Hanging and Hoping

"...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."

Isaiah 40:31

Beth Moore helped me understand something today. I think you will all be able to relate to her word picture. Here what she said on the last day of my Breaking Free Bible study:

"When my children were little, if they couldn't get me to stop and play with them, they would hold on to my waist and wrap their legs around one of mine. I'd whistle, go about my business, and say, 'I wonder what [my girls] are doing right now?' They would laugh hysterically. My heart never failed to be overwhelmed with love, because I realized that their favorite game was to hang onto me!"

"To 'hope in the Lord' is to do with God exactly what my children did with me! To wrap ourselves around Him as tightly as we can. Why does Isaiah 40:31 present the concept of binding ourselves to God in context with being weary and faint? Think about the illustration of the game my children and I played. Who did most of the work? I did! what was their part in the game? Binding themselves to me and hanging on tight. Do you see the parallel? When we start feeling weary, like stepping out of the way for awhile, we're probably taking on too much of the battle ourselves.

"You'll never be more beautiful to God than when He can look down and see you hanging on to Him for dear life!"

Isn't that the coolest analogy! I am picturing myself, right now, hanging on to God's legs tightly. My only job is to hold on with all my might--to intertwine myself with Him. His only job is to take care of everything else. I think I have the better deal.

And if I am hanging onto my Lord with both hands, I can't reach out for all the charms this world has to offer. Isaiah 40:31 says if I bind to Him tightly, I will soar with Him freely.

I want to put my hope in Him,

He is so worth hoping in!