“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 40:31
Hi James and Ellen,
Would you rather be a couple of eagles or a couple of grasshoppers? Per what God – as God the Spirit, had Isaiah scribe in Isaiah 40, God sees you as being grasshoppers who have the potential of being eagles. Isaiah was also directed by God – as God the Spirit, to scribe that you are grass and flowers – grass that withers and flowers that lose their petals. In God’s infinite existence, a newborn kid’s life on planet Earth is like chaff that is instantly blown into obscurity by a puff of wind. As lambs that are in the flock of sheep that God – as God the Father, chose or elected before He created planet Earth, God – as God the Father, is carrying you in His arms close to His heart. God – as God the Father, has enabled you to live sheep like lives during your tenure on planet Earth. A devotional exercise that your grandpaa had the guys who were Centro de Capacitación (center of training) students in the rural resident Bible education training center program in Concepción, Nuflo de Chávez, Bolivia, do one day was to have them spend a half an hour carefully looking at the different wild plants that were growing near the rural resident training center property. Your grandpaa asked the guys to bring back one of the wild plants that they found. After all the guys had returned, your grandpaa asked each guy why he had brought back the wild plant that he had found. Your grandpaa then replanted each wild plant in the small corner flower garden that was located on the rural resident training center property. Because your grandpaa knows from experience that when he stops just for a few moments to carefully examine the plants, shrubs and trees that are everywhere, to cautiously inspect the insects that suddenly appear out of nowhere, to curiously eyeball the birds and animals that make up planet Earth’s open air zoo and to circumspectly reflect on the arrangement of the cosmic lights, your grandpaa gets an instant gut check that reminds him of his nanosecond existence as a unique living creature who has been blessed with an undeserved favor from God to reside for a ‘chaff’ moment on planet Earth. Your grandpaa wanted to remind the Centro de Capacitación students through the devotional exercise of bringing back a wild plant and talking about why they brought back the particular plant that they brought back that if they stopped for just a few seconds to look at a wild plant that they probably saw most days that they would see something beautiful in the plant that they had not seen before.
When do you think that life began for you? If you think that life began for you when you were born, you are forgetting that a Supreme Being exists Who has always existed. Life for you – and for every other guy, gal and kid who has ever lived, who is now living and who will ever live on planet Earth, started out with a Supreme Being’s desire to create a creation that would glorify Him. When the Supreme Being decided to do what He has done, is doing and will do, the Supreme Being had no one around to consult for ideas, to teach Him the right way for doing something, to pass on to Him knowledge and to direct Him on the path of understanding. The Supreme Being has an unfathomable mind. Using the palm of His hand, the Supreme Being measured out the waters that are now on and in planet Earth. Using the breadth of His hand, the Supreme Being marked off heavens’ boundaries. Using a basket, the Supreme Being carried planet Earth’s dust. Using scales, the Supreme Being weighed planet Earth’s mountains. Using a bucket, the Supreme Being drops nations – as if they are nothing, on planet Earth as drops of water. There is a hidden glory that is begging to be revealed to any guy, gal or kid who takes the time to stop, look, listen and accept that he or she is divinely alive in an immense universe of teeming witnesses who shout of the majestic grandeur and awesome power of a Supreme Being Who is in absolute control. The Supreme Being is God. God is God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit. God – as God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit, has done and is doing manifestations that reflect His glory in order to prompt a specially elected guy, gal or kid to acknowledge Him.
Because the Supreme Being cannot be seen – other than through His choreographed creation that is made up of fascinating plant life, intriguing insect life, mesmerizing animal life and astonishing celestial vistas, guys and gals think that they have to make up gods – pretend gods that are carved out of wood, hammered out of rock, molded out of clay and beaten out of metal, to worship. To compare the Supreme Being to a craftsman made idol that has been overlaid with gold and that has sliver chains fashioned around it is ignoring the Supreme Being’s witnesses that He has placed on planet Earth and scattered about in the heavens above planet Earth to show off His preeminence. The Supreme Being – God – as God the Father, has sent, is sending and will continue to send guys and gals to proclaim Who He is and what He has done. Every guy, gal and kid who is alive today on planet Earth who has internalized knowledge and inherited faith that he or she is one of God’s specially elected kids – who God – as God the Father, adopted for Himself before He created planet Earth, knows that one day – hopefully really soon, that he or she will have the eternal opportunity to glorify God – as God the Father, in His holy presence. In the meantime, living on planet Earth as grasshoppers can be laborious, painful and exhausting. God knows that there will be times when you will get tired and weary – that you will stumble and fall, but if your hope is in God, God will as verse 31 says “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.” An eagle is known for its vigor. When a guy, gal or kid puts his or her hope in God, God has invigorated him or her to ‘fly’ for Him. Are you looking forward to be always flying for God?
Isaiah 40 (712)