s Erickson School, offers a pointed letter in today’s New York Times, responding to a report that some retirement communities are segregating their dining facilities based on residents’ required levels of care, sometimes splitting up married couple during meals.

In “It’s About More Than Food,” Ronch writes that although “different regulatory considerations might play into the dining decisions at differing levels of care in a continuing care retirement community…[w]hat’s important is the fact that dining is deeply tied to pleasure, identity and sense of community, and therefore the service being provided is not simply to deliver food. To make a point of segregating people because of their physical or mental condition is to threaten their sense of dignity and identity as a valued member of a community.”