Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary… They that wait upon the Lord mount up. I. WITH THE VIGOUR OF EAGLES. In all true Christians there must be a considerable attention to heavenly things. They are all exhorted to "set their affections on things which are above, and not on things, which are on the earth." Therefore, they cannot be true believers whose minds are not under the influence of spiritual and heavenly objects. But, among true Christians there is a great difference. Some have their minds much more in heaven than others. This difference arises from their difference in waiting upon God. Waiting upon God their faith becomes strong and lively; their love pure and fervent; their hope joyful and blessed. These graces, like the wings of an eagle, lift their souls above worldly things. Their flight is sustained so long as these wings of the renewed soul continue unwearied; and when, like all things belonging to the human soul, they wax feeble, their strength is renewed by waiting upon God. They who do not wait upon God are weighed down to the earth, and find the concerns of this world, like the fogs and mists of a darkened atmosphere, clouding their prospects and obstructing their progress. II. WITH THE EASE OF THE EAGLE. There is not only a strength of character, but a simplicity, an ease belonging to them who wait upon God with diligence and constancy to which others who are deficient in this duty can never attain. Now religion is eminent and exalted in proportion as it is easy and unconstrained. III. WITH THE ELEVATION OF EAGLES. With what majesty does the eagle soar through the heavens and pursue his lofty course, unmoved by those little persecutions of the feathered race which equally bespeak their fear, and their conscious inferiority! Here you behold a fit emblem of the man who, by waiting upon God, mounts up with wings; and, nobly disregarding the censures of the world, which originate in a consciousness of its own inferior excellence, and in a hatred of those qualities it can never reach, pursues his heavenly flight without one retaliating stroke, without one malignant feeling. And see how, even in his sublimest course, his eagle eye surveys with interest the concerns of this lower world. By waiting upon God he is enabled to unite the benevolence, the magnanimity, and the heavenliness of the saint, with the sobriety, the wisdom, and the activity of the citizen of the world. (M. Jackson.) Parallel Verses KJV: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. |
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