All those who wait upon the Lord
Shall have their strength renewed.
They will walk and not get weary
And run, but not run down.
Yes, they’ll walk and not get weary
And they’ll run, but not run down.
They’ll walk and not get weary
And they’ll run, but not run down,
And they’ll rise up on wings like eagles
And fly, they will fly, they will fly.
They’ll fly, yes they’ll fly, yes they’ll fly.
They’ll fly, how they’ll fly, how they’ll fly.
They will fly.
About this Song:
This song is based in a very obvious way on Isaiah 40:31, a verse familiar to most Christians.
Here it is in five different translations:
-
- but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (NIV)
- But those who trust the LORD will find new strength. They will be strong like eagles soaring upward on wings; they will walk and run without getting tired. (CEV)
- But they that hope in the Lord, shall change strength, they shall take feathers as eagles; they shall run, and shall not travail; they shall go, and shall not fail. (But they who hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall grow wings like eagles; they shall run, and shall not labour, or struggle; they shall go, and shall not faint.) (WYC)
- But those expecting Jehovah pass [to] power, They raise up the pinion as eagles, They run and are not fatigued, They go on and do not faint! (YLT)
- He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts.For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall. But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind. (MSG)
Although the wording differs from one translation to the next, the meaning is clear.
I wasn’t overly familiar with that verse until sometime after the death of my three-day-old daughter in 1976. Shortly after that, our pastor was talking about a well-known minister who’d had to endure the death of his daughter from leukemia. This passage had given him great comfort, and it did the same for me.
So much so that I reworked the wording to say it the way that meant the most to me and set it to music. Even now, this is probably the favorite of my original songs.
One thing you may notice is the way I changed the emphasis so that walking preceded running, and running preceded flying. Each of those activities is more difficult–or in the case of flying impossible–to do without God’s help.
I discovered in my novel writing that obtaining the right to quote a song isn’t always easy or affordable, so I’ve used my own songs in both of my published books. You can find this one in Lost in Dreams (retitled now as A Season of Pebbles).
Let me add an amusing note to this story. A few years ago, I shared this song with singer/song writer Lynn DeShazo. (She’s the writer of More Precious than Silver and a number of other familiar contemporary Christian songs.) She had one objection: The “run but not run down” reminded her of the Energizer Bunny!
Fortunately, Lynn seems to be in a minority.
Have you ever experienced a problem so severe that you required God’s miraculous help to enable you to even walk, much less fly? How about leaving a comment?
Free lead sheets (lyrics, tune, and chords) are available for many of my songs. Videos for many of my songs, some recorded at home and some at our church’s nursing home ministry, can be accessed at my website, RogerBruner.com, under the Listen tab.
Look for me again next Wednesday. Better still, subscribe to receive these weekly posts by email.
Best regards,
Roger
Links you might be interested in:
As I Come Singing. . . 