Dan had one last section in the book to read before his weekend ended, so after supper he locked himself away again. Tomorrow he would rise early to begin another workweek, and he wanted to be ready. Flipping open the book to where his marker was, he began reading the verse of scripture for the last teaching.
“He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!” (Psalms 103:5 NLT)
From here the teacher began to explain how this was a Psalms that David wrote, a man after God’s own heart. David is praising and expounding about all the goodness of God, and then in verse five he suddenly makes a comparison to the eagle, and he says: “My youth is renewed like the eagle!”
“What did David know that perhaps we do not?” the author asked. “What does it mean for our youth to be renewed like the eagle? How is the eagle’s youth renewed? What does it mean, and how does that compare to us?” Dan paused to ponder the power of one’s youth being renewed. Again, powerful and supernatural stuff.
The story went like this. There was a young man and a ship’s Captain standing at the rail of a ship, watching the land go by. The Captain spotted an eagle perched high on a sunbathed cliff and pointed it out to the young man. Taking the binoculars, the man studied the bird. He could see his feathers looked old and some were falling out. There were bloody spots where the eagle’s talons should be, and its beak was bloody and beaten. The young man concluded that the eagle was old and on his way to dying. So he told the Captain of his conclusion, but the Captain said, “Not so,” and began to explain why.
“You see the eagle is a very different bird. When he begins to age, and his talons are growing dull, and his beak is no longer sharp, he has a choice. When his feathers have lost their youthfulness and no longer catch the wind as they did, he has a choice. He can choose to find a rock in the high places, one in which the sun will bathe down upon him, and he begins to molt. One by one all his feathers begin falling out. Then he takes his beak and pulls out those dull talons, leaving the bloody holes. Then he beats his old beak off on the rock, and there he is, helpless, defenseless, unable to eat, fasting, but his youth is being renewed. It has to be a very unpleasant experience, but the reward is amazing.”
The Captain continued, “If he makes the choice to go through this process, he can possibly gain another forty years of life. Brand new youthful feathers grow back. A strong razor sharp beak grows back, long sharp talons grow out again, and then one day the eagle’s youth has been renewed and he spreads those wings and launches out from the cliff ready to soar and hunt again. He is strong and vital, ready to live another forty years.”
The young man was amazed at this ability of the eagle. The author continued teaching, making comparisons as to what it means to be born-again in Christ. He also taught more about the first step of surrender, spending time with God, soaking in his Son, so our youth can be renewed in supernatural things. The taking up of our cross to follow Jesus, the denying of self, but Jesus said if we lay down our life for his sake, then we will find abundance of life. Those who seek to save their own life, will lose it. It’s a process, for those wise enough to chose it.
Dan closed the book and looked at his priority list he had written, the one entitled: “This is not my Home”. Then he bowed his head and thanked the Lord for this awesome life God had given. He had been living it all wrong, unaware of this other way of living. Starting tomorrow, things would be different.
The next day the alarm went off and Dan got up, but he did not rush off into his day…
It is the bird with broken wings that Soars... 