It is noteworthy that in the section of which our first text is the
centre, there is no mention of the divine Name, and even the well-known
title, 'the Holy One of Israel,' is truncated, so as to leave out
reference to the people of Revelation; whereas in this section He is
not only designated as God and Creator, but as Jehovah, the God who has
made a covenant with Israel, and made known His will and to some extent
His nature. The distinct climax in the divine Names itself implies a
nobler relation to men, and a clearer revelation than was declared in
the former part of this prophecy. It is the fitting preparation for the
loftier and infinitely more tender and touching aspect of the divine
nature which shines with lambent, inviting lustre within the sphere of
Revelation.
The distinctive glory of the long process of God's self-manifestation
to Israel is that, while it emphasises all that nature and history
affirm of Him, it sets Him forth as restoring the weak, as well as
sustaining the strong. The sad contrast between the untroubled and
unwearied strength of the calm heavens and the soon-exhausted strength
of struggling and often beaten men strikes the poet prophet's sensitive
soul. He did not know, what modern astronomy teaches us, that change,
convulsions, ruin, are not confined to earth, but that stars as well as
men faint and fail, dwindle and die. The scriptural view of Nature is
not that of the scientist, but that of the poet and of the devout man.
It lies quite apart from the scientific attitude, and has as good a
right to exist as it has. The contrast of heaven and earth is for the
prophet the contrast of strength with weakness, of joyful harmony with
moral disorder, of punctual, entire obedience with rebellion and the
clash of multitudes of anarchic self-willed men.
But there is a sadder contrast still--namely, that between God and the
wretched weaklings that men have made of themselves. 'He fainteth not,
neither is weary.' Strange anomaly that in His universe there should be
the faint and 'them that have no might'! The only explanation of such
an exception to the order of Creation is that men have broken loose
from Creation's dependence on God, and that therefore the inflow of
sustaining strength has been checked. In other words, man's weakness
comes from man's sin.
Hence to restore strength to those whose power has been drained away by
sin is God's divinest work. It is more to restore than to sustain. It
takes less energy to keep a weight stationary at a height than to roll
it up again if it falls to the bottom. Since sin is the cause of our
weakness, the first step to deliver from the weakness is to deliver
from the sin. If we are ever to be restored, hearts, consciences,
averted wills must be dealt with--and but One Hand can deal with these.
And not only does God outdo all His mightiest works in the work of
restoring strength to the faint, but He crowns that restoration by
making the restored weakling like Himself. 'He fainteth not, neither is
weary.' They, too, 'shall ran and not be weary, they shall walk and not
faint.' In the long drawn out grind of monotonous marching along the
common path of daily small duties and uneventful life, they shall not
faint; in the rare occasional spurts, occurring in every man's
experience, when extraordinary tax is laid on heart and limbs, they
shall not be weary. And they will be able both to walk and to run,
because they soar on wings as eagles. And they do all because they wait
on the Lord. Communion with Him buoys us above this low earth, and
bears us up into the heavenly places, and, living there, we shall be
fit for the slow hours of commonplace plodding and for the crowded
moments of great crises.