You, yourselves have seen….how I bore you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself. (Exodus 19:4)

Eagles obtain their wings in only one way-by their birth as eagles.

You are born of God. You have eagle’s wings. You may not have known it; you may not have used them; but God can and will teach you how to use them.

You know how eagles are taught the use of their wings. See yonder cliff rising a thousand out of the sea. High up a ledge on the rock, see an eagle’s nest with its treasure of toe young eaglets. See the mother come and stir up her nest, and with her beak push the timid birds over the precipice. See how they flutter and fall and sink toward the depth. See how she “fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them , beareth them on her wings.( Deuteronomy 32:11) And so, as they ride upon her wings, she brings them to a place of safety. And she does this again and again. “So the Lord alone did lead him” (Deuteronomy 32:12). Yes, the instinct of that eagle mother was God’s gift, a single ray of that love in which the Almighty trains His people to mount as on eagle’s wings.

He stirs up your nest. He disappoints your hopes. He brings down your confidence. He makes you fear and tremble, as all your strength fails, and you feel utterly weary and helpless. All the while He is spreading His strong wings for you to rest your weakness on, and offering His everlasting Creator-strength to work in you.All He asks is that you sink down in your weariness and wait on Him. Allow Him in His Jehovah-strength to carry you as you ride upon the wings of His omnipotence.

Lift up your eyes, and behold your God! Listen to Him who says that He “fainted not, neither is weary” (Isaiah 40:28), who asks only that you should wait on Him.

Andrew Murray

Jesus spoke a lot about the Father wanting his audience and us to to see God not just as a being to be worshipped or obeyed but as a personal being. He wanted to show us the love and grace that the a Father has for us. He wanted us to know that God was intensely involved with us working to help us become better and to enjoy life more. This Father is aware of how sin destroys and wishes to keep us safe. Yet like an earthly father, He also knows our fears and timidity that keeps us from growing. Parents know that they have to sometimes push their child out of their comfort zone to get them to grow and experience all that life holds. So they stand the toddler up and encourage them to walk. But you will notice they never let them wander away from their hands of protection. And eventually the day comes that the toddler walks on his own and you’d think that he was the first person to ever do so if you saw the parent’s celebration. This is our God, as we take halting steps, He holds us close and when we can walk He celebrates. I’m sure that the child after accomplishing such a great thing wants to rest, but oh no there’s still more. Feeding themselves, dressing themselves, learning to tie their shoes, preparing them for kindergarten. From kindergarten to middle school to high school to college and to career, the parent pushes that child out of the nest but never leaves them totally on their own. This is our Heavenly Father.

One of the ways God indicates we’ve stayed too long at the place in our journey is becoming uncomfortable. Just as the mother bird makes the nest uncomfortable so the eaglets will fly, God will begin removing little by little the things that we rest on. Does He do this to harm us? No, He just knows that unless He does, we will never develop our wings. So in love, He pushes us out of the nest so we can fly but the moment it looks like we’re going to crash, He swoops under and lifts us up on eagle’s wings.

I believe that God is using the COVID pandemic to make us uncomfortable with status quo so we will be pushed out of our nest and fly to new heights and to experience the freedom of the wind of God beneath our wings lifting us up above the storm and showing us His glory with greater revelation.

Though we may fear and tremble, though our world may feel, though we may not know know the way out or what we should do, and though we are in the darkness of despair and helplessness, let us trust the One who is pushing us out of the nest to be with us and go before us and hold us up on His sovereign wings of love. May we rise to heights above the storm and see all things from heaven’s view and may our hope be in Him.

“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling or falling into sin, and to present you unblemished [blameless and faultless] in the presence of His glory with triumphant joy and unspeakable delight, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and power, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”

Jude 1:24-25

Dr. John Thompson