Eagles or Horses?

Writers love using familiar events or illustrations from nature, science and other human experiences to illustrate spiritual truths. The Lord is my Shepherd is a familiar one. Some verses liken the care of God to a mother hen spreading her wings over her chicks. Today’s devotional uses horses and eagles.

I have both positive and negative memories for both. My horses were my best friends, but one of them took a notion to run under a tree. My head hit a hefty branch and I lost my memory for a time. Another stepped in a badger hole and both of us went head over heels.
As for eagles, my best memory is seeing one in Alaska being harassed by a crow. Finally the eagle convulsed as if hurt, but it wasn’t. It had tightened its talons and the crow dropped from the sky.

Today’s devotionals cites two passages. One is about eagles…

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:28–31)

This powerful bird illustrates the strength God gives to those who wait for the Lord rather than moving forward without His guidance or strength. Like an eagle, we rise above our fatigue and the feeling of being weak and unable.

The other passage is about horses…

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling, and you said, “No! We will flee upon horses”; therefore you shall flee away; and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”; therefore your pursuers shall be swift. A thousand shall flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill. (Isaiah 30:15–17)

Instead of waiting, if I pick something else that I think will accomplish the task at hand, I will find that I cannot escape the problem. These word pictures not only spell out the folly of taking matters into my own hands, but that God can use me as an example for others to show them what not to do — like a flag or a signal on a hill.

Another passage comes to mind...

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the Lord! And yet he is wise and brings disaster; he does not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers and against the helpers of those who work iniquity. The Egyptians are man, and not God, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord stretches out his hand, the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall, and they will all perish together. (Isaiah 31:1–3)

Egypt points to bondage and the power of sin to enslave. If I trust the things of my old life that appear to be powerful and fail to consult the Lord, I’m relying on flesh rather than Spirit. Another prophet warns: “Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.” (Jeremiah 17:5)

The NT states this clearly:

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:5–8)

PRAY: Thankfully, the next verse says, “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” (Romans 8:9–10) Jesus, I rejoice in the new life and in Your gift of being able to soar like an eagle and see the trials of life fall beneath me and into Your hands. Thank You so much.