Seeking God on Wednesday
I was on a fishing trip in Canada a few years ago and bald eagle sightings were an everyday occurrence. We saw them feeding their young in meticulously constructed nests, dive bombing like Kamakazis to snatch defenseless Walleyes, and my personal favorite, soaring higher, farther, and faster in the face of ever changing wind gusts. I marvelled how they utilized those gale forces to their benefit. God has equipped the eagle with massive wings that have hundreds of feathers that function like flaps on an airplane guiding its movement and speed. What are adverse winds for lesser birds are advantage winds for eagles. In fact, eagles have been sighted in hurricane force winds soaring effortlessly. Turbulence in life is inevitable for everyone and we have a choice to struggle and eventually be grounded by it or, like the eagle, rise to greater heights. How can this happen? God wants to give us wings that will enable us to turn adversity into advantage, anxiety into confidence, fatigue into energy, confusion into clarity, and defeat into victory. His wings can guide our every movement in life no matter what we face and then make adjustments when and where needed. How do we get these wings? ”…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 40:31). This hope of which Isaiah wrote is not a wishful thinking but rather a “blessed assurance” that God wants and wills to display his presence and power in and through us. When that happens, we will marvel at how we are able to soar higher, farther, and faster in the face of life’s ever changing winds.
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverence.” (James 1:2, 3)