Wings Like Eagles for the Worn-Out

Isaiah had just sung God's people a shepherd song:
God was coming like a shepherd to carry his lambs close to his heart.
But home was far away,
and Babylon was hot and dusty,
and they had been waiting a very long time.

So Isaiah's words for them,
given by God long before they were needed,
told them to look up.
"Look at the sky," he said.
"Who made all those?
God leads the stars out every evening
like a shepherd with his flock.
He calls each one by its own name.
He is so strong
that not a single one goes missing."

(On a dark night far from any town,
your eyes alone can see a few thousand stars.
A telescope shows so many more
that nobody could ever list them all,
and God knows every one by name.)

But the people did not look up.
They looked at their sore feet.

"God can't see the road we're on," they grumbled.
"He has stopped paying attention.
Nobody up there cares what happens to us."

So God answered them through Isaiah,
and he started with two questions.

"Haven't you known?
Haven't you heard?
The LORD is the forever God.
He made the earth, all the way to the edges.
He never gets tired.
He never runs out of strength.
No one can measure how much he understands.
He gives power to people who are worn out,
and more strength to people who have none."

Think of the fastest boy in Babylon,
who could race anyone to the river and back.
Even he runs out of go.
By the end of the day he is flat on his back in the dust,
red in the face, gulping air,
saying, "Just... one... minute!"

"Even young people get tired," God said.
"Even the strongest trip and fall.
But those who wait for the LORD
will get new strength.
They will rise up on wings like eagles.
They will run and not get tired.
They will walk and not give out."

(An eagle hardly flaps on a long climb.
It spreads its wings wide
and lets the warm air push it up,
higher and higher,
without working at all.)

To wait for the LORD
means to lean your whole weight on him
and trust him to come,
the way an eagle leans on the wind.

God did bring his people home from Babylon.
But the road was long,
the walls were broken,
and even at home their feet still ached,
and their grandparents grew old and slow.

Years went by, and the promise waited.
Then the forever God, who never gets tired,
came walking on feet that did.
He walked the dusty roads.
At noon one day he sat down by a well,
worn out from the long walk.
In a fishing boat he fell asleep
while a storm crashed all around him.
And to the tired crowds he said,
"Come to me, all of you who are weary
and carrying heavy loads,
and I will give you rest."

It was Jesus,
the one who named the stars,
sitting tired beside a well,
with room next to him
for anyone who cannot take another step.