"He Shares What He Has"
Our God doesn't just have power, He shares His power.
intervening century and a half;
we wake, so to speak, on the far side of the disaster, impatient for the end of captivity.
In chs. 40–48 liberation is in the air;
Yahveh is willing and able to dispel the cloud of uncertainty, weakness, and disorientation hanging over his people.
he is too great to fail (28)
But vs 29–31 make the big transition from power exercised to power imparted
hope (or ‘wait’
clears the way for trust and the transcending of natural resources
The phrase renew their strength (31) is (lit.) ‘change strength’, as one might change into fresh clothes or exchange an old thing for a new.
In this verse the prophet asks two more rhetorical questions, the same ones he used at the beginning of verse 21.
The LORD is the everlasting God
He is not limited by time.
The Creator of the ends of the earth
He is also not limited by space
He does not faint or grow weary
infinite patience and strength. The prophet is responding to the people’s complaint that God has abandoned them. God will never tire of helping them; he will never abandon them. The Hebrew verb rendered faint does not refer to falling unconscious, but to growing weak and tired.
Both these verbs are in the imperfect form in Hebrew, which indicates that God never gets tired or weary. These verbs reappear in verses 30–31, where they are applied to humans. Through this repetition God’s inexhaustible strength is contrasted with human weariness.
deficiency of inner resources cannot limit him
The string of attributes of the Lord—eternity, omnipresence, untiring strength, wisdom (28)—continues in the opening Hebrew participle: he is also one who shares his strength, not as a whim or an occasional act but as part of what he is.
It is part of the ‘understanding’ (28) of the unwearying God that he knows our frailty and provides an antidote.
Those who are feeling weak can depend on God to give them new power.
refers to all men and women who have lost energy and vigor. To such people God can give new energy, thereby renewing and revitalizing them.
Thus native strength, whether simply natural or specially cultivated, can fail, but those who hope in the LORD … renew their strength.
40:31
In this verse the prophet emphasizes that Yahweh will strengthen any weary person who relies on him.
Here it refers to physical and psychological strength for the demoralized exiles.
Biblical Hebrew differentiates between waiting as a neutral activity, something to be endured (stem ḥkh Qal and Piel), and waiting with hope and the anticipation of a positive outcome (qvh), which is what is meant here by waiting for Yahveh.