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. Isa 40:30-31
As I was preparing to preach from this passage last Sunday (you can hear the message, Catching our Second Wind, online at www.metro-kc.org by clicking on sermons), I was struck for the first time (after reading it over and over again over thirty-four years!) concerning the order of the various movements--from flying to running to walking.
It seems opposite from the more natural way I would tend to think--from walking to running to flying. But God's ways are not like ours once again. As I meditated on this, I considered a possible application to our Christian experience.
When God renews our strength, the first thing the Father in heaven does is lift us up in spiritual "flight" to the heavenlies by his grace and power in order to connect us to his great heart and give us a heavenly and eternal perspective on our earthly life. Secondly, he gives us a deeper revelation and appreciation for the finished redemptive work of Jesus Christ (accomplished in all that accompanied his first coming). We are enabled to "run" back to in history and then "run" forward into our present bringing with us the strength and power of that historic act that propels us with his might into our life. Finally, our spirituality becomes practical and concrete by "walking" out the routines and mundane tasks of our present life with a sense of "life as worship"--giving substance to the reality that our very body, along with all the stuff of our humanity, are a living sacrifice--acceptable and well pleasing to God. The Holy Spirit, our inner companion and friend, in concert with the will of the Father and Son, nudges and leads us in the details of our daily walk of faith in Christ.
So, we fly to the Father, we run with the Son and we walk by the Spirit.
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