Soaring, Running, Walking

In my quiet time this morning, I was encouraged by Him, who knows my inmost thoughts...

I was finishing a book by John Ortberg titled, "If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat". The nineth chapter was talking about waiting and it said, "God's voice is never frantic. When you hear desperate thoughts, you can know it is not God speaking. You can wait in confident humility." And immediately I thought of the desperate thoughts from yesterday that were sending me into a tailspin....Those desperate thoughts may have began as a questioning thought of growing in Christ, but how they continued and how they became more and more desperate were not of Him....

Then he quoted the scripture from Isaiah:

Even youths will faint and be weary,

and the young will fall exhausted;

but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength,

they shall mount up with wings like eagles,

they shall run and not be weary,

they shall walk and not faint.

And then Ortberg when on to teach:

      Flapping keeps you up in the air, but it is a lot of work....Gliding builds up enough speed, then coasts downward a while. It is much more graceful than flapping, but unfortunately it does not get the bird very far.  Soaring...only a few birds are capable of this....where they are capable of catching rising currents of warm air and without moving a feather can soar up to great heights.....Isaiah says that for those who wait on the Lord, times will come when they soar.....Sometimes in your life you will be in an era of spiritual soaring....Be very grateful.  Do all you can to stay in the stream of the Spirit's power - be very obedient as the Spirit guides you.....You are walking on the water.  You are soaring with the Spirit.  

     But there is another line in Isaiah's description.  Sometimes we are not soaring, but we are able to run and not grow weary.  If this is where you are, your life isn't feeling effortless.  You do not see a lot of miracles.  You have to do some flapping.  But with persisitence and determination you know you are running the race.  You feel frustration, but you also feel God's pleasure in your obedience....Do not try to manufacture spiritual ecstasy.  Do not compare yourself with someone who is soaring right now.  Your time will come.  Just keep running.

      Then there is a third condition that Isaiah describes.  Sometimes we will not be soaring, and we cannot run - because of doubt or pain or fatigue or failure.  In those times all we can do is walk and not faint.  This is not water-walking.  It is just plain walking.  All we can do is say, "God, I'll hang on.  I don't seem too fruitful or productive, and I don't feel very triumphant.  But I won't let go.  I will obey you.  I'll just keep walking.".....

       Sometimes in Jesus' life-as when he was on the Mount of Transfiguration or when he called his friend Lazarus out of the tomb-Jesus soared.....At other times-as when he wept over the defiance of Jerusalem, when he was frustrated with the slowness of his disciples....life was tougher.  yet he kept running....But when it came time to take the road to Calvary, he wasn't soaring.  When the cross was placed on his bruised and bleeding back, he wasn't running.  He walked.  He was a young man, but he stumbled and fell that day.  All he could do was get back up and walk some more.

      Sometimes walking is all we can do.  But in those times, walking is enough.  Maybe it is when life is the hardest, when we want so badly to quit, but we say to God, "I won't quit.   I'll keep putting one foot in front of the other.  I'll take up my cross.  I'll follow Jesus even on this road." Maybe God prizes our walking even more than our soaring and our running. ...

       We have some very fast runners in our world.  We have some eagles that soar much higher than we can see.  It is a hard thing to be a walker when you are surrounded by racers and eagles.  But sometimes walking is the best we can offer God. He understands all about that.  Walking counts too.

What a beautiful reminder to me this morning that it's not all about the soaring....I've read this scripture so many times, have it highlighted in my Bible, but I think more often than not, I always left it thinking, "When will I soar?  Why am I not soaring?"  But now, I have a whole new appreciation for it!  Jesus soared, Jesus ran, Jesus walked and so will I.  I will never stop.