4 questions - Notice the four rhetorical questions that begin this lesson. Israel has heard it all before. Because God created the world the destiny of all nations, including Israel’s is under God’s rule and authority. There may be a reference to God’s supremacy over Babylon as the astral god returning to heaven following an impressive victory. Yet God is sits well above everyone and every deity so that no one and nothing can reach the Lord, for the greatest reach will appear barely as a grasshopper from God’s vantage point. [1]

god is in control - Isaiah give us a call to faith, not simply because God is in charge whose control will one day become obvious to all, but because we can be strengthened now to be resilient amidst the trials of our smaller earthbound worlds-worlds that are ultimately not our true home-and here even to make a contribution to the common good. [2]

who is my equal? - In the place of gods to worship, we have substituted the abstraction, ‘We all worship the same God." But the effect is largely the same . . . God ends up a pluriform abstraction, exercising power in local, mysterious, and attenuated ways . . . How are we to make sense of the Word of God from the Old Testament when it so clearly understands itself as a distinctive word? . . . The challenge is to let the Old Testament have its say about gods, jealousy, and the danger of polytheism and to follow where it leads. [3]

 

How might the grandiose claims about the Creator in this lesson free us from the pettiness of our smaller worlds?

• What is the intended impact of all these rhetorical questions?
• Why an eagle in flight to describe the strength of those who wait for God?
• Name an instance when you were the eagle who gained strength from waiting?

The Abingdon Preacher’s Annual uses this passage as way to talk about prayer - "Does God Answer Prayer?" The answer is a qualified "yes." Based on John Claypool’s classic response to God’s prayer-answering capabilities-God answers every prayer-sometimes it’s a yes, sometimes a no and sometimes a wait-the sermon then moves to a discussion that emerges from the text where God answers prayer through a variety of ways including "wait!" The homily could end in the way that our lesson ends-God providing strength that lifts us above our situation that we can see our problems from the perspective that God views us-with eagles from the circle of the earth.

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[1] New Interpreter’s Bible VI (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2001), page 343.
[2] New Proclamation 2002-2003  (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002), page 112.
[3] NIB VI, page 345.