I have friends who have chosen Isaiah 40:31 as their life verse:
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 (NIV).
How encouraging!
Eagles have strong wings, adults with a wingspan of six to eight feet, which can flap continuously in flight. To reach heights up to 10,000 feet, they soar, rather than flap, riding thermals (columns of rising hot air) which lift them with minimal effort and saving much energy. As a result, they can soar with endurance, often staying two to four hours in the air without landing.
Flying is actively moving through the air with effort; soaring implies exhilaration and joy. That’s the lesson of Isaiah 40:31. Life can be stressful, and we often battle the storms of life laboriously in the flesh. The eagle is known to soar to heights, even rising above the storm clouds. Can that be true for us as well?
First, the verse begins with a condition: “…those who hope in the Lord.”
We may be gifted, and we may have developed considerable skills, but that does not satisfy the condition. To depend on our abilities alone – “flapping” our wings – saps our energy and limits our endurance. Biblical “hope” is a favorable and confident expectation. It is the basis for soaring to renew our strength and is only found in the Lord.
Second, the apostle John identified the spiritual updraft which enables soaring: “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Likewise, the apostle Paul identified the Holy Spirit as the One who enables us to live life with exhilaration and joy:
Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:17-18 NIV).
The indwelling Holy Spirit is Jesus’ gift to us. Receive Him and learn to rely on Him to “run and not grow weary…walk and not be faint.”
