“Fly, You Fools:" Learning to Rise When It Matters

Scripture: Isaiah 40:31
“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.”

Exegetical Insight
In Isaiah 40, God speaks to His weary people in exile.
The Hebrew word qavah (“wait”) means to stretch toward with expectant trust, like a cord pulled tight.
To “mount up with wings like eagles” is not escapism; it means God gives His people the ability to rise when life weighs them down.
As Augustine wrote:
“God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them.”
Waiting on God empties my hands so I can rise by His strength.

1. The Gandalf Moment: When the Mentor Must Release
At the Bridge of Khazad-dûm, Gandalf faces the darkness and shouts:
“Fly, you fools!”
The mentor falls so the mission can continue.
The guide gives the last command so the disciples can grow.
This reflects a principle C.S. Lewis often highlighted:
“Hardship often prepares an ordinary person for an extraordinary destiny.”
In God’s kingdom, rising often begins right when someone who guided me steps back.

2. The Broken Glass: Listening to the Father’s Voice
I (Bill) once broke a glass instant coffee holder near the trash can.
Shards went everywhere.
My 3-year-old daughter who wanted to help was surrounded by broken glass.
She needed to obey every command I gave because she couldn't see the danger I could see.
I took some of the shards in my foot while clearing a safe path for her.
This moment preached a sermon to my own heart:
Obedience is not limitation. Obedience is protection.
Dallas Willard puts it this way:
“Obedience is not a matter of heroics, but of cooperating with the work God is doing in us.”
My daughter learned to trust my voice.
And I realized how often God guides me through dangers I don’t recognize.

3. My Son, His Coach, and Learning to Fly
My son trains with a basketball coach with the team.
He learns technique, discipline, and teamwork.
But the shaping of character—the real coaching—happens at home.
As Lesslie Newbigin, the missiologist, said:
“The gospel gives us not simply a message to communicate but a life to live.”
My role isn’t to keep my son grounded forever.
My role is to prepare him to rise, to step onto his court—his calling—with courage.
One day, he must “fly.”
He must trust what has been built into him.
Just as “The Fellowship” eventually had to walk forward without Gandalf,
just as disciples eventually walk forward on their mission empowered by the Spirit.

4. God Holds Me Tight… So He Can Teach Me to Rise
Through the glass, through the basketball lessons, through the Gandalf moment, one truth keeps returning:
True holding prepares for true flying.
God doesn’t hold me to confine me.
He holds me to shape me—to strengthen me for the moment He calls me to rise.
Søren Kierkegaard captured this paradox well:
“God’s purposes are always to lift us higher than we would lift ourselves.”
When Isaiah says I will “mount up with wings like eagles,”
it means God empowers me to face what would otherwise crush me.
I do not rise because I’m strong.
I rise because He renews me.

5. Gospel Connection: The Savior Who Fell So I Could Rise
Gandalf fell fighting the Balrog demon so “The Fellowship” could live.
But Christ descended far deeper.
As John Stott observed:
“The essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting Himself for man.”
Jesus bore darkness I could not survive.
His cry from the cross—"It is finished"—was the eternal version of “Fly, you fools!”
Not despair, but deliverance.
He took what would destroy me.
He absorbed the shards of judgment I could not dodge.
He fell so I could rise.
And because He rose,
I (Bill) am taught by grace to fly.

Application for This Week

1. Listen to the Father’s Voice. Just as my daughter trusted me through the glass, I must trust God when I cannot see what He sees.
2. Practice Disciplined Faithfulness. Like my son’s training, flying begins with daily habits formed in quiet places.
3. Allow God to Renew My Strength. Waiting is not weakness—it is worship.
4. Live from the Finished Work of Christ. He fell so I could stand. He rose so I could rise.

Pastoral Blessing
May the God who renews strength lift you and me (Bill) beyond weariness,
guide me through dangers I do not see,
and train me in His ways until I rise with eagle’s wings.
And when I face my own bridge of decision,
may I hear—not in fear but in faith—
the Savior’s call:
“Fly, My child. I made you to rise.”