Soaring like Eagles for paper Oct 22

One of my favorite verses from the Old Testament comes from Isaiah: “but those who trust 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 40:31

If you are ever burdened with problems that seen overwhelming, or extremely stressed by the situation you are in these words can offer comfort and assurance that God has not forgotten you. We are assured that God 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 trust 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.

The prophet Isaiah was writing during a time, when people felt as if their strength was sapped and they had no hope. They were worried. The news wasn’t good. The dreadful Assyrians were breathing down their necks, and later it would be the Babylonians who would take them away to live in a foreign land. As they thought about all the stuff that was happening around them, they were weighed down and overwhelmed by the seriousness of their situation. Today we also can feel the same way by all that is happening around us on some occasions.

Just a comment on the word that is translated as ‘trust’ in this verse today.  Some translations say, “those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength”.  This waiting implies complete dependence on God and a willingness to admit that there is no other help available to us other than the help that comes from the Lord. The word used here for “wait or trust” has a connection with twisting or plaiting strands together, as happens when making a cord or a rope.  Here we get a sense of the strength that comes from binding things together. So instead of getting all knotted up in our worries, waiting then becomes a time of being bound together with the Lord and strengthened by him. A rope of many strands is much stronger than a single cord by itself.  So also, we are able to withstand so much more when our lives are entwined with the strength of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Since waiting today does not covey this concept modern translations use the word trust.

This renewed strength is described in such a wonderful way as only Isaiah can do it. He says that with the strength and power that only God can give, the boldness that comes from trusting the Lord, the confidence in the face of trouble that comes from faith in Christ, we will rise on wings like the mighty wings of an eagle and soar high above and beyond all that distresses us.

I know I’m not telling you anything new in this article.  You’ve heard concepts like this before and it’s easy to walk away feeling very cozy and comfortable in the love of God.  And that’s nice.  But before we get to that point, let’s face up to the fact, that too often we are more like the people to whom Isaiah was speaking – overcome with stresses and anxieties and problems, and headaches.  The cause of these things might be different, but they are just as real.  We suffer unnecessarily because, like the people of Isaiah’s time, we forget that God knows us better than we know ourselves.  He knows what is happening in our lives; what is happening in our minds; what stresses we are going through.  He says to us today as he did thousands of years ago,

“those who trust in the LORD will renew their strength.” To the weary, he says” they will walk and not be faint”.

It’s like Isaiah wants us to say, “Okay! Okay! I admit it! Being a stress bucket is all my fault because I haven’t let go and let God be the God he says he is and remember the promises he has made to us.  I’ve tried to carry the load all by myself and I can’t. I should have listened to God’s promises more closely and taken them more seriously.
Okay, God I get the message, now help me to trust in you for help and renewed strength.  I want to soar like an eagle – strong, high and free – coping with my stresses with your strength.”

This verse is one worth remembering and memorising.  Isaiah 40:31

“but those who trust 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.”