“The Breath of the Lord”
The voice said, “Cry.” And he said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand forever.” Isaiah 40:6-8 King James Version (KJV)
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength: they shall mount up with wings as eagles: they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31 KJV)
In the first chapter of 2nd Isaiah, we are given these two scriptures, held in juxtaposition to one another. In the first group of verses (Isaish 40:6-8), the fading of the “flesh is grass…surely the people is grass” is because “the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it:” The breath of the Lord is the Holy Spirit of God the Father and God the Son. The picture given in this text is God’s blowing upon fleshly life as this is what causes the aging process to occur and brings this to its completion. This is apparently done by God so that humanity (that is, human beings) do not live forever. “There is a time appointed for a man or a woman to die, but after this the judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27)
Part of God’s plan for a human being (male or female) is that we are given a limited time as part of God’s creation on this earth, whether this be 70 years or longer than seventy (“three score years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” (Psalm 90: verse 10)
Can you imagine what the human family would be like if we were allowed to live forever in our fallen human state? Fortunately, our merciful, compassionate LORD has had compassion on us by limiting the ability of our human pride to seek to live forever! (CF Romans 8:11-17) However, in Christ, we are promised the “resurrection into life,” once by dying in Christ as we die to the old sin nature so that we can live unto Christ by baptism into Christ! The atonement (propitiation, of Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection) has won for us a “new day’ (“in Christ, a new creation of God”). “Behold the old has passed away, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Those persons in Christ are part of the new creation of God!
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength: they shall mount up with wings as eagles they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31 KJV)
Having recently experienced one of the closest to near death experiences from a systemic illness that attacked my whole body, I have now known the depths of fatigue and “tiredness of body” that left me wasted in body, mind and spirit. Only recently have I become able to walk again. For a time, I was too weak to place myself in bed and slept on a hospital bed in the home near to our bedroom, so that my wife, Dorothy, could hear me if I developed any distress. This overall weakness and extreme fatigue have pushed me to search the scriptures for means of self-renewal to supplement the physical therapy, exercises and other medical advice given over the past six months. An embolic stroke affecting my left side has taken time for recovery. Thanks be to God, I can type this small meditation, albeit slowly.
The most important question in this passage for any who wish to “claim its promises” is this: What does it mean to “wait upon the Lord?” “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength:” (Isaiah 40:31KJV)
One interpretation of the Hebrew word for “wait upon’ or as in the NIV “hope in” means originally to “bind up with.” By this interpretation (Hadassah Treu, Koinonia) “this means we make a deliberate choice to bind up with the Lord, to fasten ourselves to Him as the greatest source of strength and the source of all our blessings.” (October 17, 2022)
I have discovered the meaning of this promise in this way. By reading a short passage of the Holy Scriptures of the Old or New Testament and by meditating in prayer on this passage, inviting God in Christ to illuminate my mind and my heart (my spirit) by the Holy Spirit, often this leads me into a time of worship and “rest in the Lord” “bind up with” which leads into (for me) a time of intercessory prayer, in which I find that I am praying for the church of Christ across the world, the Lord directing the prayers. And so, with God the Holy Spirit guiding my spirit in prayer for God’s people and purpose around the world, (“thy kingdom come, thy will be done”-the Lord’s Prayer) , I find myself communing with and entering into God’s heart of love and God’s own concerns for the people of the world and God’s church across the globe, so that I am being carried along by the Holy Spirit of Christ to intercede in prayer for what God the Father deems to occur in the world, in this particular moment and future of the present “now” (“Kairos time”), in such a way as I find myself being carried along in “the river of God,” which proceeds from God’s throne. The drier the places, the deeper the river of God (see Ezekiel 47:5 and the Revelation 22:1) which brings the water of life wherever it flows.
In this time of “waiting upon the Lord,” by giving the very thing I need, I am being continually blessed, healed, renewed, redeemed and saved simply be being in the Lord’s presence and allowing this river of God to flow through me as God waters the driest and most needy places in this world. The deepest water of God’s River is found in the driest places, the neediest places on this planet. Do not be afraid to pray for your enemies (that is the enemies of God’s kingdom.) Do not be afraid to pray for the most wicked and darkest places on this planet, for in doing so, in Christ’s Spirit, we bind up and tear down the principalities and powers of darkness which seek to subvert Christ’s rule and reign on this earth (see Ephesians 3:10 and 6:12, see also Romans 8:38,39 and I John 4:4 , The Revelation 12:11) It is better to do this type of “warfare Intercession” as part of a larger group of intercessors (as Rees Howells in England during WWII- with 100 intercessors who brought down Hitler to protect the orphans under his care), see Rees Howells Intercessor (Thriftbooks.com).
Truly, truly “waiting upon the Lord”, seeking the Lord Christ through the Holy Scriptures in and with the assistance of the Blessed Holy Spirit of God the Father and God the Son who intercedes for us, is one of the most liberating experiences of the love of our God, remembering always this is God’s work, not ours and we are nothing in ourselves, but in Christ we become “mighty through God” as we participate in God’s will and work for the glory and praise of our Redeemer, Savior and our Friend, even Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom be all glory and praise forever, world without end. Amen and Amen!
Bill Wilson, servant of God by God’s abundant grace and mercies, in Jesus Christ our Lord!
“Amen!” We praise you, Lord Jesus Christ!”
Let all of God’s people say, “Amen! We praise you, Lord Jesus Christ!”
Modern Stories of the Way 