“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. 5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you…”
James 1:2-5 NLT
Who taught the mother and father, the eagles, how to build their nest? Where’d they get all that wisdom for constructing the nursery for their beloved little ones, so they can grow up into mature eagles to live in this real, unfriendly world?
Nobody taught them.
God, the infinitely-wise Creator, put that “smarts” into their souls.
When Mama and Papa Eagle know that a precious baby is on the way, what do they do to prepare a wonderful place to safely raise their kids?
They build a nest and make it, from bottom to top, all comfy and soft and “just right” for their little ones that are on the way, right? That’s what we’d do, isn’t it?
But God is not logical — ever noticed?
Oh no.
With infinite love and mercy and compassion and kindness moving Him to create in Mom & Dad eagles’ hearts, what does He put in them, instinctively, to get the nursery ready?
Just this . . .
After both the male and female eagle build the outer framework about 80 to 100 feet in the air, a safe and secure superstructure, how does the loving God have them build the inside of the nest?
Like this . . .
Mom and Dad line the inside of this huge outer layer of the nest with broken twigs, sharp stones, jagged pieces of bone, and prickly thorns.
“Hey,” we say to ourselves, “That makes no sense!” Exactly right. And that’s why God commands us to “Lean not unto YOUR OWN understanding.” Self, the flesh, is a totally clueless idiot–even though most people don’t know it or believe it.
After Mom and Dad eagle, with wisdom from above, put all that painful stuff in the bottom of their nest, they then cover it with feathers, soft wool, moss, soft leaves, and comfy fur from animals they have killed. They make it as comfortable as possible for the little ones on the way.
So, why that weird and whacked prickly foundation? Why would a loving God build into them instinctively the wisdom to make it that way?
Because He knows they would never leave the nest if it were all cushy and comfy.
When the eaglets reach the age of about 8 weeks, Mom and Dad eagle begin, instinctively, to deprive the little ones of food. The eaglets start rooting around for bits of food, tearing away the soft stuff they’ve been enjoying since day one.
Hungry and sitting on a thorny, prickly mattress, they decide to move out and spread their wings.
Mom and Dad teach them to fly and hunt on their own, and off they go, soaring into the heights, mature eagles for all to admire.
So, what’s that got to do with all this nightmare virus stuff, anyway?
Just this…
In order for our loving heavenly Father to get us, His beloved children, to leave the “nest” and comfort zone of self-sufficiency, self-reliance, independent self-effort, selfishness, or our God-in-a-box religious rituals and routines, He has to make life prickly and painful.
Have you ever, in your whole life, lived through anything as messed up and uncomfortable as now? Join the club!
But Mamma and Pappa eagle didn’t put all that sharp and painful stuff in the bottom of the nest as God told them to do to hurt them, did they?
Same with your all-good, all-merciful, all-wise heavenly Father.
Ask the Holy Spirit, right here, right now, about your own comfort-zone nest. How that limits His love flowing into your life? Ask Him how He wants you to leave the nest of your museum-dead religion, your ho-hum embalmed tradition, your routine boring churchianity? How does He want to mature you and build your character with allowing all this madness? How does He want to turn principles into Presence, and information into intimacy? Pause now and ask Him … then read on.
Ask Him to reveal to you what James 1:1-5 means in a brand new way for your life . . .
“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. 5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you…”
James 1:2-5 NLT
And in the Intro to the New Testament, the OT, He says it like this . . .
“15 For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength…
18 And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for Him.” Isaiah 30:15, 18 NKJV
All this craziness is about motivating His beloved and wandering kids to “return” to the Father Who loves and adores them. All of us wander away to one degree or another, don’t we? So, let us return and thank Him for making the leash a whole lot SHORTER!
(When you can make the time, read Amos 4:7-10).
Here’s to your soon return!
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/DrB
