A Walk Through Isaiah 35:3–4
When I read Isaiah 35, it feels like stepping into a promise so bright it almost hurts your eyes. Deserts blossom, the parched ground sings, the ransomed of the Lord come home “with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads” (Isaiah 35:10). It’s a chapter soaked in hope—especially for people living in dry seasons, dark headlines, and weary hearts.
But right in the middle of all these beautiful promises, God pauses and gives His people three simple, practical assignments. It’s as if He says, “Yes, I will bring everlasting joy. Yes, I will make all things new. But while you’re waiting, here is what I want you to be busy doing.”
Those three calls are tucked into verses 3 and 4:
“Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.
Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not:
behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.” (Isaiah 35:3–4)
It’s a beautiful picture. God promises joy, but He also hands us a quiet, everyday ministry: strengthen, steady, and speak courage.
- Strengthen Those Who Are Weak
“Strengthen ye the weak hands…” (Isaiah 35:3)
You’ve probably heard someone say, “Well, you know the Bible says God helps those who help themselves.” But that’s not actually what the Bible says. In fact, Scripture shows us again and again that God’s heart leans toward those who can’t help themselves—the poor, the oppressed, the broken, the cast aside. And as His people, we’re called to have the same bent.
Weak hands show up all around us, if we’re paying attention. They sound like:
“I don’t know how much more I can take.”
“I’m at the end of my rope.”
“I can’t do this any longer.”
Some of those voices belong to people we barely know—a tired cashier, a frazzled teacher, a silent church member who slips in and out. Others are much closer: a spouse who’s stretched thin, a child who’s discouraged, a friend who keeps saying, “I’m fine,” but their eyes tell a different story.
I think it’s interesting that God doesn’t say, “Fix everything for them.” He says, “Strengthen the weak hands.” That might be a listening ear, a prayer texted at just the right time, a meal dropped off, a Scripture shared gently and not as a lecture. Sometimes it’s simply being present long enough for someone to feel they’re not carrying the load alone.
Years ago, in an interview after the events of 9/11, President George W. Bush was asked where he found strength during those difficult days. He said he found strength in prayer, and in knowing others were praying for him. He also spoke of the steadying influence of his wife, Laura—that she calmed and comforted him as he faced big decisions. Laura, in turn, said that while he acted as if she steadied him, the truth was that he steadied her.
That’s how it’s meant to work in the body of Christ. Strength flowing back and forth. We steady one another, and together we lean on the Lord.
You don’t have to be a spiritual giant to strengthen someone; you just have to care. You have to care enough to say, “I see you’re tired. Let me stand with you for a bit.” It’s not about creating permanent dependence, where you solve every problem and carry every burden. That only keeps people weak. But there are moments when someone truly can’t hold on alone—and God calls us to step in and share their weight.
When you strengthen others, you don’t end up emptier—you end up fuller. Solomon wrote, “The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself” (Proverbs 11:25).
Do you long for deeper joy? Start here. Look for the weak hands God has placed in your circle, and ask Him how you can strengthen them.
- Support Those Who Fall
“…confirm the feeble knees.” (Isaiah 35:3)
If hands speak of what we do, knees speak of how we stand. To “confirm the feeble knees” means to steady, brace, and support those who are just about to go down—under fear, sorrow, guilt, or exhaustion. The picture is of someone whose legs are trembling, about to buckle. And God says, in essence, “Get underneath them. Hold them up. Let them know they aren’t alone.”
Every one of us has had seasons when our knees spiritually wobble. We’re tired of fighting the same temptation. We’re discouraged by the lack of visible progress. We’ve prayed and waited and prayed again, and we’re starting to wonder if it’s worth standing at all.
There’s a harsh saying I’ve heard more than once: “The Christian army is the only army that shoots its wounded.” Sadly, there are times when that has been true—when someone fell, and instead of being met with tears and prayer and patient love, they were met with gossip, criticism, or cold distance.
But God calls us to something very different.
