LEARNING TO FLY

“But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

An eagle teaches its young to fly by coaxing or forcing them out of the nest. There is a reason eagles build their nests high on cliffs or at the very top of trees.

An eaglet will not learn to fly unless it gets out of the nest. As long as mommy and daddy are hovering and bringing it all the food it needs, why fly? Why not just stay in the nest, let somebody else do the work, and enjoy the good life?

Could there possibly be a lesson here for us?

In the majestic poetry of Deuteronomy 32:11-12, Moses pictures God with the imagery of an eagle caring for its young.

“As an eagle stirs up its nest,
Hovers over its young,
Spreading out its wings, taking them up,
Carrying them on its wings,

So the LORD alone led him,
And there was no foreign god with him.” (The “him” referred to here is the nation of Israel.)

When the time comes for an eaglet to fly, its mother will either stir up the nest or coax the eaglet out by keeping food just beyond its reach and forcing the child to stretch out past the boundaries of the nest. When the mother “stirs up the nest” she does so by hovering over the nest and with the wind from her powerful wings, she forces everything comfortable out of the nest. All the soft padding of feathers, grass and leaves is blown away and the poor little eaglet has nothing but sticks and rough edges to rest on. The comfort of home becomes not all that nice a place to live.

Why would mother do this? Has she gone mad? No, mother eagle loves her child and knows that in order for it to survive, it has to get out of the nest and into the bigger world. And this means it has to learn to fly. However, the eaglet will not learn to fly on its own. Eaglets do not jump up one day after a good meal and a snooze on a cushy pillow and suddenly declare, “I’m full, I’m rested and I’m ready to fly!” It doesn’t just happen, not for the eagles and not for us. People who are comfortable and at rest will not learn to fly in the Spirit or in faith, so the Father will stir their nest. Like it or not, He will stir your nest!

And so mother eagle will coax or force the little eagle out of the nest. But the eaglet is not going to fly on the first try; it may think it is, but it isn’t going to happen. And so down it begins to fall, flapping its undeveloped wings for all it is worth but it’s not flying, it’s just trying. Mother lets it fall just so far and then down she swoops and catches the eaglet on her wings and carries it back up to the nest where the test begins again. Over and over the mother pushes the little eagle to try and each time it gets a little stronger until one day, down it goes, flapping and trying. Suddenly it all comes together and now mom and baby are soaring and flying. Now the baby has the “wings of an eagle” and it’s a baby no more!

As God was there to coax, to push, to protect and to shelter Israel, so He is with us. With the patience of a mother He is teaching us “to fly.” The mother eagle never abandons her child but out of love she stirs the nest, coaxes, coaches, and stands ready to step in and help as her beloved child “learns to fly.”