David exclaimed, "Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest" (Psalm 55:6). He was in great distress as the words preceding this exclamation reveal, "My heart is in anguish within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror has overwhelmed me." Have you ever wished you could take flight and leave your circumstances behind? If only we had wings...
I was reminded this past week that the Christian does indeed have wings, but rather than winging us away from our troubles, they are wings that enable us to fly up, as it were, to the throne of grace where we might receive help in our time of need. As a bird must have two strong wings to fly, we also need two wings to fly up to our heavenly Father. One wing is "Surrender" and the other is "Trust" ~ but how does a human sprout wings?
Deuteronomy 32:11 tells us...
"Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions." Hannah Whitall Smith (1832-1911) describes it this way. "The mother eagle teaches her little ones to fly by making their nest so uncomfortable that they are forced to leave it and commit themselves to the unknown world of air outside. And just so does our God to us. He stirs up our comfortable nests, and pushes us over the edge of them, and we are forced to use our wings to save ourselves from fatal falling. Read your trials in this light, and see if you cannot begin to get a glimpse of their meaning. Your wings are being developed" (The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life). And yet look closely, God is there even as we are learning to fly. The mother eagle hovers over her young watching the progress of her eaglets and is ready to catch them and carry them on her pinions when they themselves are too weak.
Not only do trials develop our wings, but our response to our trials does as well...
"Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord, will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles..." (Isaiah 40:30-31).
Are you weary and tired? Do you feel like you are stumbling? Is the Lord stirring up your nest so that you will develop and exercise the wings of Surrender and Trust? That will happen as we learn to wait for (literally: to look for, hope and expect) the Lord.
This past week I felt like a bird with a broken wing. Have you ever watched a bird struggle to take flight with a broken wing? There is a lot of effort, a lot of flapping and false starts, but no flight, only increasing distress. What breaks the wing of Trust but doubt, doubting God's goodness, doubting His promises. And what disables the wing of Surrender but sin, perhaps in the form of anger and frustration at the sovereign God who has lovingly stirred the nest.
If you, like me, feel like one of your wings is broken, take courage that though your "soul may feel as if it were in a prison from which it cannot escape, and consequently is debarred from mounting up on wings. No earthly bars can ever imprison the soul. No walls however high...can imprison an eagle so long as there is an open way upward; and earth's power can never hold the soul in prison while the upward way is kept open and free. Our enemies may build walls around us as high as they please, but they cannot build any barrier between us and God; and if we "mount up with wings" we can fly higher than any of their walls can ever reach... The only thing that can really imprison the soul is something that hinders its upward flight."
Don't allow doubt or sin to cloud over your clear path upward. Remember that ultimately the roof of sin has been removed altogether from your prison by the Savior. Trust, Surrender and wait for the Lord.
"The dove hath neither claw nor sting.
Nor weapon for the fight,
She owes her safety to the wing,
Her victory to flight.
The bridegroom opens His arms of love,
And in them folds the panting dove."
I was reminded this past week that the Christian does indeed have wings, but rather than winging us away from our troubles, they are wings that enable us to fly up, as it were, to the throne of grace where we might receive help in our time of need. As a bird must have two strong wings to fly, we also need two wings to fly up to our heavenly Father. One wing is "Surrender" and the other is "Trust" ~ but how does a human sprout wings?
Deuteronomy 32:11 tells us...
"Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions." Hannah Whitall Smith (1832-1911) describes it this way. "The mother eagle teaches her little ones to fly by making their nest so uncomfortable that they are forced to leave it and commit themselves to the unknown world of air outside. And just so does our God to us. He stirs up our comfortable nests, and pushes us over the edge of them, and we are forced to use our wings to save ourselves from fatal falling. Read your trials in this light, and see if you cannot begin to get a glimpse of their meaning. Your wings are being developed" (The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life). And yet look closely, God is there even as we are learning to fly. The mother eagle hovers over her young watching the progress of her eaglets and is ready to catch them and carry them on her pinions when they themselves are too weak.
Not only do trials develop our wings, but our response to our trials does as well...
"Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord, will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles..." (Isaiah 40:30-31).
Are you weary and tired? Do you feel like you are stumbling? Is the Lord stirring up your nest so that you will develop and exercise the wings of Surrender and Trust? That will happen as we learn to wait for (literally: to look for, hope and expect) the Lord.
This past week I felt like a bird with a broken wing. Have you ever watched a bird struggle to take flight with a broken wing? There is a lot of effort, a lot of flapping and false starts, but no flight, only increasing distress. What breaks the wing of Trust but doubt, doubting God's goodness, doubting His promises. And what disables the wing of Surrender but sin, perhaps in the form of anger and frustration at the sovereign God who has lovingly stirred the nest.
If you, like me, feel like one of your wings is broken, take courage that though your "soul may feel as if it were in a prison from which it cannot escape, and consequently is debarred from mounting up on wings. No earthly bars can ever imprison the soul. No walls however high...can imprison an eagle so long as there is an open way upward; and earth's power can never hold the soul in prison while the upward way is kept open and free. Our enemies may build walls around us as high as they please, but they cannot build any barrier between us and God; and if we "mount up with wings" we can fly higher than any of their walls can ever reach... The only thing that can really imprison the soul is something that hinders its upward flight."
Don't allow doubt or sin to cloud over your clear path upward. Remember that ultimately the roof of sin has been removed altogether from your prison by the Savior. Trust, Surrender and wait for the Lord.
"The dove hath neither claw nor sting.
Nor weapon for the fight,
She owes her safety to the wing,
Her victory to flight.
The bridegroom opens His arms of love,
And in them folds the panting dove."
RSS Feed
