Christian Living

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Based on Isa. 40:27-31

  Flight is not only for the birds, it is for the believers as well.  Pilots and astronauts do not have exclusive rights on soaring into the heavens.  The Negro Spiritual says, "I got wings, you got wings, All O God's children got wings. When I get up to heab'n  I'm going to put on my wings, I'm going to fly all oveh God's heab'n." Man has always envied the birds, and has longed to able to fly.  The history of man's labor to turn this aspiration into a reality is fascinating.  Before the story is finished, however, every believer will have a part in it.

     The day is coming, says Scripture, when all believers will take part in God's spectacular flight event called the rapture.  All believers will be caught up into the sky to meet the Lord. There will a great migration from this planet into outer space, because this earth will be so contaminated by the disease of sin that God will have to destroy it by fire to purify it.  After this there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and believers will be able to make a reentry into this transformed world. 

     All who trust in Jesus Christ as Savior have a great adventure in flight in the future.  God expects us to be preparing now for this adventure in the heights by living and exalted life, or, as our text suggests, and eagle like life.  The eagle soars to heights beyond that of any other bird.  It lives on the highest level.  Its dwelling place is above the snake line.  Twelve hundred feet above the sea level is called the snake line, because poisonous snakes do not cross that line and go higher.  Settlers in the days when snakes were abundant, and their bites less curable, would always ask of a piece of property, "Is it above the snake line?"  That is where the eagle lives; out of range of the deadly serpent. 

     Its power and grace in flight that take it out of sight has made it a frequently used biblical symbol.  In Prov. 30:19 there are four things too wonderful for the author to understand, and the first is the way of an eagle in the sky. Bird of the broad and sweeping wing, Thy home is high in heaven, Where wide the storms there banners fling, And tempest clouds are driven.

     It is appropriate that man name his first mechanical bird to reach the moon-the eagle.  It is likewise appropriate that God should use the eagle to illustrate the kind of high level living He expects us to attain.  Life on a higher plain; mountain top experiences; sitting with Christ in heavenly places, and setting our affections on things above, are all parts of what is meant by the eagle life.  It is a life of high ideals and aspirations.  It is life in which the perspective is always upward.  And high above the seas and lands On peaks just tipped with morning light, My dauntless spirit mutely stands, With eagle wings outspread for flight.

     This is the position every Christian should be in: ready as the poet and the prophet says, to mount up with wings like eagles.  In order to aid each of us to rise toward this ideal it is our goal to find in our text answers to 3 important questions concerning the eagle life.  The first question is-

I. WHAT IS THE RESOURCE FOR THE EAGLE LIFE?

     In the spiritual, as in the physical realm, there must be a source of fuel to propel us into the heights.  It is clear from the context of Isa. 40 that man left to his own resources will either never get off the ground, or crash soon if he does.  The natural man has no desire for flights into the heavenlies with Christ.  Life on a higher plain has no appeal.  If God transformed a man outwardly, but left the inner man in bondage to the law of sin, he would be just like the butterfly in Charlotte Gilman's poem in which his transformation was lamented. "I do not want to fly, said he. I only what to squirm! And he drooped his wings dejectedly,  But still his voice was firm: I do not want to be a fly! I want to be a worm

       The natural man longs only for the mud, and the worm life.  His aspiration is to go lower into the darkness of sin and its passing pleasures.  Oswald Spengler in his book Decline Of The West says, "We have descended from the perspective of the bird to that of the frog." The tragedy is that believers, who should be looking up, are influenced by this low perspective of the majority.  Like Peter, they take their eyes off the resource for their power, and they begin to sink.  That is just what we find in Isa. 40.  The Jews had been flying high at one time.  In Ex. 19:4 God reminds them of their flight out of Egypt and, "..how I bore you on eagle wings and brought you to myself."
 
     They took their eyes off from God, however, and lost their wings.  They came crashing to the earth in enemy territory.  They were oppressed, defeated, and discouraged, and verse 27 reveals that they were convinced that God had given them up.  They were convinced He didn't care about their problems.  With this worms eye view of things they had no power for flight.  They had cut themselves off from the only resource for living the eagle life, and so they were grounded.  That resource is, as the next few verses plainly reveal, and adequate concept of God.

     The fuel for flying into the firmament is found for men where angels find it.  It is in the reality of the presence of God in all His majesty.  Only as we see the majesty of God in His power and personality, and only as we feel our souls flooded with adoration and wonder, can we have the power to soar to the heights.  The whole context exalts the power of God.  Isaiah knows that his people are weak and discouraged, because they have a weak picture of God in their minds. 

