THE EAGLE

As storms approach, lesser fowl head for cover, but the mighty eagle spreads his wings and with a great cry mounts upon the powerful updrafts, soaring to the heights of glory. The eagle soars effortlessly, letting the wind carry him where other fowl beat with frantic wings to stay aloft. In spite of the winds, thunder and lightning, the eagle seems to know instinctively where there is safety in the midst of the storm.

Similarly, the eagle-type Christian sees behind the storm, the winds of the Holy Spirit, and rises on wings of faith to rest on God’s carrying power far above harm and destruction. He moves, not by striving, but by restfully abiding. He trusts in the soaring current of God’s love. The Lord Himself bears him up. Just as the eagle knows how to catch the rising of life through his knowledge of the currents, the overcomer in Christ knows his faithful God and experiences triumphant life by trusting and waiting.

When the eagle’s mighty wing feathers become heavy with oil and dirt and his beak and talons become calcified and brittle, he retires to a hiding place in a cave of rock out of reach of predators and experiences a period of renewal. With his great beak he pulls out his mighty wing feathers one by one. He then extracts each claw. Finally, he begins to smash his beak against the rocks, until it, too, is gone. Left defenseless, this peerless, unique bird waits patiently until beak, talons and feathers have regrown, emerging in his renewed condition stronger than before.

As a new creature in Christ, we may experience a renewal as we lay aside the things inconsistent with the life of faith. As we stand before the Lord, stripped of all that would keep us from leaning on Him alone, our strength is renewed.

The eagle is known for his ferocity; yet no member of the bird family is more gentle and attentive to its young. At just the right time, the mother eagle begins to teach her eaglets how to fly. She gathers the eaglet onto her back and, spreading her wings, flies high.  Suddenly she swoops out from under the eaglet, and as it falls, it gradually learns what its wings are for, until the mother catches it once again on her wings.

Sometimes the eaglet learns on the first try, but if not, the process is repeated many times. If the young one is slow to learn or cowardly, she returns him to the nest, and begins to tear the nest apart until there is nothing left for the eaglet to cling to. Then she nudges him off the cliff.

Those in Christ, who learn to depend upon a faithful  Father, know that underneath are His everlasting arms (arms of eternity), ready to bear us up, support and carry us through all of life’s storms.

Just as this matchless bird has been given eyes that can see from a great distance, and look directly  into the sun and not be blinded, the believer, looking by faith from God’s point of view, is given spiritual eyes to see from afar. These enjoy gifts of counsel and insight beyond compare. When others see only problems and turn their eyes to circumstances, the eagle-eyed Christian is enabled to look beyond to the joy set before him, and endure whatever cross must be borne. Oh, yes, they see by the Spirit the very depths of God. These see in His nature the answer to all things.