Faint and Weary

A new-to-us activity this summer has been kayaking. It’s been a good way for us to get up and out of the house together, physically active and enjoying the same activity at the same time. Through unexpected circumstances, we ended up with kayaks for all 4 of us, and even the kids paddle themselves around without much difficulty. One of the first times we went out, we were on a small-ish lake, and in the thrill of it all, one enthusiastic child overestimated her capabilities and stamina and underestimated how far out we had gone. Although we had checked in a few times and reminded her that the time to turn around is always before you’re tired, she insisted that she had SO MUCH ENERGY and wanted to keep going. That lasted until about 30 strokes after we actually turned back, at which point the perceived distance between us and the beach became overwhelming and she realized just how tired she really was. The return trip easily took twice as long as the trip out, and she was truly weary by the time she gained the beach.

Just a day or two after that, I was reading Isaiah 40. This chapter contains some of my favorite verses, and when I need a picture of the grandeur of the Lord, I often turn to this passage. Here it is, after describing the might and gentleness of the Lord, His incomparability and absolute uniqueness, that we are told “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.” How thankful I am that unlike us, who tire after too much time out on a lake, the Lord continues on as He ever has, enduring throughout all ages, sustaining us and the world around us without fail, without shadow, without tremble!