Walking

I know I wrote previously about the book ‘Your God is too Safe’ - but there´s another part of it that´s been rattling around my head ever since I finished the book a month ago. It´s to do with a passage from Isaiah 40. It culminates with the oft- quoted part

‘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.’

This has been the inspiration for various worship songs, particularly ‘soaring on wings like eagles´. It seems that that part is supposed to be our aim. Our relationship with God is supposed to get to the point where we can soar through life, without effort or struggle; simply soaring in his presence and power.

But then this is only the beginning; ‘running and not growing weary’ comes next and then ‘walking and not fainting´. In the norms of poetry used in Isaiah, the culmination of an idea comes last, rather than being first and then explained, as we often assume of this passage.

So that would actually mean that what God desires for us is to walk and not faint. That´s the aim of our developing relationship with God. The soaring is simply a step towards that. It made me think of a parachute jump – which I guess is the nearest any of us can get to soaring like eagles. I´ve not actually done a parachute jump, but we often imagine that it takes huge amounts of courage…. But on second thoughts, perhaps not. It actually just requires a split second of bravery (or even the gentle push from a friend) as you jump from the plane. Then you just soar, but even that only lasts a few minutes before you´re on the ground again. So much of our Christian experience agrees with this idea – a great event or a great worship time gives us that experience of soaring in God´s presence, but soon we´re back down to earth, searching for the next plane ride and parachute pack.

And yet, this passage tells us that soaring isn´t the aim. Walking is. It seems he wants us to get past our desire for soaring, and get on with walking. Walking takes much more effort. It´s not hard, but it is constant. Continually putting one foot in front of the other, keeping on, whatever the circumstances, whatever the weather, whatever the terrain. It´s about keeping on. It is still God, not us that does the sustaining, but it´s in the mundane and the ordinary, even in the continual plodding, not in the extravagance of soaring.

It is God that renews our strength. It´s the experience of ´those who hope in the Lord’. It´s interesting that in Spanish the verb for ‘to hope’ and ‘to wait’ are the same word; esperar. Somehow, hoping in the Lord always seems to involve waiting. And waiting on God always includes hope. And it´s in the ordinary every day that we wait and hope.