Introduction:
A forest ranger is making rounds in a remote part of the wooded reserve when he comes across an unkempt man, sitting at a make-shift campfire, and, to the ranger's horror, eating a fish and a bald eagle. The man is consequently put in jail for the crime. He was soon brought to trial for his crime... The Judge asked the man "Do you know that eating a bald eagle is a federal offense?"
"Yes I do." replied the man, "but if you let me argue my case, I'll explain what happened."
"You may proceed."
"I got lost in the woods, and hadn't had anything real to eat for two weeks," the man
explained. "I was so hungry, I was eating plants to stay alive. Next thing I see is a Bald Eagle swooping down at the lake grabbing some fish. I thought 'if I startled the Eagle I could maybe steal the fish.' Low and behold, the eagle lighted upon a nearby tree stump to eat the fish. I threw a stone toward the eagle hoping he would drop the fish and fly away. Unfortunately, in my weakened condition, my aim was off, and the rock hit the eagle squarely on his poor little head, and killed it. I thought long and hard about what had happened, but figured that since I killed it I might as well eat it since it would be more disgraceful to let it rot on the ground."
The judge says he will take a recess to analyze the defendant's testimony. 15 minutes goes by and the judge returns: "Due to the extreme circumstance you were under and because you didn't intend to kill the eagle, the court will dismiss the charges."
The Judge then leans over the bench and whispers: "If you don't mind my asking, what does a bald eagle taste like?"
"Well your Honor, it is hard to explain. The best I can describe it's a bit more tender than a California Condor but lacks the tang of a Spotted Owl."
WBTU:
The preachers and teachers not long after the apostles died would try to make everything have a profound meaning. Anything and everything in the Scriptures had a deep meaning.
In these Proverbs, they gave them deep meanings. Nice applications but as far as the only applications, that is just not so. As for the serpent on a rock, they said it speaks of God’s victory over Satan. The way of a ship in the midst of the sea speaks of the mystery of God’s preservation of His people down through the centuries.
The way of a man with a maiden spoke of the mystery of Christ’s relationship with the Church. Again a good application but if we tie it in with vs. 20 I don’t think it is talking about Christ and his church.
I want to spend some time tonight talking about this first thing, the way of an eagle in the sky.
Thesis: We can learn a lot from nature. Four points on eagle
For instances:
An eagle has to be born an eagle.
Crows and canaries will never become eagles.
We can never become children of God unless God changes us in a profound way. This cannot be done naturally. It can only happen by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus called it the new birth. John 3:3-5: Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.”
Ezekiel 36:25-27: I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
1 Peter 1:23: For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
Be born again. Born of a different Father.
The mother eagle will discipline her eaglets.
A mother eagle builds her nest on the face of a cliff. She puts it in a safe place for the birds to be nurtured. The eagle’s nest is make with great skill. It is very large, and it is constructed with branches that are intertwined to make it strong. When the branches are intertwined, then she lines it with feathers and grass to make it soft. Once the eggs have been laid and hatched it becomes the mother eagles seemingly endless task of going off on delivery missions where she has to feed the baby birds. She goes back and forth and back and forth and every time she returns she will perch on the edge of the nest and feed the eaglets, one by one.
Scientists have conducted experiments and have moved the eaglets while the mother eagle is gone. The mother eagle knows which eaglet was fed last and so she always starts with one that has gone the longest without food even if they are moved around. She feed them uniformly and she isn’t fooled at all. She nourishes them equally.
One day, though, when she comes back she does something differently. This time she doesn’t rest on the side of the nest. Instead she hovers about 3 feet above the nest. Many people do not know that an eagle can hover like a humming bird. This time what she is telling the eaglets that there is something that these wings do and they need to learn about it. After hovering for a time, she will descend into the nest and she will begin to teach her little ones to fly. She will snuggle up against one and she will begin to nudge it ever so slightly to the edge of the nest. At the edge, she keeps going until they fall out of the nest. Those little birds go hurtling down the face of the cliff, seemingly to their destruction. But no, quick as a flash, the mother eagle swoops down and catches them on her back and brings them safely back into the nest. This process is done to each and every eaglet.
Why does she do this? Does she not love them anymore? Well, the babies feel quite secure and comfortable. But that is not what the mother eagle wants. As long as they are safe and secure they will never learn to fly. They were made to fly. It is their nature.
God sometimes does the same thing to us. He disciplines us for our own good. Hebrews 12
If the eaglets don’t fly after this stage, she moves into the next one. She begins to make life miserable for the eaglets. She begins to take away the soft lining of the nest. She continues and starts to pull the nest apart. Now, it is uncomfortable for them to be in that nest. She continues until their is nothing left of the nest.
Deuteronomy 32:11-12: 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 alone led him; no foreign god was with him.
All of those stages were experienced by the Hebrews. This is the way that he works with us as well. Sometimes our God takes our lives and casts us out. What God is doing is kicking us away and removing our securities, all those things that we counted on. God is forcing us out of the nest.
Why would he do that? Because he doesn’t care. No, because He does care. We were make to fly and He wants us to become what we were meant to be all along.
He has not made us to be chickens or turkeys. We were made to soar.
Eagles fly differently that other birds.
Many birds fly by flapping their wings through the air with furious movements. Eagles don’t do this. They soar. They have an instinctive ability to discern air current and thermals. They lock their wings and ride the thermals, wind currents. They can soar up and they can soar down with very little movement.
Isaiah 40:29-31: He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 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.
An eagle knows when a storm is approaching long before it breaks. It will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come. When the storm hits, it sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm. While the storm rages below. it is soaring above it. The eagle does not escape the storm; it simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It rides on the winds that bring the storm. Isaiah compares people to eagles. He says that we are blessed with that gift from God that enables us to ride the winds of the storm that bring sickness, tragedy, failure and disappointment into our life. Remember, it is not the burdens of life that weigh us down, it is how we handle them.
When the storms of life come upon us, we can rise above them by setting our mind and belief toward God. The storms do not have to overcome us. We can allow God’s power to lift us above them. It is not to say that we would not be affected by the storm. We will not only be affected, we will be in it. It is just that we will use the storm to grow spiritually. Job did, Joseph did, David did, and so can we.
An eagle knows of its approaching death
When an eagle knows this, it will leave its nest, fly off to a rock and fasten its talons to the edge of the rock. It will look straight into the setting sun and then it dies.
Have we ever seen an eagle die? Many have because we have many die lately. Men and women who are fastened on the rock of Christ. They looked into the sun of righteousness.
I realize that some Christians die in pain and agony, but there is a difference between a Christian who dies and one who dies without hope. Finish with 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
