Deuteronomy 32:11-12
As an eagle stirs up its nest,
Hovers over its
young,
Spreading out its
wings, taking them up,
Carrying them on
its wings,
And there
was no foreign god with him.
Job 39:27-28
Did you command
the eagle’s flight,
and teach her to
build her nest in the heights,
invulnerable on
pinnacle and crag?
The eagle builds his nest high upon a mountain. They will at times pick a location that’s 10,000 feet above the ground. The nest that they build can weigh up to two tons and stretch to as much as eight feet across. The eagle carries limbs that are up to four inches in diameter to the nesting area, as they build a nest that can be as deep as two feet. The core of the nest is supported by huge limbs. The outer edges of the nest is lined with soft leaves and vines that are actually woven together by the eagles before they lay eggs. The leaves cover the rough sticks that would puncture the soft fur of the baby eaglets.
In addition to
the soft bed of leaves, shortly before the eggs hatch, the mother eagle begins
to pull the soft downy fur from her own body to shelter and warm her young. As the small
birds are attempting to free themselves from the egg shells, the mother never helps
them in their struggle. Because if she
did, she would hinder their own survival. After about six
to seven months, one day the mother eagle swoops in and begins to stir or
basically wreck the brooding area of the nest.
She pulls out the
soft leaves, tosses the fur from her own body to the winds, and removes the
long vines that once provided comfort. The young eaglets then try to stand and balance themselves in the nest that has
just been stirred. It’s something that
they have to do, because lying down in the nest would cause cuts in their
bodies because of the limbs in the nest. They must learn to balance themselves, and also get used to using their small stubby
talons that have started to grow. Learning to
balance will help the young eaglets later with flight, and the talons will
assist him in the catching of prey for hunting.
God does similar things to us. He disturbs OUR nest and causes US to reach toward him. Thank God for the stirrings that He sends our way.
●Every Apostle has had their nest stirred.
●Every great reformer and revivalist has had their nest stirred.
●Every man of woman who has ever longed to accomplish their purpose in the Kingdom of God has had their nest stirred.
They had to move forward toward a new calling. They had to leave the familiar for the unfamiliar. They had to leave the ungodly and move toward the godly. They had to leave the shallows and reach for the depths. They even had to break some current relationships, and change the way they thought about some things. What we need to realize is that it’s God that’s stirring our familiar surroundings to stimulate our growth.
God was the one
who built a nest in Genesis 47 for the children of Israel. Their herds
increased, they had prosperous times, and they had favor. But then Joseph
died and the favor that he was giving the children of Israel also died. The favored
became the despised. They were sent to hard labor. Their nest became
very uncomfortable, but at the same time there was something on the inside of them
that wanted to rise up and go to the Promised Land.
So how does God
create the stirring of our nests?
●He allows someone or some things to come into our lives to cause us problems.
●He allows us to suffer under the effects of a heavy burden.
●He allows our emotions to be attacked with over-whelming feelings of not knowing what to do.
●He grooms us with a restlessness that cannot be quenched with nothing but Himself.
And since everyone is different, God knows exactly what stirring each of us needs. The stirring that God allows to come into each of our lives, is custom designed by God, to stir each of us in such a way, that the stirring causes us to run to God who can change our life and destiny.
When the nest is
stirred many things start to take place in our lives. Our carnality is displaced
with spiritual hunger. Self-righteousness
begins to fade, and die out to godly desires. Complacency gives
way to fiery passion for the things of God. The compassion of
God begins to increase on the inside of us, and that compassion leads toward a
giving of ourselves.
Also through the stirring, many times brokenness takes place. We see this brokenness taking place in God’s greatest saints all through-out Scripture. Everything that is of self must go and everything that is of Jesus must shine forth in greater power.
Well getting back
to our story about the eaglets, one day the eaglets experience the shock of learning
how to fly. There comes a day in the life of the eaglets when their mother returns once
again to the nest. But this time she
begins to flap her wings over the nest with forcefulness.
The small eaglets
began to scream in terror as she pushes them closer and closer to the edge of
the nest. The nest is up in
the cliffs of the mountains about 5,000 to 8,000 feet above the ground. And from that
height, the eaglet is pushed from the nest and begins to fall. And as he begins
to fall, something takes over, called, the will to live, and the struggle to
survive. The desire to fly is all ready on the inside of that little eaglet, but because
it’s never tried to fly, or had a reason to fly, it doesn't know that it can
fly.
