"soar Like An Eagle!"

Soar like an Eagle!

Isaiah 40:28-31

This passage is one of two passages of scripture that I call my life verses. Now in case you don’t know what that means, life verses are verses God has used to speak directly to your heart, and they become a theme for your life. So, Denise and I are now entering our 25th year as Pastor and Worship leader of this church. We are also celebrating 50 years of ministry together this year. We are fortunate and grateful for our health, for our marriage and of course for each of you who have labored with us in this ministry. I’m not being dramatic at all when I say that these 25 years have been a ministry of blood, sweat and tears. But also a lot of joy. Now, today I want to talk about vision.

Vision is defined as the ability to think about or place the future, plan the future with imagination and wisdom. It is also defined as an idea or a mental image of something.

Vision is about leadership, the future, change, something better / new. In the first 39 chapters of Isaiah, we see that the nation of Judah was receiving judgment but when we reach chapter 40 there is a very clear transition. The passage is no longer about the fact that they had been banned from their home country – no longer about all the ways they had suffered – now God is offering hope, comfort and vision for their future.

So, Isaiah is writing this passage to his own people who had been in Babylon because they had been removed from their homeland for around 50 years. Obviously, they were in despair. They felt like sheep without a shepherd, wandering around aimlessly. They were at what many of us would refer to as a breaking point. It is when we have reached the end of our rope; when the straw has broken the camel’s back, when we see no way out of our situation. Isaiah uses these words to speak and has two purposes. (1) He is speaking to this nation to encourage them and (2) the scripture always encourages us for the future as well.

So, first He gives us a principle. Here it is. V. 28. Isaiah is reminding us that we can always, always, always rely on God. He is the Alpha and Omega, first and last, no beginning and no end. So, when we pray and say, “Lord, can you take care of my problem?” He responds by saying “it’s no problem to me.” When we say Lord, “have you seen anything like this/like what I am experiencing?” He says, ”yes many times.” When we say “Lord will you be there when I need you, he says are you kidding? I was there BEFORE you needed me. I was there BEFORE, and I will still be here AFTER you’re gone. Isaiah makes it clear that God never grows weary. He is never too weary to help us and never too preoccupied to listen. YOU and I are his focus. If I could put it this way, he never answers so many prayers in one day that he can’t get out of bed the next morning. He never decides to sleep in, and he never tires of helping his children. God is never stumped by our questions. Never confused by our confusion. When we don’t know what to do, He always knows.

Then He gives us a promise. Verse 29. Ever feel weak and helpless? Do you ever feel stuck in one place and can’t get unstuck? Ever feel powerless? Listen, the definition of power is very simple. It is the ability to do what needs to be done

and in this context, it literally refers to the physical power/strength you need to keep going. It refers to the power in your bones. Have you ever heard someone say – I’m so tired, my bones are so weary. Look at verse 30. You know when you were young you worked like you had no limits, right? When I was working on my master’s degree, I was a full time student at New Orleans Seminary – the coursework was very demanding – in addition, I worked 42 hours a week in a supermarket – no days off. So, there were definitely times when I was weary. One day I was in the campus library with a stack of books on the table … my Greek text on top because that was the one I was struggling with, and I laid my head down to take a nap. My advisor happened to be in the library – he came over and said you look tired/weary – I said I am – with my head was laying on my books, he said you know you can’t get this by osmosis, right? 😊 I smiled and started back up with my studies.