I may go back across the years long vanished,
I may resume my childhood, Lord, in Thee, When in the shadow of Thy cross are banished
All other shadows that encompass me : And o'er the road that now is dark and dreary.
This soul, made buoyant by the strength of rest, Shall walk imtii'ed, shall run and not be weary,
To bear the blessing that has made it blest. ^
TIL They shall mount . . . they shall run . . . they shall walk.
1. That is a most noticeable sequence. Look at it. " They shall mount up with wings . . . ; they shall run . . . ; they shaU walk." Flying, running, walking. At first sight this
^ G. H. Morgan. ^ j^ j) jones, Ulims of JAfe, p. 140.
* George Mathesou,
246 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
looks like an anticlimax, and the promise reads like a descend- ing promise. If we had wished to use these phrases to illustrate the eJEfects of the strength which God supplies, and if we had wished to use them in an ascending scale so that each should intensify and carry to a higher point the assertion made in the other, we should have inverted the order, and should have read the clauses thus : " They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength ; they shall walk, and not faint ; they shall run, and not be weary ; they shall mount up with wings as eagles." But the. prophet begins with the fiying and ends with, the walking. It looks at first sight, I repeat, as if it were a descending and diminishing promise ; as if the progress were from greater to less, and from less to least. As Dr. George Adam Smith puts it, " Soaring, running, walking ; and is not the next stage, a cynic might ask, standing still ? " ^
Those who turned the passage into metre for our use in praise in the Paraphrases, have changed the order into what might be supposed more natural ; walking first, then running, and last the eagle's fiight. Yet no doubt the order as it stands has its reason and its force. It may be simply this, that the eagle-flight is the Christian's burst of early joy and praise ; the unwearied running the main onward ardour of an active Christian course ; the walk without fainting, the last calm steps and firm, that land the saint in glory. But I prefer to find a principle in it, viz., that in accordance with the whole strain of reflection to which the text has led us, the perseverance of grace is more remarkable than even its occasional triumphs ; that the daily course it runs, and the persistence with which it goes further and further, the more the Lord has for it to do, is that which most effectually proves its Divine origin and character. Let us only wait upon the Lord, be wholly, constantly, and vitally dependent upon Him, then we shall renew our strength, change and interchange it too. Wh^^ soaring is needful " we shall mount up on wings as eagles " ; when rapid^ steady, onward progress is to be made, " we shall run and not be weary " ; but always and all through we shall persevere, " we shall walk and not faint." ^
* J. D. Jones, Elims of Life, p. 141, ^ J. Laidlaw.
ISAIAH 247
Strength will come for every day's endurance, Grace all the way, and glory at the end.
IFMany cyclists find the three-speed interchangeable gear of great service in varieties of road and weather. Along a good surface, and with a favourable wind, by using the high gear one can easily have a short burst at the rate of from fifteen to twenty miles an hour. When things are not so favourable it is easy to change to the middle gear. With the low gear it is possible to climb stiff hills or continue to ride in the teeth of a gale. May we not see in this an illustration of the true Christian who by waiting on the Lord renews or changes his strength ?
A sudden emergency arises and with Christian audacity he courageously attempts the task, he mounts up and is victorious. The demand calls for strenuous effort possibly somewhat prolonged ; again, through waiting, his strength is changed, and once more he is victorious. Or, greatest triumph of all, his task is the monotonous plodding of daily duty in the face of adverse influence, and with nothing apparently heroic in the work ; but he waits on the Lord, his strength is changed, and he walks without fainting,
2. There is no doubt that we have here a kind of historic treatment of the condition of Israel, of the way in whichjGod's- people rise triumphantly above their difficjilties, and then march onward in the greatness of their strength. ] What was the first thing they needed ? They were in the grasp of the heathen, surrounded by a great wall of captivity. The iron bonds of the strong were around them, the high walls of imprisonment were there. ■■ They were like birds in a cage. What do they require first ? Why, eagles' wings, of course, to escape from their prison. They must get up out of this imprisoning barrier some way or other, and God must lend them the strong wings of the eagle that they may soar until they surmount the barriers, and find themselves in the free heaven of ~ liberty again. What do they need next ? They must begin their national life anew with enthusiasm. They must haste to build up Zion again. Their hands must not tire by night or day until they have completed the building of the temple of the Lord. Every nerve that belongs to them, every muscle, every power must be devoted to the task ! They must run for a time, for there is haste and urgency, and much to be done in a short time.