Have you ever looked into the sky and seen a hawk or a similar large bird being plagued by one or two much smaller birds, incessantly swooping down and waging attack? I once thought that maybe the larger bird under siege had brought this upon himself. Perhaps he had stolen food, robbed a nest, or in some way initiated the encounter. Surely he deserved what he was getting ,and the little guys were enacting their revenge!
However, when recently observing this senario, I had a different take on the situation. This time, I was more sympathetic toward the larger, statelier bird that had caught my eye soaring on a wind current, not even having to flap its wings to maintain its position in the sky. There he had been, just doing what comes naturally, bothering noone and WHAM! Out of the blue appear these two meddlesome birds, intent on picking a fight despite the fact that based on size alone they could never win, or could they? Is it possible that their incessant onslaught might be tiring enough to cause the larger bird to leave his graceful moment in the sky, simply doing what God had created him to do and seek retreat?
In that moment, God inspired a parallel between us as followers of Christ in this display of nature. Haven’t we all been there? We are airborne, in fellowship with God, seeking His will, things are going well, and then it happens. WHAM! From out of nowhere, Satan launches an attack on us. Not with small pesky birds, of course. Satan attacks us with disapointments, temptations, loss of health or job or relationships. I could go on and on here, but you catch my drift. Satan enjoys using these things, these situations as tools of attack on us and our relationship with God. How Satan would relish the victory over us in these difficult circumstances. If he were able to hamper our flight, our testimony, our witness for the Lord would be hampered as well. We would no longer soar. We would be grounded!
So who will we allow to triumph in these situations-Satan or God? In the the Bible, 1Corinthians 10:13 (The Message) has hope and instructions for matters such as this.
No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; He’ll never let you get pushed past your limit; He’ll always be there to help you come through it.
Hallelujah! All is not lost. God will always be there to help us thwart these onslaughts from Satan, these attempts to disrupt our flight and ground our testimony for the Lord. As we rest in our relationship with God and trust Him for deliverance, He will send a current of wind beneath the wings of our lives to lift us closer to Him and the shelter of His wings (Psalm 61:4). There is no victory to be had for Satan as long as we allow God to direct our flight and be our air traffic controller. We simply need to check in daily for our co-ordinates given to us through God’s written word, the Bible, through prayer and through a daily relationship with Him.
God did not create most birds to be grounded and simply hop around on the ground. He gave them wings to fly, to soar, to display the beauty of His creation. Don’t spend any more time being grounded. With God’s help, spread your wings and fly so that you too can bring glory to Him.