PEA RIDGE — “They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagle’s, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
This passage from the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah 40:31, reminds us that there is a constant and ongoing renewal of the spirit in the lives of those who trust in the Lord, and who yield their hearts to the inspirations of God’s spirit. How greatly I believe people of our time would profit if rather than relying on perpetual excitements, energy drinks and stimulants to feel more alive, they instead attach themselves to the renewing energies of God’s purposes, the lifegiving fellowship of Jesus Christ our Savior, and to the vital hope which is continually stirred in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
Every day we have experience of things that wear away at us, using up our energy of body, draining our emotional resources, tempting us to become resigned and discouraged, to give in to cynicism and negativism. In reading the Bible, especially the letters of the apostle Paul in the New Testament, I have always been impressed with his optimism, with his enduring expectancy toward God’s help to be experienced in every need.
Especially, I am impressed that his outlook in these things came not out of a favored and easy life, but out of a life faced with challenges, reverses, problems, oppositions and even determined persecutions. I’m looking at 2 Corinthians 4:16 as just one example of that outlook: ”So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day.”
Several years ago, Dr.
Norman Vincent Peale made a momentous impression on his generation through his book, “The Power of Positive Thinking.” Frankly, I have never been hugely impressed with that title, but at least the title points to a high value and a high potential to be found in a positive expectancy and a hopefilled outlook based in trusting God and living responsively to the will and purpose of the Lord. The Christian life is a renewing life. The walk with Jesus is a rejuvenating walk. Life in the spirit is an experience of life that wells up from within the heart of faith, awakening us to the blessing of eternal life, arousing us to new appreciation of our blessings, to a more perceptive experience of joys in the Lord’s fellowship, moving us to live thankfully and thoughtfully.
A month ago, as I went over the pastures on our farm, everywhere I was seeing the lifeless brown of dying plants suffering from the season’s heat and drought. Today, as I look over the same pastures, everywhere I see green; with the pasture grasses coming out again and the hay crop seeming to promise a cutting of hay before the onset of fall. The earth has a way of being renewed. What a difference is made by a few slow, soaking rains! Amonth or so ago, it would seem natural to be thinking that everything is against us, everything is drying up, everything is going from bad to worse! Yet, even back then, some were thinking, we’ve seen it bad before, and it got better.
We’ve seen it dry before, and the rains eventually came. We’ve seen nature around us wasting away;
but it came back. It was renewed. Which way of thinking is the correct way?
Which is the better? Which makes better use of the opportunities opening up?
Which best responds to the developing potentials when they appear? Which more fully enjoys the renewal when it comes?
Should we as Christians not draw on this sense of being renewed daily in the spirit of Christ even as we live through times of economic difficulty? One of the factors which perpetuates recessions has been called “consumer confidence,” or the lack of such.
This is the idea that negative expectations tend to create the conditions which fulfill and perpetuate those very negative expectations. Economies grow not just out of presidential initiatives or out of governmental policies, but out of expectant economic activity on the part of the people who make up the economy.
Creative initiatives on the part of the ordinary people are important too. It is not just the rich and powerful who drive economic vitality, it is the energy and the creativity and the participation of the everyday workers and consumers, and of the ordinary families across the country. Without that grassroots creativity and expectancy, the wealthy may just sit on their wealth, and nothing really happens.
They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. It is an expectancy to live by. It is an attitude which equips for success, both now and eternally. We do not lose heart in this walk with Christ.
Our inner nature is being renewed every day. Like a spring in a dry and thirsty land, the life of Jesus manifests itself in the inward person, awakening new expectancy, empowering new purpose, inspiring the heart to high endeavors in the Lord, instilling in the heart a sense of fulfilment and joy in the Lord.
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Editor’s note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge, is an award-winning columnist, a retired Methodist minister with a passion for history. He is vice president of the Pea Ridge Historical Society. He can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected], or call 621-1621.
News, Pages 2 on 09/26/2012