Wings Over Washington

On August 28, 1963, more than 250,000 people gathered before the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Many had traveled through the night on buses from Birmingham, Jackson, and Detroit. Their feet ached. Their bodies were weary from years of sit-ins, boycotts, and beatings. Some had marched with bloodied heads in cities where fire hoses and police dogs greeted peaceful protesters.

Then Martin Luther King Jr. stepped to the microphone. Near the end of his prepared remarks, gospel singer Mahalia Jackson called out from behind him, "Tell them about the dream, Martin!" King set aside his manuscript and began to preach. His voice rose over the Reflecting Pool like something ancient and unstoppable. "I have a dream," he declared, and a quarter million exhausted souls suddenly found their legs again.

Isaiah 40:31 promises that those who wait upon the Lord "shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." The prophet was not describing people who had never grown tired. He was describing people who had every reason to quit and did not.

Justice is rarely swift. It asks its servants to walk long roads on blistered feet. But the God who renews strength has never abandoned those who wait on Him. When you are weary in the work of righteousness, remember: the Almighty still gives wings to the exhausted.