Learn To Ride The Wind...

LEARN TO RIDE THE WIND! By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com

Are you the kind of person that would rather “WALK ON WATER” than to “BUILD A BRIDGE?” Do we desire A NO EFFORT, ride the wave where ever? I am pondering what kind of heart do we have? Am I putting forth an effort and am I learning to grow and be better? Where am I in the process of learning? God takes care of His people, and though we don’t always see it in such striking and noticeable ways, the Bible promises that He will take care of those who are His.

Deuteronomy 32:9 For the LORD'S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. 10 He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. 11 As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: 12 So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him. 13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock; 14 Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.

This portion of the Bible is a beautiful graphic description of God’s care for Israel over in the 32nd chapter of Deuteronomy. I would like to show it to you, how God lovingly brings about change and maturity in the lives of His people. This sad passage goes on to say that, in spite of all God did for Israel, they ultimately turned away from Him and turned to idols.

Deuteronomy 32:11 As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:

What a beautiful picture of how God deals with his people: as a mother eagle training her young to fly. There are seven stages that a young eagle goes through when learning to fly. These stages are also evident in God’s "training" us to live the life of faith. That is the basis of the comparison. As I describe them to you, listen and see if you recognize any of them in your life.

1. To ride the wind we watch: The Demonstration Stage As the time draws near for a young eagle to begin flight training, the mother eagle will frequently push off from the perch where the nest is in the cliff side and hover above her young. In response, the eaglets begin to flap their wings wildly in imitation. It’s as natural and instinctive for them as breathing.

That is what verse 11 is referring to when it says the eagle "hovers" over its young. At this stage the eaglets don’t have enough feathers to fly, but they begin to develop their wing muscles. The key word here is demonstration. The eagle demonstrates flying for her young and they imitate her in response. What a great picture to describe what God has done for us through Jesus! Jesus came to earth as Emanuel, "God with us," the Bible says. He demonstrated the kind of faith and life we should be leading.

A child just learns to sit up, then to crawl. A child quits crawling and learns to walk by watching adults walk around him. That walking is a FORD, a better idea… Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

2 Timothy 2:8 Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel:

God hasn’t left us to figure things out on our own. He has cared enough about us to give us a living demonstration. Remember when Jesus said, "If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father?" Jesus was and is the perfect and indispensable demonstration of how we should live the life of faith.

2. TO RIDE THE WIND WE MUST GO THROUGH THE DISCOMFORT STAGE "Like an eagle that stirs up its nest..." It’s one thing for those young eagles to flap their wings in the security of their down-filled home. It’s quite another for them to move to the edge, look over, and imagine stepping out on nothing! Naturally, they don’t want to do it. So the adult eagle does something the young eagles won’t understand until later. She begins "stirring up" the nest! She actually begins to poke through the bottom and tear the nest apart. The young eagles are literally forced to fly.