Wings of Eagles

This morning I was up somewhat early again (5 am), after a not-so-restful night. In fact, fatigue is the biggest battle I'm facing at the moment. I'm not sleeping well at nights (a side-effect of my medication), and generally I'm napping 3-4 times during the day, for about an hour at a time, but I wake up feeling just as exhausted as before the sleep. For this reason, it's been more difficult this week keeping up with the pace of daily writing on my blog, and so I've "pulled back on the reins" a little this week (although I'm still believing the Lord to be able to keep up with a one-post-per-day pace).

This week I finished my first round of chemotherapy, and I now have a week's rest from the chemo medication before beginning the second round of chemotherapy on Wednesday, February 22. Once again, I'm looking to the Lord for his special grace: 1) for the manifestation of full healing; and 2) for strength to face the next round of potential fatigue and malaise that results directly from the chemotherapy itself.

To tell you the truth, I'm so "tired" of feeling tired! Sometimes I "chomp at the bit", wanting to get back into the flow of things as soon as possible. I'm an active person (one who all too easily defines my sense of success and satisfaction in terms of what I'm accomplishing), and to be in a position where I have to put things on the backburner is not a comfortable lifestyle for me. But then, that's all part of the work of God in my life at the moment. I'm learning, albeit slowly, that it's in the "being", not the "doing", that God places his priority.

This morning, my brother Carlos Durán (who together with Caren Almeida and Enrique Morató is working on translating this blog into Spanish at http://elviajedc.blogspot.com), sent me an email, and highlighted Isaiah 40:28-31:

"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."

And so this morning I decided to spend time meditating on this passage. The first thing I did was check it out in The Message, which puts it this way:

"Don't you know anything? Haven't you been listening?
GOD doesn't come and go. God lasts.
He's Creator of all you can see or imagine.
He doesn't get tired out, doesn't pause to catch his breath.
And he knows everything, inside and out.
He energizes those who get tired,
gives fresh strength to dropouts.
For even young people tire and drop out,
young folk in their prime stumble and fall.
But those who wait upon GOD get fresh strength.
They spread their wings and soar like eagles,
They run and don't get tired,
they walk and don't lag behind."

And revealing Isaiah 40:28-31 in all its deeper nuances, The Amplified Bible translates this passage thus:

"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not faint or grow weary; there is no searching of His understanding. He gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might He increases strength [causing it to multiply and making it to abound]. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and [selected] young men shall feebly stumble and fall exhausted; But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired."

I like that. The Lord first reveals himself as "the Creator of the ends of the earth" and the One who "does not faint or grow weary," but doesn't leave the revelation there. As always, this revelation of God's attributes is then translated into practical meaning for me on a day-to-day basis. God is the One who "energizes those who get tired" and gives "fresh strength" to those who "wait upon GOD" (The Message). He is the God who "increases strength [causing it to multiply and making it to abound]" for those who "stumble and fall exhausted" (The Amplified Bible). And He is the One who causes "the faint and weary" to be able to "lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]" (The Amplified Bible).

This is something that I had never seen before. As the Amplified Bible brings out, the picture is one of an eagle lifting its wings and mounting up "to the sun", which pictures the act of a believer lifting his spiritual wings and mounting up "close to God"! Do you notice the vital secret being revealed here? It is in mounting up "close to God" that the believer experiences an infusion of God's strength. This is explained in Isaiah 40:31 (The Amplified Bible) as the act of to "wait for the Lord [...expect, look for, and hope in Him]." Thus the lesson I gleaned from this passage today is that God wants me to have a "close to God" experience today...that is where divine strength is found!

In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus extended this invitation:

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Interestingly, this brings me back full circle to the very first post on this blog, back on 12 October 2005.

Read "The Invitation"

Once again, the secret to finding true rest (and strength) in the Lord is in coming close to him! And this closeness is described by Jesus as being "yoked" to him, in the same way as two oxen are yoked together as they pull the plough.

I'm amazed again by Jesus' statement that his yoke is "easy" and "light." This is, quite obviously, because in this "yoked" experience, he carries the heaviest load for me!

So, Lord, I want to respond to that invitation today. I do not just want to take your yoke upon me, but I also want to learn from you. Teach me to come close in times of weariness so that I can "mount up" on spiritual wings, like an eagle. I want to be empowered by eagle wings today. I want to run and not be weary, and walk and not faint. So I choose to wait on you.