Grace Line: Have faith to get through crisis and soar like an eagle

“Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Isaiah 40:30-31 (KJV)

Did you know eagles go through mid-life crises like we do? Eagles live from 60 to 100 years. There are many parallels in the life of the eagle and the life of the saint of God. God uses all of His creation as teaching tools.

Take, for example, the middle-aged eagle. The eagle is the most powerful, wonderful, awe-inspiring, and majestic of God’s birds. They are fascinating to watch. They also are strong and powerful. An eagle can grab an animal several times its own weight, and fly to great heights and distances with the prey gripped in its talons.

I’m sure there have been times in your life as a saint of God that you have overcome circumstances many times greater than you could bear. With the courage and strength of the Holy Spirit, you took authority over those situations and soared above them. You ate those morsels of adversity, and they strengthened you. You did, indeed, mount up with wings as eagles as you trusted in the Lord.

However, there comes a time in a young eagle’s life where his strength, tenacity and zest for life begin to wane. The fire goes out of his eyes and heart. His beak and talons become brittle and begin to break off. It is a mystery to the eagle.

During this time, the eagle loses sight of his purpose in life. God created him to soar above all other birds. To fly effortlessly into storms. To fear no enemy. But during this time, he comes down to earth. He begins to walk, not fly, in the wilderness.

When eagles experience this stretch of wilderness, you can pick them up and hold them. When you look into their eyes, the fire and passion is gone. There is an emptiness and a void. They are so depressed they do not care if they live or die.

However, an interesting thing happens during this time. Old eagles who have survived their own mid-life crisis fly over and drop food to these Earth-bound sky warriors. Some are so depressed, they ignore the food. These eventually die. Others gather up enough energy to waddle over and eat the manna from the sky.

As they eat, they gain strength to remember their roots and their destiny. These eagles fly to the rock upon which they were born. Eagles always remember and return to their rock when re-awakened to their destiny.

Upon returning to their rock, they begin to beat their beak and talons upon that rock until they have no beak or talons at all. It is a most vulnerable, a most scary time for the eagle. He is totally helpless. He cannot hunt. He cannot fend for himself. He is totally dependent upon the grace and provision of His maker.

But slowly and surely, the beak begins to grow back. The talons begin to grow long and strong. His strength returns.

Then one day, he leaps from the rock, catches an updraft and soars once again. It’s like being born again.

This process only occurs once in the life of an eagle. No one can explain it. It just happens. After this mid-life experience, the eagle is better, wiser and stronger than ever before. It is a marvelous mystery of God’s creation, one through which we learn many things.

I have found when we are young and strong, we feel invincible. We can accomplish most anything with a lot of hard work and sweat. If we get into a bind, we seek God out, but for the most part, we think we can handle it.

Then comes a day when the fire and the passion is gone. The zealous fire has waned to a mere flicker. We wonder, “Why am I here?” Nothing satisfies us. We meander aimlessly in the wilderness with no direction, no desire, no goal, no sense of destiny.

At this point, many shrivel up and die. Unlike the wilderness eagle, few people fly by with a bite of encouragement and hope. The ones who do fly by are ignored, or the saint is so weak he can’t eat enough to gain his strength back.

Thank God for persistent eagle saints who keep dropping morsels of grace, love and hope for this miserable creature. Fortunately, some of these eagle saints who have been there, done that stick the food into the mouth of the withering saint. In time, the forlorn, weary saint begins to feel stronger and his spiritual vision returns.

Then one day, he garners enough strength to return to the Rock of his birth. It is there upon the rock of his salvation that his security and peace returns. He realizes his foolishness in thinking he can make it on his own. He asks the Rock to break his stubborn independent heart.

Dennis Jernigan, one of my favorite Christian singer and songwriter, wrote a song that aptly fits our story, “Break My Heart.” It says, “O, break my heart, O God, for it is like a rock so very hard. Jesus, my rock, come and break my heart, for you’re the only one who can break it apart…. O, God, come break my heart.”

God is so good to us to break those things in our lives that make us independent of Him. It is only in absolute dependence upon Him we are truly strong and invincible. And He’s the only rock that can break those things.

After the saint has returned to the rock of his birth, and the rock has broken his confidence in himself, then he mounts up with wings as eagles. Then he runs and does not become weary. Then he walks and does not faint.

From that time on, he is never the same. He no longer takes three steps forward and two steps back. He beholds the Lord. “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18 KJV).

There can be no crown without the cross. No glory without the grime. After the cross, Jesus was even better than He was before the incarnation. But He, too, had a wilderness and a cross to endure. And so do we.

Don’t gripe, complain and fret if you are in the wilderness. It’s a part of God’s plan for you. He has not left you, nor forsaken you. Praise Him. It will hasten your exit from the wilderness.

And if you have been there, done that, pick up a morsel of hope and encouragement, and drop it in front of another wilderness wanderer. After all, that’s why you mount up with wings.

This story was originally published August 28, 2015 at 12:15 PM with the headline "Grace Line: Have faith to get through crisis and soar like an eagle."