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I. WHAT MAKES US FAINT?

1. We will consider the case of the awakened sinner.

(1) They may very well faint, for they have made a most alarming discovery.

(2) They have tried to escape from their dangerous position, but they have not succeeded.

(3) We have known some grow so faint through a sense of sin and a dread of its punishment and a consciousness of their own inability to save themselves, that they have even wished to die; yet, when they have looked at their condition aright, they have asked themselves what use death would be to them?

(4) Perhaps also, at such a time, a sore trouble may happen to the man; for, in the parable of the prodigal son, it appears that he was quite as much influenced by the peculiar circumstances without as by his sense of sin within.

2. I pass on to another character, namely, the child of God in his fainting fits. There is a degree of sinfulness about some of those faintings which is not found in others.

(1) Sometimes the children of God faint through want of faith (Psalm 27:13). So the cure of fainting is faith, and the best way to prevent fainting is to believe.

(2) Some are brought into a state of faintness through a selfish want of resignation. e.g., Jonah and the gourd. It was not alone the heat of the sun that caused him to faint; it was also the heat of his temper. Some of those who have lost dear children seem as if they will not forgive God for taking them.

(3) There are children of God also who fall into faintness through trusting in themselves. "Even the youths shall faint," etc. Why is that? Because the youths felt themselves able to do anything.

(4) Faintness may also arise from another cause which is sinful, namely, neglect of prayer.

(5) Children of God fall into faintness because of the length of the way.

(6) The heaviness of their burden.

(7) A sense of weakness.

(8) Another frequent cause is the spirit itself sinking (Psalm 42.).

(9) Some get faint through lack of spiritual food. (10) Sometimes God's children faint when they are in adversity. (11) There are some who faint through increasing infirmity.

II. HOW THE LORD DEALS WITH HIS FAINTING PEOPLE. "He giveth power," etc.

1. See how tenderly the Lord deals with His fainting people. He does not desert them, saying, They are no longer any use to Me; they can do nothing for Me; I will leave them where they are. He gives them power.

2. What sort of power?

(1) You may be sure that He does not give them any of their own. That has all gone from them.

(2) It will be sufficient for the emergency, for He has all-sufficient power. "As thy days," etc.

(3) It is a power that the devil can neither defeat nor take away.

3. Why is it that He gives power to the faint?

(1) Because, in His great goodness, He looks out for those who need it most.

(2) Because they will praise Him most for it.

(3) Because they will be sure to use it. When a person who has been faint receives power from God he will be likely to be sympathetic, tender, and gentle towards others; at least, that is how he should be.Conclusion —

1. If God gives power to the faint, let us be thankful if we have fainted and have been revived by Him.

2. Let us have done with fainting in the future, because we ought to have no more fainting now that we have received God's power.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

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KJV: He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

WEB: He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might.