     He calls their attention to the heavens in verse 26.  God is pictured as the Great Shepherd of the universe, and the stars are His vast flock scattered over the meadows of heaven.  He knows everyone of them by name.  There are more stars in the heavens than there are people on the earth, yet God knows everyone of them by name.  When you get this kind of vision of God in your head you will know that God knows every man, and even the hairs of his head are numbered.  When believers get discouraged and feel God is ignoring them, it is because they have forgotten that God is God, and that His ways are not our ways.  Have you not known, and have you not heard asked Isaiah in verse 28?  The Lord is the everlasting God.

     With our worms eye view of life we tend to think in terms of today, and this year, but the span of God's vision is from eternity to eternity.  God does not have to be in a hurry.  He does not have to settle all issues today to be successful.  It is hard for us to wait, for we do not even have the patience of Job, let alone the patience of God.  We need to learn that we cannot judge God's faithfulness by the moment.  He may not meet our need, or solve our problem, but He is working in all things with us for ultimate good.  He does not get tired of helping us and go away weary to leave us on our own.  Sometimes we feel like God has left us, but our theology must be based, not on feelings, but on the revealed character and promises of God. " Clouds were thy chariots and I knew them not, They came in solemn thunder to my ear; I thought that far away Thou hadst forgot, But Thou wert at my side and Heaven was near.

     If we intend to fly high, and live the eagle life, we must have an adequate and exalted concept of God.  Eagles do not chase flies, and no one can have his head of trivial ideas of God, and have the resources necessary for high living.  No matter how low we feel we must look up and see the majesty of God if we want to fly. "From sin and dust to Thee we cry, The Great, the Holy, and the High. God in all His power and splendor as He is revealed in His creation and His Word is the resource for the strength needed to live the eagle life.  No man flies high who does not have a high view of God.  Now the question we need to answer is-

II. WHAT IS THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE EAGLE LIFE?

     Knowing the resource is not enough.  Men knew of the resource for the power to propel them into space long before they could apply it.  The source of power is one thing, but how to use it is another.  God is our resource, but how do let the fuel from His infinite reservoir flow into our finite lives and lift us to the heights of the eagle life?  What is required on our part? 

     The answer is found in verse 31.  Our requirement is to wait for God.  This may  sound strange to us, but it is a word that runs all through the Old Testament.  In the Psalms we read it, "Truly my soul waits upon God."  In Isa. 30:18 we read, "For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for Him."  Take your concordance and you will find many text that reveal that a basic requirement for the believer is to wait on the Lord.  What does this mean?  It has 3 interrelated meanings.
 
1. DEPENDENCE.  To wait on the Lord means to put yourself in His hands, and not try to accomplish His will in your own strength.  The poet put it, "From God, the overflowing spring, Our souls shall drink a fresh supply; While those who trust their native strength Shall melt away and droop and die." To wait on the Lord is to believe that His plan will be victorious.  When things seem to go so slow, and evil seems to be gaining ground, the wise believer does not forsake the truth and principles of God's kingdom, but in total dependence goes on living according to God's revealed will.  This is waiting on the Lord.  It is dependence based on the assurance that the Commander in Chief has a strategy that will bring final victory. 

     It is an expectant waiting. It is like the young eagles waiting with mouth open in the mountain nest, knowing that the mother or father eagle will soon provide what is needed to give them strength.  The believer who waits on the Lord does so with his mouth open in persistent and passionate prayer. Prayer is the greatest attitude of dependence a man can have. In prayer we hold up our emptiness to God for the receiving of His fullness.  The Christian who would soar into the heights must not look to the headlines for his daily guidance, but to the Lord. The Christian who has his eye on current events will be shaken with every crisis, but the Christian whose eye is on the Lord will mount up with wings like eagles.  The second meaning is,

2. OBEDIENCE.  We tend to think of waiting as a contrast to working. When you wait you do nothing, but this is not true even with our English word. If you wait on tables in a cafe, you are a waiter, and a waiter is synonymous with worker in that context. Waiting can mean a form of service and activity. To give a cup of cold water in the name of Christ can be a means of waiting on the Lord. Waiting then is not mere inactivity.  Edison said, "Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits." Dependence upon God does not mean we sit back and let God do it, but that we go out and do it knowing that by His strength we can. We keep our eyes fixed on God, and then we do our best. Along with dependence and obedience is the third meaning of waiting, which is,

3. PATIENCE.   This  is what we mean when we say to just wait. It is hard to wait, but is  a key to power and high level living. The degree of our love of God is seen in our willingness to patiently wait to be sure of His will, and to have His guidance. Love is patient. Jacob waited for 7 years to have Rachel s his wife, because he loved her so. Love knows how to wait. Thackeray in his poem, "At The Church Gate," gives us a picture of the eager, but patient, waiting of the lover. "Although I enter not, yet round about the spot Offtimes I hover;  And near the sacred gate, With longing eyes I wait, Expectant of her."

