Isaiah 40:31
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. (NIV)
Thinking
I expect that you, like me, have from time to time used the expression, “Give me strength.” Perhaps you have been in a difficult conversation. Or perhaps you have had far too much to do in the short term.
In one sense, you are letting off steam. But you are also asking to be able to do something which, really, you are not sure that you can do.
The image of the eagle rising on thermals is compelling. It is as though the great bird flies effortlessly, although in fact that is far from the case. It has strength, but it draws that strength from outside itself.
In the early days of the exile in Babylon, the people of Israel were entrapped and exasperated. They knew that their only real source of strength was God. They needed to be released from their exile.
The board game Monopoly grew out of earlier games, especially The Landlord’s Game, designed by Elizabeth Magie and patented in 1904. Parker Brothers published Monopoly in 1935, and it quickly became a commercial success. The phrase “get out of gaol free” comes from the Get Out of Gaol Free cards in the game. Related metaphorical uses were appearing in print by the late 1930s, while the full phrase “get-out-of-jail-free card” is recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary from 1967.
There is no such thing as getting out of gaol free in the sense in which we mean it. But as an idiom, it sits alongside the idea of having strength outside ourselves and being able to do extraordinary things.
We all need to be given strength, or to be able to do extraordinary things, from time to time. The best “get out of gaol free” card we have, just as it was the only one available to the people in Babylon, is God.
A prayer
Lord God, you know when we are running out of strength, or when we are unsure what to. May your grace be with us in those times and may your strength and wisdom fortify and guide us; for Jesus’ sake. Amen.