Fly Eagles Fly

A couple weeks ago I was leaving our back bedroom.  I turned off the light and headed out the door.  Since it was dark, I didn’t notice that the door was ajar, so when I stepped to exit, I smacked my foot into the door.  Ouch!  I thought I must have stubbed my toe or toes, but when the pain did not subside, I hobbled back to discover that I had actually jammed my foot under the door.  I bruised up the area on top of my toes.  Did I break a toe or a bone in my foot?  I don’t know.  It annoys me that I did, I’ve been walking since before I remember but I still hit the door.  I’d be kicking myself if I could! So, I have been limping around like an old man ever since.

I know what you are thinking.  Don’t say it.  “JD, you are an old man.”  I asked you not to say it!

I am tired of limping around.  I’d like to walk normally again, to run, to get the strength back in my foot.

You can relate, can’t you?  After these past three years, most of us feel like we’re limping around.  We are tired and weary.  We’ve stubbed our toes on the pandemic, the political response, the shutdowns, the George Floyd disaster, and the racial unrest.  The media has encouraged us to pick a side and fight about something, anything and everything.  We’ve fought about masks, schools, vaccines, and elections—before, during and after.  We’ve faced inflation and a war on the other side of the world that we don’t really understand.  We’re weary.

Plus, add in any sort of personal, relational, financial, occupational, medical, or familial setback, and we’re overwhelmed. 

All of this has zapped our strength.  And we’re tired of it.

How do we get our strength back?  How do we get the spring in our step back?  How can we walk normally again?

There is a passage in the book of Isaiah that speaks directly to this, to us.

During Isaiah’s lifetime, the nation of Israel suffered lots of distress politically as oppressive Assyrian powers invaded and conquered their lands.  The northern kingdom of Israel had already been taken into captivity by the Assyrians when this prophet wrote the book of Isaiah. The southern kingdom of Judah would soon go into Babylonian captivity.  It wasn’t just for three years; it was decades of tyranny.

Isaiah wrote suggesting a cure for weariness in chapter 40:

“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.
Isaiah 40:1 (NLT)

 God sent Isaiah to comfort his weary people.

Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion.
Isaiah 40:30 (NLT)

 Everybody gets weary.  Everybody, everybody.  You don’t have to be an old dude to walk like an old dude.  You don’t have to be an old fogey to feel like an old fogey.  You don’t have to be an old fart to smell… I’m not just going for the joke.  When we are weary and tired and down and discouraged, the people near us can smell it on us.  We need to get our strength back.

And we can:

But those who wait on the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.  They will walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31 (NLT)

We can get it back; we can run it back.  The country songwriter is correct, you can get your truck back, your dog back, and your strength back.

Isaiah says you can get your stability back, your gait back, your pace back, your foundation back, your walk back.

You can get your jog back, your gallop back, your dash back.   You can see life as a marathon and be ready for it.

Isaiah says you can soar high on wings like eagles. 

What does that mean?  Let’s talk about eagles:

·       Eagles are born with large, heavy wings. But unlike other birds, who flap their wings in order to stay in the air, eagles stretch out their wings and hold them still to soar.

·       To become airborne, an eagle waits for large gusts of winds called wind thermals.   Sometimes, an eagle will perch and wait for days to catch a wind thermal that can carry it.

·       Storms provide excellent wind thermals; so an eagle will deliberately seek out a storm, rather than avoid it. It knows that by enduring the wind adversity, it will be projected to clear, peaceful skies above.

The point of the eagle reference is that we can walk, run and even soar above all the problems of life.  Instead of weariness, we can rise above.

But how?

Isaiah says, “Wait on the Lord.”
Isaiah 40:31 (NLT)

 Did you notice that Isaiah’s cure for weariness wasn’t to get some rest, sleep at least eight hours a night, eat clean, and grab a Monster or Red Bull energy drink?

 He says, wait on the Lord.  Okay, but what does it mean to wait on the Lord?  What does waiting on God look like?

1. It looks like staying.

If a woman says she'll be ready in 15 minutes, she will be...

There's no need to remind her every half hour.

