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Minister: Marv Vose

Mount Up with Winos

Isaiah 40:21-31 



            Baxter Black is a cowboy poet.  He is a regular speaker around the country and on the radio.  He brings the cowboy perspective to bear and does it with a kind of dry wit and humor.  He's not always been a poet.  For most of his life, he was a large animal veterinary, working at various feet lots and taking care of their stock.  But one year the business he was working for changed hands and they were looking around for some dead wood to get rid of.  According the poet, he was the only thing floating, so he started speaking at banquets and he never went back to the vet business. 

            I want to read you a part of his story entitled Religious Reflections.  I won't be able to read it as well as Baxter Black would do, but at least you'll get part of the message.

            "I was sittin' in the back row of a beautiful little church in a mountain town in the Rockies.  I was there for the wedding of the daughter of good friends.

            "As the service progressed, my attention was drawn to a banner that hung on the wall.  It was handmade, cut from cloth, and intended to be inspiring.  It read MOUNT UP WITH WINOS.

(Now remember, this is a cowboy talking.  When you mount up, you get on your horse and you ride.  So he sees this church banner suggesting that you ride with winos!)

            "Many thoughts went through my mind as I tried to absorb the full meaning of this elaborate banner.  I had come to realize over the years that many Protestant churches have become more liberal in their teachings.

            "Acceptance of alternative lifestyles, less moralizing, less blatant emphasis on money, more convenient schedules, and grater tolerance of lesser sins--i.e. fall football, alcohol, sex, and non-Christian religions. 

            "Bein' a thinker myself, I began to concoct other potential banner slogans that might be acceptable in this New Age congregation:  RIDE WITH THE RISQUE`, LIE DOWN WITH THE LITIGIOUS, COMMUNE WITH THE IMMORAL, DO LUNCH WITH THE CHARACTER DEPRIVED. 

            "When the soloist rose and sang the final George Strait love song while the bride and groom escaped, she was positioned right below the banner.  Poor planning, I thought, or at least in poor taste.

            "As we were filing out I asked my daughter what she thought of the banner.

            "'Which one?' she asked.

            "' The one right above the singer,' I answered.

            "She studied it and read aloud, "Mount Up with Wings.  Kinda cool, I guess. Why?"

            "'Oh,' I said, vowing silently to start wearing my glasses, 'just curious.'"

            Mount up with wings.  That's what the banner really said. Not mount up with winos.  But what in the world does it mean to mount up with wings.  That's even more mysterious that mounting up with winos!  Well, we are about to solve that mystery.  And we'll do it by reading from the prophet Isaiah. 

            This 40th chapter is really the beginning of what scholars normally refer to as second Isaiah.  There is only one Biblical book of Isaiah, but the writing of chapters 40-66 is so different and the historical events are so different, that they are often put it in a different category from the first 39 chapters.  Historically, the Israelites have been taken over by the Assyrians.  Many were killed.  The rest were taken into slavery and transported to foreign lands.  Now the Babylonians are in power and letting the people come back home. 

            (Read scripture)

            The image is not winos, but wings.  Wings of eagles!  All of us have seen eagles soaring at one time or another.  The sight is becoming more and more rare, but how exciting!  How magnificent.  The eagles soar and swoop.  They seem to be able to hover in the heavens.  They have this magnificent ability to find the updrafts and soar with seemingly no effort whatsoever.  And that's what Isaiah wanted to point out.  They could fly and soar with such grace and no effort whatsoever. 

            Most of us have had that dream of flying at one time or another.  It is so free.  So exhilarating.  Sometimes it actually happens when we are asleep and we wake up so refreshed and energized!

            I think that dream of flying was what made the recent Spiderman movies so popular.  Here was someone who could soar over buildings and bridges and move so swiftly and easily.  What a dream it is!

            When I was a kid, I did what many of you probably did.  I got a sheet from the bed and found a high place.  (Not too high, mind you, and tried to fly.)  Maybe that's why I haven't been so interested in flying after that. 

            The image is even more spectacular given the history.  The Assyrians have conquered the Israelis.  They have been killed.  Families have been torn apart.  Homes destroyed.  People were deported as slaves.  It was an awful and bloody time in the history of the country.  But now the Babylonians have become the world power and they have permitted the slaves to return home.  And in the midst of this Isaiah talks about mounting "up with wings like eagles."  Can't you hear the hope in that incredible message?

            But Isaiah is close enough to the people to have heard their complaints.  It is there in verse 27.  "Why do you say...'my way is hidden from the Lord, (meaning God isn't paying any attention to me.  God doesn't see what is happening to me.  And then it continues) and my right is disregarded by my God"?  And that complaint is saying, "God you aren't fair!" 

            And you can understand the questioning, can't you?  "God, were we really THAT bad?  Did we really deserve that much punishment?  How could you allow such cruelty?  Surely a good, loving God would not allow such things.  It's kind of like our contemporary question of "why do bad things happen to good people."  It isn't a new question, is it?