     Expectancy is a key to the ability to wait. Love expects the loved one to come through, and that gives them the ability to endure waiting. I had a dog named Speed when I was a boy. It followed me everywhere. When I went into a house it did not make any difference if I stayed in that house for an hour or 8 hours. When I came out Speed would be waiting. He loved me and expected loving treatment from me, and this gave him the patience to wait, and wait, and wait. My grandmother used to tell me she saw Speed lying on the sidewalk outside a theatre when I was inside watching a movie. He had no concept of why I was gone so long, but he just waited.  If we have that kind of love for God, we will not go off in our own wisdom and strength, but in dependence we will wait on the Lord.  Bradford Torrey wrote, "Not so in haste, my heart! Have faith in God and wait, Although He lingers long, He never comes too late. Until He cometh, rest, Nor grudge the hours that roll. The feet that wait for God Are soonest at the goal."

God in all His power and majesty is the resource for the eagle life. Waiting on God is the requirement we must fulfill to live the eagle life. Now, the final question is,

III. WHAT IS THE REWARD OF THE EAGLE LIFE?

     Why should we strive to follow the path to the eagle life? What does it offer that makes it appealing?  The emphasis in v. 31 is on strength. The eagle has fantastic power in its wings. They have been known to pick us sheep, and even children, and carry them up to their mountain nest. They enjoy swooping down into  a storm, and flying against the wind. Their strength makes them a symbol of perpetual youth. In Ps. 103:5 we read that God satisfies the redeemed ones so that their youth is renewed like the eagles.

      Here in our text in v. 30 Isaiah makes it clear that the strength that comes from waiting on the Lord is not mere natural strength. Even the youth who depends upon his own resources only, will become weary and exhausted. Youth is not the answer to the power shortage of the church. This text destroys the excuse of the Christian who says he is not as young as he used to be. No matter how young your are you will get tired and exhausted, and your strength will run out. But Isaiah says, if you wait on the Lord, even though you may be old, your strength will be renewed. We are dealing here with the theology of the second wind; the tapping of resources beyond the strength of man.

     One of our biggest problems in the Christian life is fatigue. We just get tired of doing God's will. Often it moves so slow, and the fruit is so scarce, that we question if it is worth the effort. Many Christians give up the desire to live the eagle life. The sinful nature of man, and the obstacles it presents has worn them out, and they have decided to throw in the towel. What is the use of trying? When we get to this point, we have ceased to wait on the Lord. We have switched over to our own fuel tank, which is empty, and that is why we lose altitude, and begin to nose dive, and eventually crash in discouragement.  But the reward for those who keep on waiting on the Lord is renewed strength. They can run and not get weary. They can walk and not faint. They can plod along the dull daily routine of obedience and never give up.

     John Wesley at the age of 82 wrote to a friend after a life of activity unmatched by anyone and said, "I am never tired in my work. From the beginning of the day or the week or the year to the end. I do not know what weariness means. I am never weary of writing or preaching to travelling; but am just as fresh at the end as at the beginning."  We obviously have to take into consideration his natural gifts of health. Lydia buffum had 14 of her own children, and then took in 8 more to raise for others., She was a unique woman, and Wesley was a unique man. Jesus, himself, had a perfect body, but he got tired and exhausted, and he needed to get away from the crowds to rest and recuperate. But the point is He never got weary of doing the will of God.  He never got tired of obedience, and this is the reward of the eagle life. It is perpetual strength to labor for God with enthusiasm.

     The Christian life is a joy when one feels the inner power necessary to propel him up to
that high level on which he is to live, but few things are more difficult than trying to live up there in our own strength.  It gets to be a drag, and it loses its charm and excitement, and is too much like hard work, when we lose our wings by failing to wait on the Lord. The quality of our Christian experience will depend upon what we do with this information. Let us listen to the prophet, and the poets, who interpret him: "Rise and soar into the sunlit ways, Using both the wings of prayer and praise; Mount like eagles-higher in the sky, And you'll find things look so different when you fly.

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