Soar, Run, Walk

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. - Isaiah 40:29-31

In Peter Choi’s encouraging message yesterday (HERE) he pointed out how Isaiah is very clear about the order: soaring, then running, then walking. He pointed out how typically we think of the life of faith in the opposite direction - we think that we move from just walking, to picking up speed, to finally soaring with God. But that’s not how scripture portrays this journey.

Sure, there are many times we soar - but often those are earlier on in our faith journeys. It’s less usually for soaring to come later in our relationship with Christ. Typically, there’s a lot of running - just hard work, just getting things done, just getting places. And those are good things, and God is with us.

But then there’s also the seasons of slogging through challenges and hardships, when all we can do is walk. Again, this is not where we think our faith should be leading us - we far prefer to think of the easy work of riding the wind with very little effort. But with things like the fight for racial justice or the grinding loneliness of a pandemic, often putting one foot in front of the other is all we can do. And God knows that.

The scripture is very clear that it’s God who gives us the grace and the strength for not only the freedom and fun of soaring, but the hard work of running - and also the steadfast one-foot-in-front-of-the-other of walking.

What sort of season are you in now? How can this Scripture serve as an encouragement to you this week?