Whiteboard: Eagles and Grasshoppers

This Sunday in worship we'll be talking about Isaiah 30:21-31, which contains some of the most familiar lines in scripture.

"Have you not known? Have you not heard?"

"The Lord is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth."

"Those 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.

But the more I read through the scripture passage, the more I kept coming back to one particular image...an image that we rarely focus on at all.

It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,

and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.

Yeah, grasshoppers. I haven't been able to stop thinking about grasshoppers this week, and why exactly Isaiah choose that specific image.

I mean, the eagle imagery we get. "They shall mount up with wings like eagles" is crystal clear. We think of those majestic, beautiful birds soaring high, seemingly effortlessly through the sky...

But grasshoppers? Not so much. 

Then I found this excellent blog post from Todd Weir. Then I read this incredible feature on the science behind grasshoppers' eyes. Then I decided to borrow Todd Weir's blog post title and use it as my sermon title! And suddenly we are talking about "Grasshopper Eyes and Eagle's Wings" on Sunday. And let me tell you, each one of them tells us something important about God, and lifts up to us a powerful image of how we can respond to the awesome wonder that is the Lord our God.

The only problem is, I'm not so good at drawing Grasshoppers. They are surprisingly complex! But eagles' wings? Those I can draw. Thus we ended up with this on The Whiteboard this week:

I'll see you on Sunday, where we will learn what it means to soar like eagle and look like a grasshopper!

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Isaiah 40:21-31

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to live in;
who brings princes to naught,
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.

Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

To whom then will you compare me,
or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
mighty in power,
not one is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
‘My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God’?
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;
but those 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.