28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. 29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 31 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 40:28-31
As a "Baby Boomer" education was emphasized when I was a child. There was a great deal of importance placed on the "three R's": Reading, (w)Riting, and (A)Rithmatic. Today these would be considered our "core" subjects. It was in English class that we learned how to spell; not just write, but construct and diagram sentences using subject verb agreement. We also learned the significance of punctuation. This is where I want to draw your attention today.
The punctuation assigned to a sentence speaks volumes to not only what was just written (or said), but also to the emotion or feelings of the author. For example, if the sentence prior ended in a question mark (?), this means the author is either looking for a response from the reader (or listener) or he has some doubt as to what he just wrote.
If the sentence ended with an exclamation point (!), this meant that the writer or author wanted to inject some emotion or feeling, or send a message to the reader that what they just read was significant! Of course, the comma, colon or semi-colon could never be used to end a sentence because all three of them indicate that the previous group of words are not a complete thought.
The text referenced today displays the miracle of the Word of God, as well as the thoroughness of our Lord. Isaiah is the recognized author of this prophetic book. He begins this scripture text with a question: he asks his audience if they (1) know about God, (2) if they have heard about God and (3) if the readers knew that God was the creator and He never faints or gets tired. Notice all of these statements are presented in the form of a question (a question mark concludes these words). However, the author makes the following statements. First of all, there is no way to measure His understanding. Secondly, He gives power to weak people and strength to powerless people. The prophet goes on to say youths will become weak and tired and young men will definitely fall. All of these statements end in periods.
Then the prophet concludes with the following words: those that wait on God, He will give them new strength, they will fly as if they had eagles wings and they will not get tired, and they will never give up. All of these statements end with a period as well. Here's what the Spirit spoke to me. First, there was no question in Isaiah's mind as to who God was and what He could do. Second, not only was there no question, this truth was not anything he needed to get excited about. It is almost as if Isaiah believed God's greatness should be common knowledge. This should be a given – everyone should know about it! As marvelous as breathing is, we just expect to have breath entering and exiting our lungs. Finally, the prophet's words were complete. No need for debate or extra commentary, just except what he said and end the discussion. In other words, put a period behind it.
Friends of mine, God is awesome, He is good, He is in control – put a period behind it. Cease questioning our Lord. When someone doubts Him or challenges your faith, don't become overly excited. We have been saved by grace and God is going to do just what He said. Put a period behind it.
I bless you in the name of the Lord.
Pastor Eddie B Pruitte, Jr.