One of the most loved and most quoted verses in the Bible is Isaiah 40:28-31- “Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.”

It is the latter part of that passage which holds special meaning. The image of an eagle has profound meaning to many. From the end of the Hobbit when the heroes are surrounded by hordes of goblins only to hear the shout, “The Eagles are coming! The Eagles are coming!” to this passage of Scripture, eagles leave us with a tremendous picture. Even using the eagle as a symbol of our country gives us the impression of strength and dignity.  Consider the following Scriptures:

In Exodus 19:4 we read that God told His people that “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians. You know how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself.”

Deuteronomy 32:11 is where Moses writes, “Like an eagle that rouses her chicks and hovers over her young, so he spread his wings to take them up and carried them safely on his pinions.”

Countless times in Psalms we read of being under the protective care of the wings of a bird. The wings of eagles depict God’s protective nature and tender care.

This passage in Isaiah 40 has an ever more beautiful meaning. Often at a funeral as I’m trying to give words of comfort to the grieving family during my talk, I will use the story of a mother eagle teaching her eaglets how to fly. When it is time to leave the nest, the mother will gently nudge her young out of the nest, but not abandon it. As the eaglet falls and is unable to fly, the mother will swoop under it, “bear it up,” and take it to the nest only to repeat the process until the eaglet can gain strength to fly on its own.

Surely you can see that is exactly what God does for His loved ones. We are “pushed out” of the nest and when we falter, where our strength is lax, God bears us up. We are taken for a rest only to be challenged again. Eventually, we learn that God’s strength is sufficient.

No matter what kind of day you are facing, may you know His strength. May you know He never abandons you…EVER.

{All Scripture references are the New Living Translation}