With Wings Like Eagles

“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” — Isaiah 40:28-31

These verses have meant a lot to me over the years, although at times, most of the time, actually, I don’t think I understand them. However, lately they just keep coming up in the most random ways.

One of the times they’ve come up lately was on a devo I listen to most mornings. It’s an app called MessengerX. This particular day the devotional was by Addison Bevere.

“Have you ever found yourself stuck in a season of waiting— not because you’re lazy or disengaged, but because you genuinely want to obey God and just don’t have clarity? You can’t see the timing. You don’t know the next step. That in-between place can quietly steal your peace.

Waiting can feel like wasting. Like you’re falling behind. Like God has gone silent.

But Isaiah 40 tells us a different story: ‘They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles…’ that image of the eagle has helped me reframe what waiting really looks like.

I see three postures:

First, there’s the perched eagle— wings folded, sitting still. Sometimes our waiting looks like this. We’ve been disappointed or hurt, so we shut down. We call it wisdom, but often it’s fear. We’re not trusting; we’re protecting.

Then there’s the frantic eagle— wings flapping constantly. This is striving. Forcing outcomes. Overthinking. Pushing doors open. But even the strongest effort has limits. Eventually, we grow weary.

And then there’s the soaring eagle— wings spread. Eyes alert. Searching for the current.

This is the waiting Isaiah describes. It’s not passive, and it’s not frantic. It’s an active trust. Positioned. Attentive. Ready. Eagles don’t soar through constant effort; they soar by catching the wind. They yield to what they cannot control, and what once required striving becomes lift.

Maybe your waiting isn’t punishment. Maybe it’s positioning.

Instead of folding your wings or exhausting yourself trying to manufacture momentum, what if you spread your wings in faith? Stay attentive. Stay sensitive. Adjust when the Spirit moves.

God knows the currents you cannot see. As you wait on Him, He renews your strength— and in time, He will lift you higher than striving ever could.”

What has often confused me about these verses is not only the posture of the eagle (because I honestly knew nothing about eagles) but also, the question of how on earth one could get to a point in waiting that could parallel with running and not growing weary and walking and not growing faint.

This has not been my experience with waiting. If anything, it’s been the opposite.

So how can this verse be true?

How do I find the courage to spread my wings again after disappointment has, once again, left me feeling defeated? How do catch the current so I’m not wearing myself out, flapping, striving to keep myself going?

When I brought these questions to the Lord, He highlighted one phrase to me, and then asked me a question.

“But those who wait for the Lord…”

Kristen, who or better yet, what are you waiting for?

This question struck my heart because I suddenly noticed that the verse didn’t say,“Those who wait will renew their strength.” Nor did is say, “Those who are in a waiting season will renew their strength.” And it definitely didn’t say, “Those who wait or survive waiting will be stronger because of it.”

Oh, and one more… It didn’t say, “But those who wait for the Lord (to give them a husband, a baby, a job, a healing, an answered prayer, fill in the blank) will renew their strength.”

The eagle posture we hold is entirely dependent upon the what or Whom we are waiting for.

My heart has struggled lately. Even that statement feels like an understatement. I have found myself in the perched posture mostly, if I’m being honest. I’m exhausted and I know a lot of other people around me are exhausted as well. I keep trying to figure out how on earth I’m supposed to keep encouraging others when I too am too tired to spread my wings. I did the flapping thing too. It wasn’t in a trying-to-take-things-into-my-own-hands kind of striving, but it was along the lines of whipping my heart into shape to impress God kind of striving. There were a couple days I even thought that maybe I was getting somewhere. Bless.

But as I’ve sat with God in these verses over the last several weeks, I am becoming more and more aware of my own brokenness in waiting. Yes, I’ve talked about having great faith, and waiting well— I’ve written all about it in the past. I still stand by and believe all of it. However, I’m not talking about faith here, although I think what I am talking about is impossible without faith. But, you must know, I still struggle deeply with the wait itself. I struggle with the “why” questions, the insane loneliness, and the fight against the weary cycle of doubt, fear, and anger. This isn’t a cake walk for anyone.

Yet, according to Isaiah, the promise of waiting for the Lord is the renewal of strength, and we will have something along the lines of a runners high.

I was talking with a friend of mine about this verse and he was talking about the freedom of birds. “They can’t actually fly without gravity also pulling at them” He said, “The same is true with our freedom, there has to be a tension or a resistance that comes with it.”

Here is my conclusion: Waiting is the tension. But the Lord is the wind.

If we only wait for the answered prayer (fill in the blank), the tension will be so great we will fall, or we will get so discouraged we will give up trying.

But, if we wait for the Lord, if we catch the current of the wind, we will find strength and endurance we didn’t know existed.

However, the risk here is that we must be ok with route the wind takes us. We must give up control. We must trust.

But, we are not trusting in a Being who hasn’t revealed Himself to us. “Have you not known? Have you not heard?” No, we are trusting in “the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary: His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength.”

Your encouragement for the week:

Wait with the intention of knowing God (Philippians 3:8). Wait for His Presence every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). Wait for His Voice (Isaiah 30:21). Wait for His Spirit (John 16:13). Wait in His Word (Psalm 19:7-11). Wait for Him to reveal His heart (1 Corinthians 2: 6-13). Wait for Him to show you His love (Romans 8:38-39). Wait for Him to give you His peace (Isaiah 26:3). Wait for His leading (Psalm 32:8). Wait for Him. Catch His Current. Watch as He renews your strength. Spread your wings and mount up with wings like eagles.