Do You Soar Or Flap?

Have you ever wondered why some birds soar effortlessly through the air while others seem to work hard just to stay aloft? There are several birds that can soar. Here are a few: eagles, seagulls, pelicans, falcons, vultures, ospreys, hawks, and even the small woodswallow. What makes these soaring birds fly so effortlessly?

Let’s look at the eagle; a bird of prey that often represents beauty and grace, power and courage. Eagles are lighter than they appear, having hollow bones. In addition, the wings of eagles are larger in comparison to their body weight than that of most other birds, allowing them to use a “soaring” type of flight in addition to the “flapping” type other birds use. Eagles soar by spreading their long rectangular wings, allowing the rising warm air current (called thermals) to keep them from tumbling to the ground, similar to how airplanes fly. Not only does soaring allow eagles to reach great heights, soaring also uses less energy than does flapping, thus eagles can fly long periods of time without rest.

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 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.”

Those words come from Isaiah 40:28-31 and they are some of my favorite words in all the Bible. Boiled down, the verses so beautifully convey the hopeful and encouraging message that if we depend upon Jesus completely, even in our weakest moments, an amazing thing happens … we get renewed strength.

Let’s be honest, life does at times wear us down (we grow tired and weary) and at times we stumble and fall. But if we depend upon Jesus by putting our trust and hope completely in Him, then we will not only get renewed strength to tackle whatever life throws at us, we will also soar to new heights. And just like the eagle, we can fly higher and longer without growing weary.

As today’s passage tells us, by putting our hope in Jesus in all situations, we can learn to “soar” rather than strenuously “flap” our wings, using up so much energy. The apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12 (vv.9-10) that God’s power is made perfect in weakness and by tapping into Jesus, even when we are weak, we are strong, we are enabled to bear it all.

Jesus says this – “If you are tired from carrying heavy burdens, come to me and I will give you rest. Take the yoke I give you. Put it on your shoulders and learn from me. I am gentle and humble, and you will find rest. This yoke is easy to bear, and this burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30, CEV).

As I often do, allow me to provide some context. The Jews were weighed down (yoked) by the rules put in place by the religious leaders of the day. The Mosaic Law, 613 commandments found in the Old Testament, was made even more difficult to keep by the many man-made laws added by those leaders. Jesus saw this as an unbearable burden. In this passage. Jesus is not promising we will carry no weight, but instead, he promises the weight will be appropriate (easy to bear). And the weight we carry, it is not carried alone, if we are yoked to Jesus.       

So, maybe today, you find yourself worn out and weary, and you simply cannot flap your wings one more time. Maybe you feel weak and vulnerable. Or maybe you are facing some situation that just seems too big to handle on your own. If that is you, then I encourage you right now to ask Jesus for an exchange. You give Him your weariness, your weakness, your tiredness, or your fearfulness and in return He promises to give you renewed hope, renewed strength, and a renewed breath of warm air that will lift your wings! I do not fully understand the exchange, but from experience I know it to be true.

You can soar and not needlessly flap. You can soar like an eagle!

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