Last night I scrolled through Facebook and saw that a friend had posted a “What bible verse best describes you” quiz. I don’t normally get hooked onto these online quizzes, but this one caught my attention. Okay, I must confess the last quiz I took was the “How Southern are you quiz, which I am proud to admit I am 95% Southern!
After answering the ten quiz questions I was told the bible verse that best describes me is Isaiah 40:31. I sat on the edge of the bed frozen to this verse:
“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on the wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.”
Isaiah 40:31
Delight and disbelief swept over me. For the past week I have been meditating of this very verse! How cool is God! More than once, I have called my friend and explained the impact of this verse and the concept of gears of grace. Isaiah 40:31 is a verse I am very familiar with, in fact it is the theme verse for my children’s school. But this week this verse has taken on a whole new meaning.
I have been listening to an online sermon series by Philip De Courcy titled Down but not out In this message he explains that Isaiah 40:31 shows us God’s 3 gears of grace.
Gear 1: Soar
Gear 2: Run
Gear 3: Walk
In Isaiah 40:31 we see where we sometimes operate in different gears of life: soaring, running, or walking. Alan Carr on his website sermonnotebook.org, explains in detail the three gears of grace. To summarize:sermonnotebook.org
Grace to Soar: A time when we feel defeated, worn out, or when we are in a crises.
Grace to Run: A time to run when the challenges are many or perhaps in a busy season of life.
Grace to Walk: A time to, as Philip De Courcy says, “hunker down in the hum-drum of life.” Grace to walk refers to the day-after-day mundane demands of life.
In Warren Wiersbe’s Commentary of the book of Isaiah, he explains that to “hope” in the Lord also means to “wait” upon the Lord. But it does not mean we should sit around and do nothing. Rather it means we meditate on His character and His promises, praying, and seeking to glorify Him. He also explains that “renew” means to exchange our weakness for God’s power.
Earlier this year, I felt as if we were exchanging problem-after-problem. During that time, I felt as if I was not walking, but plodding along with my head held low. But God continued to issue out grace-upon-grace (John 1:14-16) with each problem-upon-problem. I was able to exchange my weariness for His strength!
I don’t know what gear you are currently operating, but I can tell you that God’s grace is sufficient in any gear of life (2 Corinthians 12:9). Not only does God give sufficient grace, and grace-upon-grace, but He gives us more grace! (James 4:6)
God gives us the ability to operate three gears of grace. “As we wait upon the Lord, He enables us not only to fly higher and run faster, but also to walk longer.”- Warren Wiersbe “Be Comforted” page 133.
~April
“May you and I be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.” Romans 1:12
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