learning to fly

This morning, on my way to a private time with the Lord, I spied a great number of hawks circling in the sky.  My first thought was that there must be a dead animal beneath them.  But I had never seen this many hawks at one time in the air...perhaps 30 of them.  Upon stopping at the water's edge, I realized that conditions were very windy.  A few hawks were just above me hanging apparently motionless in the sky as the cold breeze supported their outstretched wings.  The thought struck me that this is what hawks do when it gets really windy...they ride the wind.  They don't hide from it or fight it.  They were made to soar in these conditions.  I read through Proverbs, chapter 3 and Acts, chapters 6-7 this morning and encountered the familiar Proverbs passage:

Proverbs 3:⁵ Trust in the LORD with all your heart
       and lean not on your own understanding;

 ⁶ in all your ways acknowledge him,
       and he will make your paths straight.

 

I reflected that this kind of attitude is like spiritual "soaring".  Trusting in the Lord is like being a spiritual hawk that rises into His Holy Wind, or Holy Spirit, and relies on that energy for lift and direction.

 

Then I read the story of Stephen in Acts, chapter 7, when he was being interrogated by hostile Jews.  They were determined to resist Stephen and his ministry but ran into difficulty.

Acts 6:⁸ And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. ⁹ Then there arose some from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia), disputing with Stephen. ¹⁰ And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.  

 

I considered their attitude and realized that they were responding to the power of God and His Holy Wind with resistance.  Not surprisingly the story didn't have a happy outcome as their resistance led to violence and the murder of Stephen.

 

I realized that we can yield to God's Holy Wind, and fly, or stand against it and be knocked over.

 

blessings,

Rob Smith