SOARING ON WINGS LIKE EAGLES!
Isaiah 40:27-31
Every other month, I send out “Eagle’s Messenger,” a bimonthly newsletter to over 122 e-mail addresses. The recipients of it are friends and missionaries throughout the world. I have entitled it this way because of two reasons: First, as Albanians our flag has the emblem of eagle into it, and we are known as the “Land of Eagles.” Second, it is because of a passage in the Bible (Isaiah 40:27-31).
In order to soar on wings like eagles, there are two feeling we need to deal with.
1. We need to pass the feeling of despair.
2. We need to place hope on solid foundation.
I. DESPAIR
A. No Hope On Sea Or Land. The 2,037-ton Portuguese coastal steamer, Save, with 53 crewmen, 300 Portuguese troops, and 200 Mozambique Africans aboard, grounded on a sandbar of East Africa during a storm. While rescue efforts were being made from the shore, fire broke out on the ship. The fire spread to the stores of ammunition and the whole ship exploded in flames. Many of the passengers jumped into the sea—only to be attacked by sharks. Those who did manage to make the shore were threatened by lions roaring in a mangrove jungle nearby. A hopeless case.
B. This story appears to picture the despair of life. We seem to be going from one problem into another and to end up in despair.
a. Lenin claimed that if Communism was implemented there would be bread in every household. Coming from a former communist country we saw that the answer to our problems could not be the Communism. Some of us have witnessed the despair in people’s lives. Communism did never tell us how it would solve our problems. In fact, as people grew weaker and hungrier; the dictatorship grew stronger and fatter.
b. Buddha taught enlightenment, yet he died seeking more light. We seek education, as a means to solve our problems. But has it solve our problems? Evidently not! I recently heard someone who is finishing his Ph.D. asking: So what now? There seems to be meaninglessness and un-fulfillment in this person.
c. Sigmund Freud believed that psychotherapy would heal emotional and spiritual pains. On January 2000, the head of American Association of Psychologists and Psychotherapist made a shocking statement: “For 100 years we have tried to figure out what is wrong in people, while at the same time we have failed to show them how to deal with their problems.”
C. From one problem to another, there seems to be no end to the problems. When we see our inadequacy to govern our life, to solve our problems, it is then that we lift our eyes beyond ourselves and our time-space reality. It is in these moments that we stare at the skies and think of God. The people in the time of Isaiah were coming to these moments. Isaiah asks their question: “Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God?’” (Isaiah 40:27). They had come to this state, because they had gone after foolish pursuits. But Isaiah had a message of hope and assurance for them.
II. HOPE
A. Do 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. He 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 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 40:28-31).
B. The prophet Isaiah is asking them. Have you failed to hear God? Or, have you not understood God? He is the answer to your problems. Why is the answer?
1. Because of whom God is! 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.
a. The Lord is the everlasting God
i. He does not change.
ii. Once He promises something, He will not move from His standing.
b. The Creator of the ends of the earth
i. This emphasizes the power He has.
ii. This emphasizes the beauty that He has created.
iii. Everything He does, He does it powerfully beautiful.
c. He will not grow tired or weary
i. While God as Creator speaks of His power, this truth speaks of the fact that His power doesn’t end.
ii. It also speaks of God’s unwavering concern for His people.
d. His understanding no one can fathom.
i. God is wise.
ii. His wisdom is beyond people’s understanding.
e. God does not change; He has endless power and wisdom.
2. Because of what God can give! He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
a. He gives strength to the weary.
i. Are you tired of trying in your own?
ii. Don’t you have the strength to get up from your despair?
iii. God’s unchanging endless power and wisdom is available to you.
b. Increases the power of the weak.
i. Do you lack strength because of the many failures you have had?
ii. God’s unchanging endless power and wisdom is available to you.
3. Because of the simplicity of making the solution! “…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.”
a. Isaiah’s answer is very simple: those who hope in the Lord
b. But what does it mean to hope in the Lord?
i. It means that you don’t trust in your efforts.
ii. It means that you understand your inadequacy.
iii. It means that you stop trying to solve your problems by yourself.
iv. It means that you live your past behind, and you make God your present and future.
c. The promise is that those who place their hope in the Lord, as a result…
i. They will renew their strength.
ii. They will soar on wings like eagles
iii. They will run and not grow weary
iv. They will walk and not be faint.
CONCLUSION
You too, might have tried on your own only to wall despair. The solution to your problems is found on you placing your hope in God. It does mean that all your problems will be solved, and you will have “health and wealth.” But it does mean that you will have meaning and purpose. If you leave the despair of your efforts, and place the hope in the Lord than your spirit can break free. The same as eagles, your spirit will fly high and free. You will fly over your despair and free under the wings.
