“Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 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.” (Isaiah 40:30-31). Perhaps the most famous young man who attempted to mount up with wings as eagles but utterly fell was Icarus from Greek myth. Many of us are familiar with at least part of his story. His father Daedalus made for both Icarus and himself wings of feathers held together with wax. He warned him not to fly too close to the sun or the heat would melt the wax and he would fall. But, and this is the part that we sometimes forget, Daedalus also warned Icarus not to fly too low, or the water would soak the feathers and he would also fall and drown. It is just as lethal for us to think too little of ourselves and live and dream below our potential and beneath our privilege as it is for us to dream too big and overextend ourselves. Luckily for us, if we will only rely on the Lord, then He can guide us and help us to understand when we are thinking too small and we need to stop walking and pick up the pace and run, and also when we need to rein it in and wait on His timing and slow things down to a sustainable walk. In this way we can run and not be weary and walk and not faint. We can mount up on eagle’s wings and soar neither too low nor too high.
