The last four verses of Isaiah 40 may be some of the most encouraging in the Old Testament, but in the last verse we have a surprising order. Speaking of those who put their hope in God and thus will renew their strength, Isaiah says they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
John Ortberg in his book To Walk on Water, You Have to Get Out of the Boat, points out that there we times in our spiritual lives when we, like the eagles, seem to catch that column of warm rising air and just soar. We feel the Spirit of God as the wind beneath our wings and it is good.
However, there are other times when we are moving forward and doing well. We are running, but unlike soaring, running takes effort, exertion and stamina, but with God at our back we do move on without growing weary.
But there are also those times when we look at others who are soaring and we can remember those days, but we wonder what happened to us. We look at those that are running and it seems impossible. About all we can do is just keep walking. And we aren’t even sure about that.
The lesson here is let’s not compare ourselves to others If you are soaring don’t be judgmental of those who are walking. Your day for that will probably come. If you are running don’t berate yourself because you aren’t soaring. If you have slowed to a walk, keep waiting on the Lord, let his power help you not to faint and keep own walking. As my physical therapist tells me as I deal with my MS. Keep on walking even it you have to use a walker.
Isaiah 40:28-31
Why do you say, O Jacob,
and complain, O Israel,
"My way is hidden from the Lord;
my cause is disregarded by my God"?
28Do 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.
29He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
Thanks Tom. Perfect words for a Monday morning getting ready to face the week. I plan to soar like an eagle, and if @ some point I end up walking, I'll choose to be grateful assured of the Fact that God's with me and I'm still moving in HIS direction.
ReplyDeleteRickJ Miami FL
I remember the first time I ever read this passage of scripture and I was perplexed by the order myself, Tom. I also remember how my life as a young Christian felt like it was going in the wrong direction. Wasn't I supposed to get better, stronger more effective....the list grew. As I've had to deal with my own chronic health challenges over the past 20+ years, I saw these verses teach me how true that order is and that it doesn't matter how far or fast I go. Walking is a good steady pace that has taught me more about God being in control than me. I have come to realize that it's just fine to walk and I can keep it up a lot longer (& therefore get a lot further) than soaring or running. I think that's what age, maturity, challenges, limits and aging are meant to teach us as we walk the path of life with God. For me it's been like God personnally teaching me that the way He gets things done is so very different from the way I (& the world) think it's supposed to get done. He can make great things happen no matter how "fast" I can go. This has given me a lot of peace and freedom from the "perfomance trap". It reminds me of the Parable of the Talents and things like the fact that if Paul hadn't been in prison he probably wouldn't have written much of the New Testment!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd then I see clearly that God gets all the glory because it's much clearer to me that I don't!
Love to you & Sheila,
Corene (Vaillancourt)