Study 61

Don’t you care?

What’s the greatest enemy when God is disciplining and training us? Fear. ‘Has God forgotten me?’ we wonder. ‘Why is he letting this happen?’ The Israelites betrayed the same unbelief when they questioned Moses, ‘Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?’ (Exod. 14:11). And the disciples, caught in a stormy sea, said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?’ (Mark 4:38). Fear ruled. Terror dominated.

Born to Fly

Why are believers subjected to uncomfortable experiences? Why are young eagles pushed out of their nests, perched high on the cliff edge? There’s one simple answer. Eagles are actually born ‘in heavenly places’. They don’t have to work to get where they are. They don’t climb the steep rock face. The eggshell opens and there they are! It’s all they’ve ever known. But the fact remains that eagles aren’t turkeys or squawking hens. They’re not made for passive, stagnating nest dwelling. They’re born to fly and rule the sky. They’re majestic on the wing. They need to grow into their destiny and the parent knows just what’s called for: nest bashing!

We mustn’t fail to see the tender side so beautifully on display. When we go through a difficult experience we want to ask where the Lord is and why our path is hidden from him. The fact is that at this precarious time, the eye of the parent eagle is never more sharply focused on her young. Formerly she’d often flown long distances in search of food. Now, as she breaks the nest and stirs up her young, she’s diligently watching every move. She’s not an absent, indifferent parent but, like God, ‘an ever present help in trouble’ (Ps. 46:1).

Trained for Purpose

As the young egrets fall and experience the first aerobatic tug on their wings, they find to their delight that their mother catches them and carries them on her pinions. She hasn’t abdicated her responsibilities at all. She’s training her young for life and purpose, and is jealously watching over them in the process. Soon they’ll fly like she does, share her mature skills and mount up to display the family likeness.

Believers have been born in the heavenly realms with Christ (Eph. 1:20). You have a capacity for flight. But without discipline and training you’ll never reach your full potential. Dull predictability and inertia based on unchanging nest life will undermine your true identity. You must learn to embrace hardships like a good soldier. The grace of discipline will train you so that you can share Christ’s robust and triumphant holiness.

To Meditate On

God won’t let us fall.

‘The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms’ (Deut. 33:27).

‘The Lord delights in the way of the man whose steps he has made firm; thought he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand’ (Ps. 27:23,24).

‘Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall’ (Ps. 55:22).

‘So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand’ (Is. 41:10).

Food For Thought

Meditate on Psalm 121.

Notice the repeated phrase in verses 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8.

What is it?

To Reflect

What three images does Paul use in 2 Timothy 2:3-7?

What lessons can you learn from them?

To Review

What goals do parents have for their children?

In what practical ways do they achieve them?

If you’re a parent, where could you improve on family discipline?

To Be Inspired

‘God's children should not doubt his love when he afflicts. Christ loved Lazarus peculiarly, and yet he afflicted him very sore. A surgeon never bends his eye so tenderly upon his patient, as when he is putting in the lancet, or probing the wound to the very bottom. And so with Christ – he bends his eye most tenderly over his own at the time he is afflicting them … A goldsmith when he casts gold into the furnace looks after it.’

Robert Murray McCheyne, Comfort in Sorrow, Christian Focus, 2002, p. 11.