Eagle
Children's sermon
Learning From the Lizard
Bible Animal Object Lessons
Object:
Renewing Youthfulness
I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself (Exodus 19:4 RSV).
Bless the Lord, O my soul ... who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's (Psalm 103:2, 5 RSV).
Under normal conditions eagles enjoy a very long life, often 25 years in the wild, and up to fifty years in captivity. No doubt the psalm writer quoted above saw the same pair of eagles return year after year to their nest. Eagles that never appeared to age, but continued to be vigorous and high flyers, were a part of the natural habitat.
Eagles generally mate for life and, as all wise parents should, they share in the task of raising their young. They take turns sitting on the nest for 34 or 35 days until the eaglets hatch. Then they continue to share in feeding the young.
Each year before the eggs are laid the pair of eagles add to the same nest which may become six feet deep and seven feet across -- as large as a small room in a house. The nest is built high in a large tree or on high rocks in a mountainous area.
Deuteronomy 32:11 says: "As an eagle stirs up its nest ..." So it is very true that the parent eagles must coax and maybe even coerce the reluctant young to leave the nest. This happens when the fledglings are about twelve weeks old.
The passage from Exodus 19:4 gives an incredible promise from God, "I bore you on eagles' wings!" It would certainly be rare, but no doubt it has happened, that when the fledgling was jumping up from the nest to test its wings, it came down atop the nearby parent. The parent then taking flight could actually launch the young eaglet on its first flight. That may be what the biblical writer had seen.
We have all been blessed by the "Footprints in the Sand" story telling of Jesus carrying us through the most devastating times of life. (See Isaiah 63:9.) With the eagles in mind, I would like to suggest that he even carries us on his wings in those darkest hours!
Lessons From The Eagle
Make a leap of faith. God may guide us, even push us out of our safe comfortable places into areas where we can grow and serve him more completely. Flying is a risky business, but we can be lifted out of stagnation to joyful areas of exciting and dynamic service!
Prayer
Loving and lifting Lord, truly your love has lifted us. More than the wonderful awareness, that you hold us in the palm of your hands, may we truly believe that because of your love and strength, we can mount up with wings as eagles! Lift us above doubt and fear and despair into heights of service with you. In Jesus' name we believe. Yes, and Amen!
I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself (Exodus 19:4 RSV).
Bless the Lord, O my soul ... who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's (Psalm 103:2, 5 RSV).
Under normal conditions eagles enjoy a very long life, often 25 years in the wild, and up to fifty years in captivity. No doubt the psalm writer quoted above saw the same pair of eagles return year after year to their nest. Eagles that never appeared to age, but continued to be vigorous and high flyers, were a part of the natural habitat.
Eagles generally mate for life and, as all wise parents should, they share in the task of raising their young. They take turns sitting on the nest for 34 or 35 days until the eaglets hatch. Then they continue to share in feeding the young.
Each year before the eggs are laid the pair of eagles add to the same nest which may become six feet deep and seven feet across -- as large as a small room in a house. The nest is built high in a large tree or on high rocks in a mountainous area.
Deuteronomy 32:11 says: "As an eagle stirs up its nest ..." So it is very true that the parent eagles must coax and maybe even coerce the reluctant young to leave the nest. This happens when the fledglings are about twelve weeks old.
The passage from Exodus 19:4 gives an incredible promise from God, "I bore you on eagles' wings!" It would certainly be rare, but no doubt it has happened, that when the fledgling was jumping up from the nest to test its wings, it came down atop the nearby parent. The parent then taking flight could actually launch the young eaglet on its first flight. That may be what the biblical writer had seen.
We have all been blessed by the "Footprints in the Sand" story telling of Jesus carrying us through the most devastating times of life. (See Isaiah 63:9.) With the eagles in mind, I would like to suggest that he even carries us on his wings in those darkest hours!
Lessons From The Eagle
Make a leap of faith. God may guide us, even push us out of our safe comfortable places into areas where we can grow and serve him more completely. Flying is a risky business, but we can be lifted out of stagnation to joyful areas of exciting and dynamic service!
Prayer
Loving and lifting Lord, truly your love has lifted us. More than the wonderful awareness, that you hold us in the palm of your hands, may we truly believe that because of your love and strength, we can mount up with wings as eagles! Lift us above doubt and fear and despair into heights of service with you. In Jesus' name we believe. Yes, and Amen!
