Soaring On Broken Wings

Here I go with another long post and it may have just been something for me, but I hope that it will be an encouragement to you as it was to me when reading these things. God works in such wondrous ways and I thank Him for His goodness in my life!

This verse came to mind yesterday while I was reading my Bible. I have read it many times and it has been a help to me many times, but yesterday when I read it I began to dig a little deeper and thinking about how we are compared to the eagle. I did some research and found out some things about eagles that I really did not know. Nothing big just some interesting facts.

There are 59 different species of eagles but people are most familiar with the bald eagle. The Bald Eagle is our National Symbol and does represent freedom. This I did know, but somethings I did not know~ eagles can have a wing span of 8ft. and they can fly up to 65mph. When they are diving they can fly up to speeds of 200mph. and they can soar at altitudes of 10,000ft. God so enabled them to soar at these heights because eagles will when faced with a storm rise above it.

As humans I found out that we can climb to about 8,000ft. normally, but beyond that we may begin to feel quite sick if we did not have oxygen, and 10,000ft for a human can be fatal. But yet God compared us as Christians to eagles! This so amazed me when I read these things. Like I said above its nothing big just interesting, but it was inspiring to read how God made these beautiful and majestic creatures and compares little me to them.

As I read more about these eagles though I found something sad. An eagles bones in their wings are hollow inside and if their bones become broken it could shatter them and cause then to never be able to fly again. However if the bone is not shattered after given some time to heal they can soar again. It did make me sad though to think about how such a beautiful creator could have its freedom taken away in just a moments time.

I began to think about how we are compared to them. How sometimes in our lives we are faced with such circumstances that we become broken. I have known people who have faced such difficult things in their lives that they gave up on God. It was as if they had broken wings and could not find the strength to carry on.

It saddens me to think of where these people are now because they did not allow God to heal their brokenness, instead they have chosen to live a life of bitterness toward the Lord and for something that they could have found strength in Him for. Now don’t get me wrong I am NOT putting these people down. I have felt at times like I was the one with the broken wings and I have lived with bitterness inside, but I must give God all the glory because even just recently I have found victory in Him.

Sometimes we face storms that are so big and so real and they can cause us to fall and leave us feeling empty and defeated, but there is such great promise from God in this verse. He said... “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, they shall walk and not faint.” Did you notice that He mentioned the word “shall” 4 times in this verse? What a promise that is...He did not say we might find strength in Him, He said we SHALL find strength in Him.

My main thought in this study was this~ I know that we are compared to the eagle because we too can rise above the storm, but I also know that the eagle can’t fly on broken wings, and I began to think about us as Christians? Can we find the strength to soar even when our lives are so broken? God knows our hearts and where we are, He said he would never leave us. So my question was this~ Can we soar on broken wings?

As I read this verse over and over I came to the decision that we can! How? Because one way we are not like the eagle is this~ an eagle trust in his own strength and the strength that is in his wings to help him fly because that is all he knows, we as Christians do not trust in ourselves. I am so thankful that I know someone so much greater! We trust in the Lord and even when we are broken we can still soar above the storm because we have faith in the Lord to help us rise above our doubts and fears.

As I kept reading this verse at the end it says~ “they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.” I began to think about an athlete for a minute and how it takes much training and stamina to run or walk for long distances and not grow weary and tired. Now physically I am ashamed to admit that I would not make it very far without having to stop for a break, but I began to question myself spiritually, am I running for Him with all the strength that He provides or am I fainting under the load and fearing what my future will hold?

I began to ask myself why do I worry about the things ahead? Now is the time to stand strong in the Lord.

Something else I read about Bald Eagles that I found to be amazing is that they usually only way about 10-15lbs but they can carry up to 5lbs of weight in their talons. That is half of their own body weight! but the weight of something any heavier and it would pull them down.

I began to think about how if we dwell on what is in the future or even what tomorrow holds it can pull us down because we will begin to fret over what we don’t know. I have found myself in this place many times even here lately, but what God has shown me is that worrying about tomorrow does me no good at all because I don’t even have a promise of tomorrow.

An eagle can soar with such freedom and strength but he can only do this if he is healthy and strong. We as Christians can soar with freedom and strength too! Freedom because we have been freed and washed in Jesus blood and in strength even when we don’t feel like it. We can soar even when we are frail and week because we have the Lord who is almighty and powerful that we are trusting in.

I must thank the Lord and give Him all the praise and glory for the strength and help I have found in this verse. What a wonderful promise God has given us that we SHALL find our strength in Him if we wait for His timing.