As the eaglet gets kicked out the nest, it screams. Not screams of power, it’s screams of terror. But out of that situation comes the will to live. So he begins to clumsily flap his wings. During the free-fall, he beats at the air without success until exhaustion leaves him almost totally unable to move. Then right before falling to a certain death, the father eagle swoops down, catches the young eaglet, and returns it to the nest for the next lesson that will come on the next day. That’s repeated over and over again until the young eaglet can fly for himself. But the flying lessons come without warning. Suddenly the mother eagle appears at the nest and starts the training of flight.
Spiritual growth
and maturity occurs in much the same way. Without warning
we find our lives wrapped up in a situation, that could even be a situation
where every thing is at stake. Our home, our
family, our job, or our health. Everything is Falling, falling, falling. At that point it seems like hundreds of questions race through our minds.
One of those
questions is always “God, Why”? And God’s answer
is, “You can’t learn to fly in a church pew, or on the back of a pastor”. Then the next
question we usually ask is, Why am I falling for so long?. And once again God
answer is, “You needed a long time, so you could learn to fly”. God knows if He takes the struggle away, He takes the strength
away. If He removes the thorn, and He removes the grace.
God’s greatest men had to struggle with the frailties of their own flesh.
●Abraham had to struggle with de-ception.
●Jacob would war against worldliness.
●Moses would be terrorized by a horrible temper that would lead to murder, and to striking the rock.
●Elijah was burdened by his faith-less despair.
Elijah hid in a
cave thinking he was the last Prophet alive. Elijah told God in
1 Kings
chapter 18,
I alone am left;
and they seek to take my life.”
●Then there was David
who was involved with lust and then murder.
When we’re going through a trial, it’s not a fun thing to go through. And it’s not something we've prayed for. After all, very few people pray for things like:
When we’re going through a trial, it’s not a fun thing to go through. And it’s not something we've prayed for. After all, very few people pray for things like:
●A lion’s den.
●A fiery furnace.
●An almost impossible task of building an ark.
●A a Judas’ kiss.
●A Cross.
●To be mis-understood.
●To have to endure pain of slander.
●A fiery furnace.
●An almost impossible task of building an ark.
●A a Judas’ kiss.
●A Cross.
●To be mis-understood.
●To have to endure pain of slander.
We don’t pray for
those things, because those things hurt. But in the hurt, there’s a healing
that happens. And the healing creates
within us a vision, a desire, and a passion for God that ordinarily would never
exist. When we’re right in the middle of a trial, we pray that God will give us some
kind of relief. We pray that God
will give us a way of escape from the trials and the difficulties of life. We pray that our
life would not be filled with hardship and difficulty.
But the changes
that needs to take place in our heart, and our soul, will never ever take place. Unless we go
through an intense struggle, that makes us stretch the wings of our soul. A struggle that causes
us to go higher, and to hunger more for God. God can take a
struggle and work with it, in a way no one else would even think of. God works under
different laws than what men and women work with. Then when we rise
from our struggle, we often find ourselves stronger, and looking more like
Jesus.
Psalms 103:1-5 says,
Bless
the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is
within me, bless His holy name!
And
forget not all His benefits:
Who
heals all your diseases,
Who
crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
So that
your youth is renewed like the
eagle’s.
It finally happens. The day that the young eaglet will finally stop his screaming and start his flying. It’s sad but there are those in the church who do not know the call of God to go higher with Him. Some men and women have never understood the joy of God calling them to a higher walk with Him. They never realize the reason why they were created. They age in years, but they grow little in God. And just like a natural muscle, the lack of resistance creates an atrophied spiritual muscle. But praise God there ARE men and women who would rather go after God, than the material world around them. Their spirits soar high with God, instead of conforming to the desires of those around them. They hunger for the things of God. Their desires are for more of God. . . The spirit of the eagle stirs within them. . . . .
The Apostle Paul described them in
I press toward
the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
They can be
described as the great men and woman of God.
Isaiah 40:30-31
Isaiah 40:30-31
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.
No other birds have the ability to fly as high as an eagle does. An eagle is not a bird that will fly with a flock. Someone said, “The eagle is solitary in his conquests. His purpose is single-minded”. Other birds may call to him, but there’s something about an eagle that causes it not to associate with lesser birds. So he remains alone.
In our lives, there’s
a mighty power that WE can receive when we’re alone with God. It’s in the hours
of loneliness that God does some of His greatest works in our lives.
