On Wings Like Eagles

“Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:30-31) 

In Isaiah 40, God offers comfort to his people. Isaiah’s prophecy held many weighty and worrisome things to a people who were wandering from God in many ways, but here God offers comfort and renewal. He reminds his people first of who he is and how he is not to be compared with any of the gods of the nations (40:25-26). He reminds them that he sees their ways, the rights and wrongs that they have done and that have been done to them (40:27). He reminds them that he does not faint or grow weary and that he is the one who gives power to the powerless (40:28-29). 

He then speaks to them words of strengthening and renewal (40:30-31). At a time of great weakness and weariness, the Almighty God, Creator of the heavens and the earth, implores his wandering children to return to him. 

Maybe your strength is spent. You are growing faint and weary. You are exhausted. But wait for him. Return to him. He will renew your strength. He will lift you up on wings like eagles. This is not the end for you. You will walk and even run without growing weary or fainting. 

These words are still words of comfort to our weary souls and bodies. We have all experienced that weariness. Many of us have felt ready to quit. But the Lord calls us to wait for him. He, the God who does not faint or grow weary, will give strength to us who are weighed down. 

Wait for the Lord. When you feel that you can run no longer, turn to him. Run to him. Or even collapse in exhaustion at his feet! Whatever you do, lean on him for his strength and not your own for he will renew you.