But those who hope 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 (NIV)
Don’t you love the way today’s Scripture describes eagles and the way they soar? Author Ben Patterson once wrote, “As birds go, an eagles’ wings are big, but the muscles that make them flap aren’t. Pound for pound, an eagle’s strength is no match for the strength of a hummingbird. The strength of eagles is not in their flapping but in their soaring” (Ben Patterson, ed., Prayer Devotional Bible [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004], 849). An eagle will perch on the edge of a canyon and then cast itself down into the abyss. With wings outstretched, it will then find the warm updraft from the depths below—an updraft on which it will circle and soar until it rises far above the canyon’s rim.
In today’s Scripture, the prophet Isaiah says that those who trust in the Lord will soar on eagles’ wings. May we Christians be known, not for all our frantic flapping, but for casting ourselves into the unknown and soaring upward on the wings of the Spirit.
Father God, I’ve done enough frantic flapping for a lifetime—trying so hard to do Your will and make things happen in my own strength and energy. How foolish I have been! I know that I need to cast myself on You in faith before I will find those beautiful updrafts that lift me higher and higher.
