Stirred Up

Deuteronomy 32:11; 2 Timothy 1:6

“As the eagle stirs up her nest!” That’s what we need; a good stirring! The eagle is a bird that is found in scripture on several occasions. In most of these references, God uses the eagle to illustrate himself and his dealings with Israel. The eagle is the highest soaring bird with the best eyesight. It provides a nest for its offspring that is comfortably padded and nourishes them abundantly until they come of age. At first they do not want to leave the nest because of the comfort and ease of nourishment. So the mother “stirs up the nest” that the sharp edges of the twigs poke through and bring pain to the younglings. If this is not successful then she will toss them out and let them fall only to come to their rescue before hitting the ground. This stirring up and casting out teaches the young birds two things:

To fly

To trust

Sometimes in our relationship with the Lord we can get too comfortable and really indifferent. It is ok to be dependent on God as that is what faith is all about. But God has made us to soar. He doesn’t want us to become so comfortable in the nest of the four walls of the church, but wants us to go out and share our faith. Prior to the pandemic we were comfortable and spiritually out of shape. But when Covid hit, we were forced out of our comfort zones and had to become creative in our worship. And it worked! The gift of God was stirred up within us. (2 Timothy 1:6)

Christians were praying more, reading more, sharing more, talking more about Christ than ever before. In other words, we felt as though we were falling, but God came, swooped us up and carried us through.

But also too, we have learned to trust God. We have been put in a place of which we can no longer lean to our own understanding, but in all of our ways to acknowledge him. (Proverbs 3:5,6) We have found out that surely God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours and though we do not know at times what he may be doing, what we do know is he knows what he is doing.

I am in no way trying to lessen the importance of our assembling together. It is Biblical and healthy. But Christian worship and living is done outside of the Church (Or should I say nest) more than in it. We should soar in the opportunities of Christian witness that God has given us and trust that the words we say will be powerful, influential and impactful.

I am praying this morning that God will use this devotion to stir up his gift in you!

Pastor Robby