●It was in loneliness, that Elijah heard God’s voice.
●It was in the lonely path of faith that God came once again to Abraham.
●It was in the lonely hours following failure that Peter found God.
●It was in the lonely midnight hours that Jacob had his wrestling match with God.
●It was in the loneliness of the mountain that Moses would get the Ten Commandments from God.
●It was in the loneliness of her barrenness that Hannah prevailed.
●It was in loneliness that Daniel received his great vision from God.
It was in the loneliness of the pit and prison that Joseph felt God continuing his dreams.
●It was in the loneliness in the garden that Jesus labored in prayer while His disciples were asleep.
●Mary also found
loneliness in a stable in Bethlehem. Then she found loneliness once again when
she stood and looked at her son Jesus on the cross.
God uses the schoolhouse of loneliness to teach His servants. Another thing that God uses is the storms in our lives. Most animals have been equipped by nature with the ability to sense the coming of a storm. Some by smell, some by sight. And when they sense a storm is on the way, they will run for shelter. The rabbit will find it’s burrow, the bee will flee to it’s hive, and the deer with seek the comfort of it’s place of rest. But the eagle, because of it’s great ability of sight, can see the storm approaching from a great distance. Because the eagle is a territorial bird, it will remain in it’s home area until the first few drops of rain begin to fall. The eagle will begin to fly and to ascend in a spiral manner upward. Upward until it has found it’s way into the sunlight above the storm. Other animals, when the storm starts to approach, they have a tendency to run and to hide.
God uses the schoolhouse of loneliness to teach His servants. Another thing that God uses is the storms in our lives. Most animals have been equipped by nature with the ability to sense the coming of a storm. Some by smell, some by sight. And when they sense a storm is on the way, they will run for shelter. The rabbit will find it’s burrow, the bee will flee to it’s hive, and the deer with seek the comfort of it’s place of rest. But the eagle, because of it’s great ability of sight, can see the storm approaching from a great distance. Because the eagle is a territorial bird, it will remain in it’s home area until the first few drops of rain begin to fall. The eagle will begin to fly and to ascend in a spiral manner upward. Upward until it has found it’s way into the sunlight above the storm. Other animals, when the storm starts to approach, they have a tendency to run and to hide.
But the eagle has
no fear of the storm. The winds can be hard and fast and often destructive, but the eagle is
challenged by the storm.
You and I need to
let our desires for more of God challenge US during our storms of life. That desire for
the upward call. That desire, that
hunger, that restlessness in our spirits needs to challenge us for more. All of these
things need bring us to the heights that God desires for us to go to.
Paul said in Philippians 3:13-14
Brethren, I do
not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are
ahead, 14I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God
in Christ Jesus.
The greatest men
of medicine, business, and merchandise were those men who struggled with
opposition until they reached their goal.
Robert Louis Stevenson battled with tuberculosis, but at the same time he wrote some of the classics of literature.
Robert Louis Stevenson battled with tuberculosis, but at the same time he wrote some of the classics of literature.
Helen Keller
struggled with her own obstacles of being deaf and blind and turned negative
circumstances into the positive.
Handel was paralyzed
on his right side, all his money was gone, the creditors were going to imprison
him, but he rebounded and composed the greatest of his works called the
Messiah.
Acts 16:25-26
At midnight Paul
and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were
listening to them. 26Suddenly there was a great earthquake,
so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the
doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.
Paul and Silas’ Hallelujah
chorus was born in a jail cell.
We need to soar
on the winds. Reach for the heavens. Why? Because the hand of the Lord is upon
us.
It’s all a matter of perception. From time to time our spiritual lives take on a course of struggles:
Paul said it this way in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18
It’s all a matter of perception. From time to time our spiritual lives take on a course of struggles:
Paul said it this way in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18
For our light
affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18while we do
not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.
For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not
seen are eternal.
New Living
Bible says,
For the troubles
we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.
Paul said in 2
Timothy 4:7-8
8Finally, there
is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have
loved His appearing.
The eagle who is
built for the heights, is not content to stay on this earth. Because you’re a child of God, there will come a day when God is going to stir
your nest. For some of you,
God may be stirring your nest right now. He’s not doing it
because he’s mean, He’s stirring it but because you need to grow strong.
For those of you
that seem like you've been kicked out of the nest, and feel you’re your falling,
remember your heavenly is watching, and knows just how much you take. He is teaching
you how to depend totally on Him.