“A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” (Proverbs 17:17)
Job, in his own deep distress, said, “To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friend…” (Job 6:14).
Even when someone has made a terrible decision, even when they’ve run from the light they knew—those are the moments they need wise, faithful friends the most. Not friends who excuse sin or pretend it’s nothing. But friends who refuse to walk away; who hold on in prayer; who speak truth with tears, not with arrogance.
Supporting those who fall doesn’t mean we lower God’s standard. It means we come alongside fallen people with the same spirit Jesus showed—a mix of grace and truth. We don’t celebrate failure or gossip about it; we quietly stand near, ready to help them rise again.
And again, there’s joy on the other side of this kind of ministry. When you help steady someone’s shaking knees, you are doing the work of God Himself. And somehow, in the mystery of grace, your own knees grow stronger too.
- Speak Courage to Fearful Hearts
“Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not:
behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.” (Isaiah 35:4)
Now we move from hands and knees to the heart itself.
I’ve known people in all kinds of trouble—marriage unraveling, finances collapsing, legal messes, health crises, spiritual battles that feel like they’ll never end. And yet I can honestly say: I’ve never met a situation that was beyond God’s power to reach. Complicated? Yes. Painful? Very. But beyond His ability to save? Never.
The problem is, when fear settles in, it doesn’t just attack our circumstances; it attacks our hope. It whispers, “This will never change. God won’t come through for you this time.”
That’s why God doesn’t just say, “Strengthen” and “Confirm.” He also says, “Say…” Use your words. Aim them at fearful hearts.
There are two things I’ve noticed about encouragers:
#1. There aren’t that many of them, and…
#2. The few who show up at the right time can change the direction of a life.
Doomsday voices are everywhere. It’s easy to find someone who will tell you why your situation is hopeless, why you should cut your losses, walk away, give up. If your business is struggling, some will tell you to bail while you can. If your marriage is strained, others will nudge you toward escape instead of healing. If you’ve failed, there will always be someone ready to say, “See? You should quit.”
But that’s not the voice God asks us to be.
He says, “Say to them that are of a fearful heart…” In other words, don’t ignore the person who’s afraid. Don’t just pat them on the head and change the subject. Speak to the fear. Speak into it with the words of God: “Be strong, fear not… he will come and save you.”
That doesn’t mean we offer shallow, sugar-coated lines—“Just think positive and everything will be fine.” Real encouragement is honest about the storm but even more anchored in the Saviour. It sounds like: “What you’re facing is hard. I don’t have all the answers. But I know God hasn’t abandoned you. Don’t give up. Don’t let fear be the final word. Let’s bring this to Him again—He will be faithful to His promises.”
Sometimes a single sentence, quietly spoken at the right moment, becomes a turning point for someone. And again, as you encourage others, something beautiful happens: your own faith is strengthened, your own joy deepens. The very words you speak to lift someone else start preaching back to your own heart.
Living Between the Promise and the Fulfillment
There are so many things we can’t control. Nations rise and fall. Economies swing. Policies change. Health shifts. The future, with all its twists and turns, rests in God’s hands, not ours. And for believers looking toward Christ’s soon return, there are times when the waiting feels long and the path feels dry.
Isaiah 35 is God’s reminder that He will finish what He began. The desert will bloom. The redeemed will come home with “everlasting joy upon their heads.” Sorrow and sighing will flee away.
But until that day, we’re not called to sit on our hands and count headlines. We’re called to quietly, faithfully live out these three simple assignments:
Strengthen those who are weak.
Support those who fall.
Speak courage to fearful hearts.
This is His work—and, by His grace, it’s our work too. Our ministry in the ordinary days, in the in-between. And woven into that work is a promise: as we pour out, He will pour in. As we lift others, He will fill us with the very joy Isaiah 35 talks about—a joy that doesn’t depend on circumstances, because it’s rooted in the God who “will come and save you.”
As you dig into today’s Study Notes, remember: “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth… for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous” (Joshua 1:8). If you’d like practical help to keep Scripture alive…
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Star for the Journey 
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