Isaiah 40:31

Those who wait upon the Lord shall obtain a marvelous addition to their resources: they shall obtain wings! They become endowed with power to rise above things. Men who do not soar always have small views of things.

Wings are required for breadth of view. The wing-life is characterized by a sense of proportion. To see things aright, we must get away from them. An affliction looked at from the lowlands may be stupendous; looked at from the heights, it may appear little or nothing. These “light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:17). What a breadth of view!

There is a fable about the way birds first got their wings. The story goes that initially they were made without them. Then God made the wings, set them down before the wing less birds, and said to them, “Take up these burdens and carry them.”

The birds had sweet voices for singing, and lovely feathers that glistened in the sunshine, but they could not soar in the air. When asked to pick up the burdens that lay at their feet, they hesitated at first. Yet soon they obeyed, picked up the wings with their beaks, and set them on their shoulders to carry them.

The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life: of whom shall I be afraid?

He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

Bearing the burden of crushing weight actually gives Christians wings.

This may sound like a contradiction in terms, but it is a blessed truth. While enduring a severe trial, David cried, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest” (Psalm 55:6). Yet before he finished his meditation, he seems to have realized that his wish for wings was attainable, for then he said, “Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you” (Psalm 55:22).

There is no thrill in walking; it is the test of all the stable qualities. To "walk and not faint" is the highest reach possible for strength. The word "walk" is used in the Bible to express the character - "John looking on Jesus as He walked, said, Behold the Lamb of God!" There is never anything abstract in the Bible, it is always vivid and real. God does not say - Be spiritual, but - "Walk before Me."

When we are in an unhealthy state physically or emotionally, we always want thrills. In the physical domain this will lead to counterfeiting the Holy Ghost; in the emotional life it leads to inordinate affection and the destruction of morality; and in the spiritual domain if we insist on getting thrills, on mounting up with wings, it will end in the destruction of spirituality.

In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them.

He whom thou lovest is sick.

When I am weak, then am I strong.—God shall be my strength.—He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.—Let him take hold of my strength.

Cast thy burden upon the Lord , and he shall sustain thee.—The arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob.