Soar Like An Eagle // A Time of Refreshing in My Life, Part 4

Some days, it feels as though everybody around you is cruising, but somehow we’re down in the trenches. Wouldn’t it be great to soar like an eagle?

Have you ever been through a time in your life where, I don’t know, it seems like everyone around you is doing it easy and somehow you’re down in the trenches doing it tough? I remember when I was training to be an officer in the Australian Army. We’d be on exercise digging trenches, fighting pretend wars, in the rain, and the snow, sometimes in the heat in the drought. And often, in an area quite close to an airport.

I used to see these planes flying over. I was thirsty and hot, or cold and wet. And I’d think, what I wouldn't give to be sitting up in one of those planes, instead of digging a trench down here? Almost thirty years on, I fly in and out of that airport several times a year now. And every time I look down at where I used to dig the trenches it's such a good feeling.

Life’s not always like that. But some days, it does feel like trench warfare, doesn’t it?

I remember when we were out there on military exercises; often we had very little food and very little water. Hunger wasn’t so bad for me; I mean ultimately hunger just becomes a dull pain. But thirst, thirst is always acute and I remember so often in the heat of the summer being so thirsty and not having enough water. And most of the time, we never had enough sleep. It was often broken.

And when we were out on an exercise, we were fighting pretend wars. Every night you had to do gun duty for an hour or you’d be out on patrol fighting battles all day. And the moment you were able to settle down, the first thing you had to do was dig a trench just in case there was a mortar or artillery attack. And so we were sleeping on cold, hard ground.

And amidst all these discomforts and the tiredness, when you’re worn down and your emotions are down and you’re under stress, it can be tough. Of course, the training was deliberately aimed at taking us to those places. And seeing how far we could go, and teaching us how to act under stress.

But sometimes, we look around at other people and we feel like we’re the ones doing the trench warfare and they’re doing it easy. But actually, they're going through stuff as well, we just can’t see it often.

This week on A Different Perspective, we’re looking at our need for times of refreshing.

I don’t know if you’ve been able to join us this week, but on Monday we talked about the fact that times of refreshing – I mean real refreshing – like when you’ve got a deep thirst and you drink that clean water. Those times of refreshing come from the presence of God. And then on Tuesday, we looked at the fact that God says, "Look even when everything seems to be falling down around you, be still, be still in the middle of all of that, and know that I’m your God." And yesterday we looked at what Jesus said, He said, "Look if you’re carrying heavy burdens come to me and you’ll find rest for you soul. Let me help you push, let me help you with your burden."

Today, I’d like to share something else that God says about meeting us right where we’re at, right in that place in life were the rubber hits the road. It was written a few thousand years ago by a man, a prophet called, Isaiah. He wrote this, he said:

Even though youths will grow weary and faint, and the young will fall exhausted, those who wait on God will renew their strength. They will rise up with wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary, they’ll walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40: 30-31)

Man, I remember when were out on exercise with a pack, a rifle, a machine, gun tired and hungry and thirsty … having to run and falling over and grazing your elbow, it’s such a real (I don’t know), parallel metaphor for life. It's how we feel sometimes when we're carrying around things like packs on our back. And how is it how can you rise up in the middle of that like wings of an eagle, how can you soar?

I remember once in the town where I grew up which is a place called Wollongong. There’s a boat harbour. It's beautiful little harbour where the fishing fleet comes in and out and on the headland and there’s a white lighthouse. And standing there on the headland is one my favourite places on planet earth. You look north up the coast and you see the beaches and it just goes on and mountains. And you look south and you see this big steel works belching out pollution.

It’s lovely to be there in the summer when the sun’s shining. You see the little boats chugging in and out of this beautiful little blue harbour. But I actually like it in winter. I like going there when there’s a storm blowing when the southerly winds are whipping up the ocean and there’s the foam. There’s something scary about an angry ocean.

I was there once and I saw some pelicans flying, and a gale was blowing from the south. And it was really interesting to watch what they were doing. Now pelicans have these, I don’t know big beaks, and they’re ungainly birds but when they’re flying they’re an awesome bird to watch.

As I watched them, what they were doing was this … they were ducking around behind the headland end of the harbour where there was no wind and they were resting. And all of a sudden they would race around the headland and almost go up vertically and be caught up by this gale and be blown back into the harbour again. And they’d drop down there and have a rest. And they’d come round the headland again and go up and be blown back into the harbour and drop down and have a rest.

I watched them for an hour; they were doing this time and time again. And ultimately I understood what was going on. These guys were having fun. They were in the storm that was blowing. It must have been pretty rough up there, they were playing a game and they were really enjoying it. They were riding the storm. And if you can imagine being there with the pelicans doing what they were doing, it must have been really exhilarating to be able to ride the storm like that.

The God I know, the one who sent Jesus, His Son, to walk on this earth as a man to experience first hand your reality and mine. That Jesus suffered pressure, and expectations, and misunderstandings and crowds mobbed Him, and He was persecuted, and He was ultimately killed. And yet, as you read about Jesus in the books Matthew, Mark, Luke and John’s Gospels, He kind of did what those pelican did.

Time and again, He drew away into a quiet place to pray, away from the crowds, away from other people, away from everything and then He’d come out and ride the storm. He’d deal with the misunderstanding and the criticisms with such grace, such wisdom so wonderfully. And then He’d go back and pray again.

Whoever we are, wherever we are in our spiritual journey, I think we have something to learn from what Isaiah was talking about. He said, "If we go and wait on God – if we do what those pelicans did or what Jesus did, go into that safe harbour (that harbour of some time with God), sitting in His presence just waiting, just taking our problems and resting them on Him – we can then come out around the headland and rise up into the storm, and ride the storm."

I love Isaiah’s words, "Even youths will grow weary and faint" (I know what that was like) “and the young will fall exhausted”, (boy, I know what that was like) “but those who wait on God will renew their strength.” It’s like God fills you up again. It’s like we’re giving out all the time in life, in relationships at work at home we’re giving out.

But when we come and rest in God’s presence, He renews our strengths. He refreshes us, He does something to us that no one else can do because He’s God. And Isaiah says, "They’ll rise up with wings like eagles, they’ll run and not be weary, they’ll walk and not faint they’ll ride the storm, they’ll enjoy their lives."

If God’s God, don’t you think He means us to enjoy our life? God has this gift to give us, this love, this energy, this renewal, this strength. So that we can live the lives that He intended, so we can soar like eagles, so we can do the things that God made us to do.

Those who wait on God will renew their strength. They’ll rise up with wings like eagles!