“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.” – Isaiah 40:31 NIV
Recently, I did something I haven’t done in a long time: I went sledding. The youngest grandkids were over to see the live nativity program at St. John’s Lutheran. Afterwards, they wanted to go sledding, so we stopped at the middle school hill and joined a half-dozen other children on the icy slope.
I took the youngest in my sled. The middle school hill is nice in that parts of it are very short. Of course, he didn’t want to go down the short part. He wanted to go down where all the other children were sledding. I looked up at the hill, which from my vantage point was looking more and more like Welch Village. But I couldn’t let him down, so up I trudged. When we got to the top, I set the sled down and told him to hop in. “No,” he said, “I want to go over the jump.” So…
Flying down towards the jump, I wondered if this would be my last ride ever. Could the old body hold up? All was well, and it was actually fun, but I know there will come a day when I won’t be able to sled anymore. Year by year, the number of things that I will never do again just grows longer. Such is life.
That is why Isaiah’s words in chapter 40, verse 31 appeal to me. They speak of a time of renewed strength when we will run and not be weary, walk and not feel faint, rising up as on eagle’s wings. I trust that God will fulfill that promise in Isaiah 4:31 because God has already fulfilled Isaiah 40:3. “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” All four gospels say that John the Baptist was this voice who prepared the way for Jesus.
As we prepare to celebrate the coming of Christ, we read the prophecies and the stories of John the Baptist (including how he leaped for joy in Elizabeth’s womb at the approach of the pregnant Mary). We remember how God kept the promises in sending the Messiah. And we look forward to when we won’t have to worry about having the strength to pull a sled up a hill, because we shall be renewed in Christ’s heavenly kingdom.
O come, O come Emmanuel,
Pastor Mark