The Praise-Filled LifeSample

The Hope That Energizes

By Michael Youssef, Ph.D.

Have you ever been so discouraged that you could not sleep? Have you ever been so worn out by life’s troubles that you could not rest? Weariness of the soul exhausts us. To those who know this exhaustion, God offers a hope that energizes us:

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint (Isaiah 40:28-31).

The prophet Isaiah told us that those who hope in the Lord have their strength renewed and their energy restored. But how do we acquire this hope?

We become hopeful when we look at what God can do, not at what man has done. Hope wells up in us when we focus on the capabilities of God, not the weakness and inability of man. Hope springs up when we praise God for His perfection—recognizing and acknowledging and trusting in all that he is—rather than giving honor to the feeble attempts and less-than-perfect accomplishments of man.

If you are exhausted at the end of the day, shut yourself in for a while with God. Praise Him with every ounce of energy that remains in you. You will be refreshed, not only mentally and emotionally, but physically. There is a special strength imparted to those who praise the Lord. This kind of strength gives you the power of hope to endure, to persevere, to outlast tough times. It gives you the power to intercede until God gives a breakthrough.

I am 100 percent convinced that the best medicine for spiritual exhaustion is praise.

Prayer: I praise You, Almighty God, for Your energizing power that strengthens me. Where my hope is fading, fill me with Your strength again. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

“It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights” (Psalm 18:32-33).