            And to that complaint, Isaiah gives a bold response.  He says, God can't forget you!  It is absolutely impossible.  You see the heavens spread out over you?  God created all of that.  God named those heavenly bodies and not one of them is ever missing or forgotten.  If God is that powerful, how could God ever forget you?  How could the God who names all of the stars and doesn't miss one, forget about you?  And fair?  What about God's fairness?  Isaiah says, Strength and power are available to those who "wait."  The absence of that power and strength isn't God's injustice, but our lack of "waiting." 

            Isaiah's incredible assertion is that God is active in time and space.  God is the prime player in human history!  And now, God is bringing his chosen people home again to their Promised Land.  It is a bold assertion, isn't it?

            And all of this is promised to those who "wait."  What an unusual suggestion.  We are supposed to "wait?"  So what does it mean to "wait?"  Does it mean that all I have to do is sit back and do nothing?  We can just become blobs and let God do everything?  No, I don't think that is the answer.

            We aren't just talking about your ordinary, garden variety of waiting.  The Hebrew word has connotations of "active waiting."  It isn't just passive waiting, but the kind of waiting where there is a sense of expectancy.  Where you know something is going to happen and you don't want to miss it so you are looking, waiting, expectantly on the edge of your chair.  It is where you know God is going to act, but just not how God will act or when God will act.

            The same advice was given to the disciples after Jesus' death and resurrection.  He told them to "wait" and they would receive power.  So how did they wait?  They gathered together and they prayed.  They were all together and they prayed and they waited, knowing that God was going to act.  And then God's power in the form of the Holy Spirit came upon all of them.  But first they had to "wait."

            Do you like to "wait?"  Not me.  I don't like waiting at all.  We live in an instant culture.  One of my mom's favorite sayings was, "Lord grant me patience and please hurry!"  And that is true for most of us.  I read recently that frozen orange juice sales are slipping and people are buying the premixed kind, because it takes too long to mix the orange juice!  We live in an instant culture! 

            And for most of us, that "instant" attitude affects our relationship with God.  We expect God to be an "instant" God, too.  God doesn't always work that way.

            I have had that problem with God.  I have had this nasty habit of running out ahead of God and looking back over my shoulder and asking, "What's taking you so long?"  One time, I even prayed to move things along faster.  I only did that once!

            Waiting for God's timing can pay all kinds of dividends.  It worked for the disciples right after Jesus' ascension. They waited.  They prayed.  They were together in community.  And when the Holy Spirit came on them, they had power!  And those same disciples who had been so scared, those same disciples who had denied Jesus, became fearless ambassadors who took God's message to the ends of the earth.  But first they waited.

            I had it happen to me many years ago when I was in seminary.  I was working at a church part time and the church was active in organizing the Billy Graham crusade that was coming to Nashville.  So I was active in the Billy Graham crusade.  Part of my job was to organize and distribute posters to all of the businesses in our area.  And you know what?  I couldn't do it.  I know it sounds silly, but I simply couldn't do it.  I just couldn't walk into those businesses and ask if I could mess up their nice clean windows with a Crusade poster.  I'm still not sure why it was so daunting, but it was and I finally said to God, "If you want this done, you will either need to find someone else to do it or screw up my courage, because I can't do it."  The next day, I did it.  I distributed all of those posters and it wasn't a bit of trouble, but I had had to wait for God's help. 

And I learned a really valuable lesson.

            So, do you have a complaint against God?  What would it be?  Does it seem like God has been unfair to you?  Maybe it is someone you know or love and it seems like God has been unfair to them. Does it seem like God just doesn't care.  Or maybe it seems like God just doesn't act.  God sits back and lets the world roll along and there is no action.  Or maybe you are wondering why you had to lose your job.  Or why a loved one is being placed in harms way in the Middle East.  Or why did a friend get sick? 

            I've asked all of those questions at one time or another.  And sometimes I asked them very forcefully!  I haven't been timid about sharing my opinion.

            Let me assure you that God hasn't forgotten you.  God cannot forget you.  You are far too important to God for that to happen.  And God still acts.  Sometimes it is hard for us to wait.  Sometimes it is hard for us to see what is happening.  Sometimes we have to wait, but wait expectantly, confident that God is working and that we will see it at the right time.

            Not long ago, I got an e-mail from a church member. It was so great, I asked if I could share it with you and he said, "Yes." He had a specific job he wanted and he had been praying persistently for that job.  Well, he didn't get it.  He got another job and he was willing to accept that as God's answer to his prayer.  But when he e-mailed me recently, he had re-applied for that first job that he had wanted.  He had interviewed for the job, the job had been offered to him and he had accepted it.  He said, "The interesting part is that the hiring manager told me that one of the reasons I got the job was because of the other experience I have gained in the last 15 months in the different position."   You see what he was saying?  God was busy answering his first prayer.  But he needed this other experience in another position, before he would be ready for the job he longed for.  He had had to "wait." 

            If you have been waiting on God and it seems like it is taking too long, don't give up!  Here's the promise of Isaiah.  They that 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.