Wings

I enjoy watching hawks soaring high in the sky, then suddenly swooping down to the ground to snatch a prey across the landscape and then back up into the clouds. Each spring and fall, I am amazed at the formations of geese as they migrate from south to north and later from north to south. God equips creatures like these with a marvelous member of birds called WINGS.

The Bible frequently refers to "wings" as a metaphor of God and human beings. Here are a few memorable passages.

1. Deuteronomy 32:11-12: "As an eagle stirs up its nest,
and hovers over its young;
as it spreads its WINGS, takes them up,
and bears them aloft on its PINIONS,
THE LORD ALONE guided him;
no foreign god was with him."
God is like a female eagle, who takes up her young, bears them aloft into the sky, and transports them to safety, as God brought the Israelites out of Egypt to the land of Canaan. Exodus 19:4 uses the same metaphor.

2. Psalm 36:7: "How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
All people may take refuge in SHADOW OF YOUR WINGS."
As a mother hen protects her chicks, so God protects his vulnerable, caring children. A similar figure occurs in Isaiah 31:5:
"Like birds HOVERING overhead,
so the Lord of hosts will PROTECT Jerusalem;
He will PROTECT and deliver it,
he will spare and rescue it."
Jesus uses the same metaphor in Luke 13:34.

3. Isaiah 40:27-31 assures God's fearful, anxious people in Babylonian exile:
"Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
'My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God?'
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary,
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will be exhausted;
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall MOUNT UP WITH WINGS LIKE EAGLES,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint."

What an uplifting promise of God for all his faithful people. God buoys us up when disasters and failures and disappointments and fears and pitfalls surround us like mounting up with wings like eagles. In 1953, Stuart Hamblen wrote this song:

Stanza 1: Teach me Lord, to wait right down on my knees
Till in Your own good time You answer my pleas;
Teach me not to rely on what others do,
But to wait in prayer for an answer from You.

Stanza 2: Teach me Lord, to wait while hearts are aflame,
Let me humble my price and call on Your name.
Keep my faith renewed, my eyes on Thee,
Let me be on this earth what you want me to be.

Chorus: They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength,
They shall mount up with wings like eagles.
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
Teach me Lord,
Teach me Lord, to wait.

As you face each day, my hope and prayer is that God will carry your burdens like female eagles buoy up their young higher and higher in the sky.

Share your thoughts and dreams with others. Let me hear from YOU.

John Willis