“I will take the Christmas light down, honey,” he said to his wife.  “You don’t have to bug me about it every July.”

Sometimes we need to simply stay and wait.

God has his timetable:

“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.  Tell her that her sad days are gone…”
Isaiah 30:2 (NLT)

“O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles?  O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?  Have you never heard? Have you never understood?  The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth.  He never grows weak or weary.  No one can measure the depths of his understanding.  He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.”
Isaiah 40:27-29 (NLT)

God understands what is going on.  God’s not dead.  He is not even tired!

God’s timing is perfect.  You think we’ve waited a long time, talk to Isaiah’s friends!

·       If an eagle flaps its wings unnecessarily during flight, the excessive use of energy may cause them to die.

Instead of flapping my wings unnecessarily during adversity, or even flapping my gums unnecessarily, I need to sit, stay and wait.  

My wife broke a couple of her toes last year.  The prescription was to simply wait six to eight weeks.  She did, her strength returned.  Just wait, strength will come back.

2.  It looks like trusting

Your version might have this as “those who trust in the Lord.”

God has a plan.  He will come through, he always does.  No matter how bleak it looks, he will make a way.

Who else has held the oceans in his hand?  Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers? Who else knows the weight of the earth or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale?  Who is able to advise the Spirit of the Lord? Who knows enough to give him advice or teach him? Has the Lord ever needed anyone’s advice? Does he need instruction about what is good?  Did someone teach him what is right or show him the path of justice?

No, for all the nations of the world are but a drop in the bucket.  They are nothing more than dust on the scales. He picks up the whole earth as though it were a grain of sand.
Isaiah 40:12-15 (NLT)

·       Eagles can actually soar to heights of 10,000 to 15,000 feet.

·       An eagle’s eyesight is up to eight times stronger than a human’s.   Eagles have 20/4 and 20/5 vision. Even though eagles weigh around 10lbs, eagle’s eyes are the same size as humans.  Their vision is so precise that they can spot a rabbit up to two miles away.

·       Eagles can also turn their heads up to 210 degrees, they have more vertebrae than humans.

Isaiah encourages us to mount up and soar to the place where we can get God’s perspective.  We can see above and beyond any hurt toe that is bothering us.  Too often I want to wallow in my pain rather than trusting God, getting his perspective and seeing with his vision.  When I see from God’s view, I am renewed.

3.  It looks like serving

Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, “Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord!

Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God!  Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills.  Straighten the curves and smooth out the rough places.  Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together.  The Lord has spoken!”
Isaiah 40:3-4 (NLT)

 We don’t call them waiters anymore, or waitresses.  We call them servers.

 Waiting on God means we stand by, serving him and doing his bidding.

·       Hebrew culture revered eagles as mighty warriors. Eagles are known for their strength and courage in turbulent and dangerous weather.  

When we are simply doing what God has asked us to do, what he designed us for, it was a way of renewing our strength.

4.  It looks like hoping

Isaiah suggests a sense of expectation.

“O Zion, messenger of good news, shout from the mountaintops!  Shout it louder, O Jerusalem.    Shout, and do not be afraid. Tell the towns of Judah, “Your God is coming!” Yes, the Sovereign Lord is coming in power. He will rule with a powerful arm. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.”
Isaiah 40:9-10 (NLT)

Waiting is not always passive--it can be active. Isaiah urged the Israelites to wait with hope and confident anticipation despite their current oppression.

·       Eagles are loyal birds and when they mate it’s for life.

·       Male and female eagles both take their parenting roles seriously and both play a crucial part in raising their young. And they care fiercely for their young. Eagles carry their eaglets to safety, away from the threat of predators.

God has plans for us.  He will never leave us or forsake us; he will come through; he will protect us.  When we get those expectation in order, our strength returns.

Let me end with this:

·       A group of eagles is called a “convocation” or a “soar.” 

 In school we always ended the school year with a commencement, which means beginning, even though it came at the end.  In graduate school we started every year with a ceremony called the “convocation.” 

What if we started the year with this convocation—we want to be a group of leaders who soar.  Even when my foot is sore, I can soar.  And you can too! 

We can walk, run, and soar on eagles’ wings.