On Eagle’s Wings

Isaiah 40:28-30 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable, He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.

As I have written this passage, I sit and think; “What more can I say”? Of course the answer is, “Nothing”. This is God’s word; it stands alone and speaks for itself. But… with that word written on my heart, I must unwrap and un-package the nuances of it.

First of all, do we understand that God is the Creator? We and this world are not just “random chance” happenings. We were created in His image, to worship Him and for His purposes. Do we understand that He does not grow weary or tired? On the other hand, I grow weary and tired because I am not God. Yet, He gives strength to the weary… me. The “normal male” has strength and vigor, yet because of the limitations of that manhood, he will become both weary and tired. That’s why we have to sleep, that’s why we have to eat. God does not do either and we loose our strength, we stumble.

We have just had a Mini-Marathon (13.1 miles) in Indianapolis, Indiana, setting off the month of May and the Indianapolis 500 Race. Though people train for the event some will stumble because of lack nutrition or lack of water. Others may stumble because of unevenness of the road.

On our spiritual journey, we will also stumble and grow weary. There will be something in the road that will make us detour or make us slow down or take us off our pace. Then we will have to refocus and get our pace back in order to continue our race. Maybe we stubbed our toe and will continue the race, but in pain. We may grow weary because we see others going around us, bettering their position. We may grow weary because we have not trained well enough. Maybe the weather is hotter than we would like and the heat is taking energy and nutrition out of us faster than we expected.

That’s where the second part starts. Yet those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. There will be times in your spiritual journey when you need to wait. And for most that have been running well, you will have difficulty. The phrase will be on your tongue over and over again, “But I… but I… but I”. But I was doing so well… but I was doing Your will… but I thought….

Maybe you stumbled; maybe you didn’t take in proper nutrition, God’s Word. May it wasn’t even something “you did”. But, it is a time to refocus, rethink, reconnect and recommit. And for sure, it is a time to wait upon the Lord.

Because He wants you to “mount up on wings like eagles”, and that brings me to part three. What does that mean? Back to my nature stories; most of the time when you see nature stories about eagles, you see them perched on a branch of a tall tree or soaring in the sky. Sometimes you see them swooping down on a lake to catch a fish and then fly off somewhere to eat their dinner.

When they are sitting in a tree or their nest, what are they waiting for? Or, for what are they waiting? I think God has created them with a sense that few other birds have. I think that is a sense of “being”; knowing who they are, knowing why they were created and knowing their purpose. That may be a stretch for some to grasp, because we are told that animals don’t sense of feel or think, they just have instincts. But I think there is a lot we don’t know. They don’t have big ears sticking up on the sides of their heads, yet I’m sure they have ears. To spot a fish swimming in a lake from a hundred feet in the air and then maintain that vision until it has the fish in its talon’s, is also an amazing fete. Waiting on a branch of a large tree is for the air current to be right. A few flaps of the wings and the eagle can soar for hours. Why? Because he waited for the wind to be right, then the natural design of the wings will carry aloft a large bird.

Another aspect of the eagle’s wings is that at a point in their development, the feathers will regenerate. At this point, the eagle can not fly. The old feathers fall out and the new ones grow in, but they are not fully developed or mature. So the eagle has to wait.

Does this bird think highly of itself for all the great and wonderful things it can accomplish? No. As one of God’s creatures it simple does what it is designed to do. It is designed to make people look and wonder, to look and wonder… what makes this bird so majestic? What makes this bird so regal? And conversely, what about the sparrow, seemingly one of God’s simple birds, what makes it so special? They both point us to Him, both are mentioned in scripture and God takes care of them both. God uses both in His great plan.

The analogy is this; our waiting is for the purpose of the Spirit of God to be the One who lifts us up. The word for spirit is wind. When God’s Spirit lifts us, we will not struggle, but soar on His wings, His wind. But… we must wait. The analogy may goes like this; You have been do exactly what the Lord has been asking, and now for no apparent reason, you find yourself, as it were, sitting with nothing to do. You wait, you pray, you read, you study, yet nothing happens. Has the Lord forgotten me? Am I being punished? Am I done? The last thing us humans want to do is wait… but we must. We must wait for His Spirit to uplift us and energize us.

Following the Shepherd,
Ron
May 6, 2009