“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
When God created the earth, He didn’t make a single thing to stand on its own two feet forever. Not an insect, not a bird, not a beast of the field, or a plant was designed to be self-sufficient. Every living thing has a hunger that must be satisfied, a need to be made new and whole again day after day.
In Psalm 104, David wrote, “When you give them your breath, life is created, and you renew the face of the earth.”
Even the mightiest of trees, though they never work a day or know a moment’s worry, still have to drink the rain and pull their life from the dark earth. Our lives are no different. We wouldn’t dream of going days without a meal to keep our bodies upright, and yet we often take long, exhausting journeys on an empty, parched spirit.
Feeding the Soul
We must consistently feed our souls by:
Opening the Word for ourselves.
Hearing the truth preached from the pulpit.
Bowing our hearts in prayer.
In doing these things, we are sitting down at the feet of Jesus and consuming the spiritual food that sustains us.
The Visible Toll of Spiritual Poverty
Spiritual poverty shows on us, too. It’s not hard to tell when someone has been skipping out on the Word of God and communion with Him in prayer. Their grace begins to look skeletal and their mercy starved.
If we think our faith can thrive without drinking of the spiritual rain or pulling nourishment from His Word, then we are suffering from the starving man’s delusion. If God is truly the author of our faith, then our souls will yearn for Him like a thirsty flower waits for the morning dew and leans toward the life-giving sun.
What is at Stake?
Without constant restoration, we are not prepared for what life throws at us—whether it is the fiery darts of Satan, the hurricane seasons of life God uses to grow us, or just the daily grind.
When the tropical winds sweep across the coast, woe to the tree that hasn’t been drinking deeply or anchored its roots in solid ground. If we let our faith go hungry and our character grow weak, we are just making room for the old, selfish ways to move back in and take control. And when sin takes full root in us again, we will find ourselves languishing in a deep pit of regret.
A Return to Mercy
But thank God we do not have to live out our lives in that miserable place. God is constantly offering His hand to pull us out of that darkness and return us to His mercy at the foot of the cross.
For in Him we live and move and have our being. (Acts 17:28)
