May 2, 2023
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I've always been fascinated by eagles. I didn't get to see many of them around New York City. I mean, except for the ones that came from Philadelphia to play the Giants occasionally. But it's always been an exciting event for me to see an eagle. There's something very inspiring about them. When one of my Navajo friends and I were together, I asked him about eagles. And he sees a lot of them where he's from. And he told me about some amazing observations that he's made about them.
He's watched an eagle leave their cliff-top nest and then begin to drop immediately into that valley below. Now you would expect them to start flapping their wings madly. Right? No, they don't do that, not even to stop their fall. In fact, the eagle is virtually powerless to help himself. So if the eagle can't do it, how does he fly? Wind currents from the valley below literally lift that eagle. His job isn't to flap his wings; it's to wait for the wind.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Power When You're Powerless."
As my Navajo friend told me about where the power comes from for the eagle's flight, I couldn't stop thinking about one of my favorite passages in the Bible; maybe you're thinking of it too. Our word for today from the Word of God, Isaiah 40, beginning at verse 28, "Do you know? Have you not heard the Lord is the everlasting God? He's 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 youth 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." Wow!
Now, here's a mighty God who is never tired, never weary and powerless people. Maybe that's where you get into the picture right now. Maybe weary is a good word for you. Maybe you're physically depleted or you're emotionally spent, or mentally shot. This is great news for people who don't have much left. Maybe you're weak like it says here. Your resources are just no match for the challenge. Your wisdom is not enough to figure this one out. Right? You can contribute little or nothing to an answer. Sounds like the eagle! This says you can soar on wings like eagles.
The eagle virtually has nothing to do with his ability to fly. He is lifted by a force outside of himself to do things he could never do on his own. And God says He wants to do that for you. This is great! God says, "Your flight in these powerless times has nothing to do with your strength. So when you're in a time of weakness, or weariness, you have every reason to be expectant, not depressed. This is a time when there's not much of you, but when there's going to be a whole lot of God.
Do you know, it's at the moments of powerlessness that we finally recognize, even the place where our relationship with God starts. Because that's when we realize we need someone else to lift us, even to ever get to heaven when we die, to ever have our sins forgiven, we can't do it. To ever have the emptiness in our heart filled, to find that love that's eluded us in every lifetime relationship. And when we realize we have nothing to contribute, we cannot possibly fly our way out of this flapping our wings, that's when we finally say, "Jesus, what you did on the cross is my hope, dying for my sins. And beginning today I am yours."
You are that one step of surrender away from experiencing the greatest love and the greatest power in the universe. I don't know if you've ever begun a relationship with Jesus. If you never have, and you want to get that settled, would you go to our website today. I've tried to spell that out there as simply as possible with statements from God's Word how that relationship with Him can begin for you today. Here's the website - ANewStory.com.
So those who hope in Him, the Bible says, will renew their strength. You fly on your own, you're going to crash. Maybe you're in a weak or weary time. Don't start flapping your wings madly. God says you're an eagle. You'll eventually soar if you do what you're supposed to do; trust your Creator's strength and ride on His wind.