YOU WERE BORN TO FLY

In last week’s blog we looked briefly at the statement in Proverbs 30, “The way of an eagle.” What wonderful attributes God has given to the eagle and what a powerful thing He has done in using the eagle as a type of the New Testament believer. It has always been God’s plan for believers to learn to fly in faith and soar in the Spirit. But in order for an eagle to fly, it must learn to do so— and so it is with every believer. No one is born again with the fully developed attributes of maturity and in order to fly in faith, a believer must learn how.

An eaglet will not learn to fly unless it gets out of the nest. As long as mom and dad 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? I think so!

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 and also it refers to us.)

So, what do you think? If the parent is referred to as an eagle and the child is, too, what does that mean? Yes, that’s right! We were born to fly, to soar like the eagle!

Eagles build their nests far above the earth, usually at the top of a tall tree high up on the side of a cliff or mountain. In a few minutes you will understand why.

Mom and dad eagle build the nest from sticks and then they pad the interior with feathers, down, grass and leaves. They don’t want their babies to have sticks poking them all day long so they make sure the nest is comfortable and softly lined.

An eaglet has a pretty good life. A great view, a soft bed, and room service throughout the day as its mom and dad bring in the latest menu items of roadkill.

Baby is growing and enjoying this good life. How easy it would be to spend the rest of one’s life living in this kind of laid-back comfort.

One day mother eagle seems to lose her mind. Instead of bringing the hungry eaglets food, she hovers over the nest and with the downdraft of her powerful wings she blows all the comfortable padding out of the nest. The luxury flies away and what’s left are the eaglets and a less-than-comfortable bed of sticks. But, hey, this is still a pretty good life, with the room service and a great view remaining.

With the stirring of the nest, however, everything begins to change. Instead of bringing the food into the nest, mom and dad start having the children come to them. First, the children have to climb up and get their food at the edge of the nest. Well, that’s new and a little inconvenient, but the kids handle it. Then one day no more service into the nest at all. Instead, the parents hover with the food just outside the nest and each baby is forced to climb to the edge and stretch out and take the food. A few days later, the parents have moved back a little further and as the hungry baby tries to reach for the food, it slips and begins to fall.

Baby cannot fly because it has no strength in its unused wings, so down it tumbles and “it ain’t flying but it’s sure trying.” Mother is ready for this and she swoops down and under the falling child, catches it and carries it back to the nest. Baby is unharmed and safe because mother is there.

The next day it’s the same thing. Down goes the child with wings flapping and flapping but it has not learned to fly—yet. Over and over the lesson is repeated and slowly strength comes into the baby’s wings. One day as baby falls and instinctively begins to flap its wings, suddenly everything begins to work and it begins to fly for the first time. Baby is not a baby anymore; now it’s an eagle because eagles know how to fly.

Mother had not lost her mind when she stirred the nest and blew the comfort out of the eaglet’s life. Mother knew that for an eagle to be an eagle, it had to learn to fly.

God will stir our nest and at times He will remove the comfort from our life. He knows that left to our own ways, we will choose comfort over faith, and so the training begins.

God knows that we have to learn to walk by faith, because without faith we cannot do His work and we cannot please Him.

He will never leave you nor forsake you. He will never be inattentive to your cry—but He will stir your nest and teach you to fly because, “They shall mount up with wings as eagles” (Isaiah 40:31).

You were born to fly!