Isaiah 40:30–31 ³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; ³¹ 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.

There is a song Cheryl and I sang a lot over the years with groups of all ages, everything from VBS children to LWML meetings. I first found the song in “The Tune Book” by Yohann Anderson. It was written by Roy Salmond and Mike Mulder and entitled “The Turkey Song.”  The instructions over the music read “Slow, silly schmaltz.”

If God could love turkeys, God can love you.
You are a turkey, but I am one, too.
So if you’re lonely, Remember the truth:
If God can love turkeys, God can love you.

I bring that up because the passage above speaks of soaring on wings like eagles. And there is a fairly popular adage that says “Its hard to soar like an eagle when you’re surrounded by turkeys.”

We are, in fact, all a bunch of turkeys. Yet God loves you…in spite of being a turkey. I know that’s true in my life. Even though I have so often been a big, fat turkey, God does not dwell on that past. He has forgotten those former things for Jesus’ sake.  God has allowed me to soar because of His grace.

The message of God’s Word is so simple. We are all turkeys. We have sinned. We were in bad shape. We needed forgiveness. We were without hope. God stepped in. He loved us. He didn’t want to live without us. He sent His Son to rescue us. Jesus lived among us. He lived without sin. He took our sin on Himself. He took the rap for us. He paid our debt, giving us a clean slate. He died in our place. And God said, “That’ll do.” His anger over our sin was appeased. We have peace with God. And it gets better. Jesus rose from the dead. His victory becomes our victory. We have the certain promise of forgiveness and eternal life because we believe that Jesus Christ did this for us. That enables us to soar through our lives, as on eagles’ wings, even if we are a bunch of turkeys. We are reminded what is ours by God’s undeserved love in Jesus.