Burdens, Ashes, and Angel Wings
Isaiah 40:31 reads: “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they will run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.”
How many of us lay awake at night worried or anxious about our kids, marriage, job, finances, the world, our health, and the list goes on and on? These are all burdens that weigh us down. They keep us distracted and rob us of our joy, peace, and rest. Burdens are defined according to the Bible as “A prophecy of a calamitous or disastrous nature.” (Easton’s Bible Dictionary)
Most of the great prophets of the Bible carried heavy burdens. Habakkuk, for example, had a burden. He saw in a vision: “O Lord how long should I cry, and will you not listen to me?” (Habakkuk 1:2) See Habakkuk witnessed the evil and saw the suffering, justice was far off and Habakkuk wrestled trying to wrap his mind about what he knew to be true of God and what he was feeling.
How often I have felt that same way. I pray: Lord do hear my cries? Do you hear the prayers I have prayed? Do you see, Lord, the suffering I am enduring? The countless hours of seeking Your face? I am left undone with tears that make my face dry up.
Habakkuk asked these types of questions to the Lord. “Why do You show me iniquity and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me. Their strife and contention arise. (Habakkuk 1:3)
The Recent Painful Season in My Life
Over the past nine months the Lord has taken me through a season of exposing evil. He has lifted the veil and given me eyes to see truth - His truth. This has been a very painful season and has caused me great sorrow and grief, leaving me burdened and undone. Somedays the grief has been more than I could handle. My heart has been left scorched. My mind has raced with thoughts that looped over and over. So many of my questions have never been answered.
Tell me, have you experienced this type of season? Can you relate? Has your mind raced and actually gotten stuck and rehashing the same thought, like a tape recorder that stays on repeat? Or better yet, have you wondered when you were going to wake up from this bad dream?
Pain and loss can actually keep us stuck, trapped in our grief and sorrow, and stuck in what I call a “freeze mode” where we are unable to see our way through this dark valley. We have become so burdened by our circumstances that we are unable to move forward through the valley of despair. When we experience such dark times, the once-upon-a-time simple tasks of brushing our teeth, or our hair seem overwhelming, even simply washing our face seems daunting. Not to mention just trying to get up to face the new day. Have you felt this way before? Maybe you are in this place today; completely undone in your body, soul, and spirit - crushed, shattered, and betrayed. Looking around and all that seems to be left are ashes from your shattered dreams? Maybe you, like me, have questions that flood your entire body wondering how you got here and why?
Hope for today
Why does God give us ashes and mourning? Without His truth we would stay stuck, trapped in a spiritual prison, stuck in a small cell where we could NOT experience the goodness and faithfulness of God. Without the door being opened and Him offering us the choice to walk through the door and into freedom, we would remain trapped in our prison of defeat - stuck in that loop of defeatist thoughts, stuck in freeze mode, and stuck in our grief and sorrow. Being stuck can also cause us to abandon hope while in a season of anguish, sorrow, and dejection. We may become blinded by the familiarity of it all. We may even feel comfortable that this is our lot due to our fear that paralyzes us from moving forward through the prison door and into freedom. Is it because of our fear of the unknown concerning what may be on the other side of that door? However, we must believe that according to Isaiah 63:9: In all our troubles He (God) was troubled. He is there in the midst of our distresses. He is with us as the Messenger Who saves us through it all. In His great love and compassion He reclaims and restores us. He always holds us and carries as He has in the past. He is our Deliverer, our Stronghold, our Refuge in the time of trouble. NO, we are not to stay in the valley. He brings us through it!
What do we truly know in our hearts of hearts?
God’s heart’s desire is to open the door for us and give us our angel wings to fly! His heart for His children is to allow us to see truth, wrestle with our hard questions, and move through the destruction so that we can enter our promise land. We have to choose to believe and land on a few of these solid truths:
God is working
God hears us
God sees us
God is sovereign
Romans 8:35-38: says: “I am convinced that nothing can separate us from God’s love— not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.”
Isaiah 40: 31 reads: “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; they shall walk, and not faint.”
Did you notice? We will gain new strength as we mount up on wings like those of the eagles. As we run the race of life, we won’t get tired or even be weary. Even if, destruction, evil and suffering come our way, God will be with us, He is for us and God is victorious! Our faith is strengthen as we choose to believe, just as Habakkuk, “the just shall by faith” Habakkuk 2:2-3.
In Psalms 91:14-16 the Lord writes: “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My Name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.”
So, will you trade your burdens and ashes for ANGEL WINGS? God’s good and perfect will for you is to deliver you and set you on High because you know His Name! Join me in praying as we both walk forward, trusting in God’s promises and His character. We make the choice to lay down our heavy burdens and ashes at Jesus’ feet, in exchange, God will give us His rest, perfect love, peace, and joy!
Finally, Habakkuk tells us in Chapter 3: 17-18 “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the field yields no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. “
~~ Elizabeth Cameron Bowman, BCBC, ARS