Learning From The Eagle 1 of 4

Hi, I’m Scott Hollinger and I would like to welcome you to another edition of MemCare by Radio.  With me today is Edmund Spieker, a veteran globetrotter who cares for people who dedicate themselves to serving others. And of course, Edmund, we know just how much of a globetrotter you are because it has been quite a while since we have been able to have you with us. Today Edmund starts us on a series called: LEARNING FROM THE EAGLE.  We hope you can take a few minutes and stay with us to enjoy these lessons from the king of the birds.

 

Edmund, welcome back. I have to admit I have always loved birds although some can be a nuisance! I remember when my wife and I were first married and we lived in a farmhouse in the Midwestern United States. The home came complete with chickens but it seemed they kept disappearing. Then one day we were just pulling into the driveway and I saw a huge redtail hawk take off with one of my small hens. I then knew where they had disappeared to! So, I for one am curious to know what we can learn from the eagle.

 

Scott, it’s my privilege to be with you and our MemCare listeners. The lessons from the eagle are the kind of ‘out of the box’ propositions that challenge our thinking and more than that, invite us to believe in the living God. The old prophet Isaiah wrote, “…but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isa. 40:31)

 

That is quite an idea! Can you imagine us soaring on wings like eagles?  It makes me think of ICARUS, the ancient Greek legend. I remember reading of how he made wings of wax and feathers to escape the prison of King Minos on Crete. But, he flew too near to the sun and when his wings melted he fell to his death in the ocean.

 

We certainly are not created to fly like the birds. To get up, people use ladders, or elevators, or get on an airplane. The Bible is using a figure of speech to describe how the trust in God operates in us something that surpasses our capacity, actually something that is humanly impossible. When God comes into our lives, He brings with Him a different dimension - He is God the creator, the Almighty and can do all things, and that includes the supernatural.

 

As we learn to trust the Lord we are called to live beyond the obvious, beyond our human perspective and limitations. How this compares with the flight of the eagle we will discover in this and following programs.

 

The eagle is mentioned more than 30 times in the Bible.

 

I remember God comparing Himself to the eagle on different occasions. The Bible says in the book of Deuteronomy 32:11,12, “Like an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them on its pinions. The Lord alone led him; no foreign god was with him.”

 

This passage reminds the Israelites of their pilgrimage through the desert. God tells His people that He treated them in the desert purposely with harshness, because as an eagle treats its brood with harshness in order to teach them to fly. So God was attempting to help Israel to live by faith.

 

But before we go there, lets try to learn a little about the eagle, the king of the air.

 

An eagle can grow to be over three feet tall and have a wingspan of 6-7 feet. It builds its nest high in the mountain. The nest is a sizable construction which can weigh over 1000 pounds. It would be big enough for a human being to lay in it.

 

Before the female eagle lays its eggs the eagle couple makes sure that the nest is prepared with care, is strong, secure, and has the maximum of comfort. When finally the brood of eaglets hatches the eagle parents are ready to provide everything needed for their little offspring.

 

They watch day and night and feed them with timely precision. The routine for the eaglets is rather simple at first: sleep, open the beak to be fed, and sleep again. Life couldn’t be better.

 

After weeks of sleeping and eating in the cozy nest, the eaglet must learn the first lesson, namely to stand on its feet. 

 

That sounds very intriguing. I’ve always wondered how the eaglets know that it is time to get up. Will the parents have to encourage them? or, maybe even have to force them do that? How will they be motivated to stand on their feet?

 

Actually they are forced to get up. At one point mother eagle takes out of the nest all the comfort, the plumage and brings little branches and thorns instead. She even shakes the nest and forces those eaglets to stand up. It is very important that the muscles of the eaglet’s feet develop early. The eagle’s claws are very essential for its survival and need to be powerful.

 

The next step in this learning process is an even greater surprise for these little, but growing, bundles of feathers. The eaglets need to learn how to fly.

 

This process now includes not only discomfort but even harshness and shock therapy. Mama eagle suddenly grabs one of her brood and soars to great heights. There she releases the eaglet on a horrendous freefall. First paralyzed by fear the little ball of feathers goes down like a stone and would certainly dash against the rocks if father eagle wouldn’t be there flying underneath to provide a save landing on his powerful wings. Then he carries the eaglet back to the nest. Those who have studied closely the life of the eagles say that this exercise is repeated up to sixteen times until the little eagle realizes that it is created to fly and learns to use its own wings. Eaglets have no other option. They must learn how to fly.

 

Edmund, I have heard about how eagles learn to fly but I didn’t know all the details you have shared so it is quite amazing. What a tremendous spiritual lesson! It means that God uses in our life the discomfort and even the horrors of being thrown out of our nest and security in order to teach us to trust Him and to use our wings. Let’s hear again what the Bible says, “Like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions. The Lord led him.” 

 

God is interested that his children learn to believe, to soar on the current of His Spirit, so to speak.  I remember personally times of crisis in my life when God took all my securities away and I felt like being on a freefall…and frankly…cried in despair. Praise God that, as father eagle is watchful when mama eagle lets go of the little eaglet and picks it up before it dashes against the rocks, so God came to my rescue. God is faithful and I can testify that God has carried me through outmost difficult times.  

 

Edmund, this must be quite challenging for people who believe that by becoming a Christian they will have nothing but peace and an easy life.  We naturally would prefer that, but I find it comforting to know that the  shock the eaglets go through when they suddenly find themselves on a freefall from a couple of thousand of feet is only part of the process for them to grow up.

 

Scott, the Lord Jesus calls every believer to follow Him, to become His disciple. Sometimes I wonder if discipleship is optional when He says, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”  (Luke 9:23)

We seem to have a choice to just stay in the comfort zone of the nest, avoiding growing up, instead of accepting God’s flying lessons. But if we desire to grow spiritually, God answers our prayers and treats us like the eagle. His purpose is not to make us feel good or comfortable, rather to make us grow and know Him better.

 

Edmund does this mean that our difficulties and even trials and tribulations are not necessarily something to fear and shy away from, but rather to accept as opportunities to develop trust?

 

Yes, that is exactly right. That is also what the Bible teaches when it says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (Jms. 1:2-4)

 

The key for someone to be able to have the right attitude and focus in such a situation is his/her trust in God’s wise and loving intention. It is this trust, or faith, that will enable the believer to experience God’s faithfulness and to learn to live by His power in the realm of the supernatural. Listen again to the word from the prophet Isaiah, “…but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

 

Edmund, I would like to thank you for helping us learn from the eagle. I am looking forward to our second part of this new series. Friend, Learning from the Eagle was the theme our program today.