The verses that go along with our study today are Deuteronomy 32: 10b – 11. It says, “He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up it’s nest and hovers over it’s young, that spreads it’s wings to catch them and carries them on it’s pinions.”
When an eagle lays it eggs high up in the nest and the babies hatch, they are unable to do much of anything, even lift their heads. As days pass and the parents bring food in for the eaglets to eat, they grow stronger and become able to move about the nest a bit. After many weeks of being cared for by the parents, the eaglets are ready to take their first trip out of the nest. They have never soared in the heavens like other eagles and they don’t know how to fly. They must learn by watching their parents.
Without warning, baby eagle is released by mother and is in a free fall. The scenery is changing pretty fast and baby eagle sees the ground coming up much quicker than she would like. What is she going to do?? In the seconds before the eaglet hits something, the parent swoops down and catches the baby on it’s strong wings and flies it back to the safety of the nest. SAFE!! Boy, was that a close call! Mom seems to have gone a bit crazy. Wait a minute, here she comes again! Oh, no, she’s carrying baby eaglet up, up into the sky for yet another free fall. After several times of doing this, the eaglet learns that if she spreads her wings and flaps a bit, she will catch a current and be able to fly. Wow, that’s pretty neat! Now she is soaring on the wind just like mom and dad and she never once was smashed on the ground because mom or dad was always there to catch her until she learned to fly on her own.
What can we learn from this? Several things, I believe. The first is that it is not always Satan who is pushing us out of our nice comfortable nest into scary territory. Sometimes it is our loving heavenly Father who knows that it is time we learn to fly by faith. If we never leave our comfortable places, we will never learn to walk in faith by the leading of the Holy Spirit. We will always take the easy route, which rarely leads to high and awesome times with Christ.
Second, even when we are in a free fall, we are never falling faster than our loving heavenly Father can fly to catch us. His strong and faithful wings are always there to catch us when we fall, no matter the reason for our fall—whether we are falling because God is growing our faith or because we have sinned and are reaping the consequences—God is there to catch us.
Thirdly, although the process of learning to fly by faith can be treacherous, the result is a faith that soars and pleases God immensely.
C.S. Lewis said, “ If only the will to walk is there, God is pleased with our stumbles.” We may stumble many times as we learn to fly by faith, but as long as we keep trying, God will reward our efforts with an ability to soar in the heavens and do awesome things for Him.
