On Eagles Wings

Isiah 40:28-31 - 28 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.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 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.

Day 7 - "He Will Lift Us Up"
Week one is almost over and I feel like I have now seen humility explained from about 1000 different perspectives and examples. I'm glad week 2 begins a new topic. I do not say that as a criticism, but merely as an admission that I want to explore some more topics.

Today's verse is James 4:10 - Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up. The end of that phrase reminded me of an old hymn we used to always sing in church, but that I have not heard in a long time, outside of my own head. If you aren't familiar with the song, check out the lyrics here.

That was always one of my favorites growing up, and I am reminded of it frequently.

Humility has been described in a number of ways, but one of the easiest ways to apply it in my opinion is from a perspective of giving up our pride, self-arrogance, and plans and follow God's will for our lives.

Interestingly enough, eagles do not always have a positive light cast upon them in the bible. For example, they are one of the "unclean" animals not to be eaten (Leviticus 11:13; Deuteronomy 14:12), and foreign armies and oppressors are described as "eagles swooping down on their prey." (Job 9:26) Does this mean anything? Yes and no. Eagles are neither inherently good or evil, but they are a great example of how anything can be used to serve God's will.

Back to the devotional though. "In everyday life the humble and self-effacing person eventually prospers and wins the respect of others far more than the arrogant, proud and powerful person." Sort of, but I'm not sure I'm on board all the way with this one. In the eyes of Christ, yes, but if you thank of the most famous/popular people in the world, who are respected for who knows why the list isn't exactly choc full of "humble and self-effacing," or modest, people. It should be though. In fact, why isn't it?

People cry foul whenever their favorite celebrities and sports stars get caught messing up, but when they are winning, or performing well, their zany tendencies and self-centerdness is ignored. After Michael Vick and Ben Roethlisberger returned to the NFL from their respective suspensions we kept hearing "winning cures everything," and "if they want to silence the boos, they need to win football games." What the heck is that?

Matthew 7:1-5 - 1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."

You know that I'm not saying we should ignore peoples errors and sins, nor do I think we should "boo" someone because of what they did or were accused of doing, but what if we simply encouraged repentance and love, and helped others instead of beating them down? How do we see with these 2X4s in our eyes?