To Be An Eagle

In the wake of Charlie Kirk's horrific death, other things have taken place that strike anger, disbelief, and fear in the hearts of Christians. The public reaction has been, in a word, horrific. Doctors, nurses, big name personalities, regular joe-blows, have crawled like cockroaches out of the woodwork, saying ugly, hateful things . Some rant that Charlie Kirk deserved to die, some accusing him of hate (a man who spoke and acted out the love of his Savior? Really?), others even celebrating his death.

The knee jerk reaction, or mine at least, is to wish to unleash the hate being spewed out right back on the haters. It's called being human, a natural, carnal reaction. In my defense, even Jesus' disciples wanted to rain down fire on the villages that rejected Him. When they voiced their desires, though, Jesus calmly and gently reprimanded them, saying, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them (Luke 9:52-56)." Well, if we're not supposed to retaliate in kind, what in the world are we supposed to do? Just take it? Nope. We have been called to a better way.

A post has been circulating on Facebook about crows and eagles. Crows, though intelligent and remarkable in many ways, are also vicious, to the point of attacking and pecking out the eyes of a vulnerable or injured fawn. The post says the following about the crow, the only bird that dares to attack the mighty eagle. As it jumps on the eagle's back, pecking at it and pulling its feathers to harass it, oddly enough, the eagle does not retaliate. Instead, it goes into "get rid of this annoyance" mode. The post, credited to Adesola Odusanmi Adebanjo, says the following:

The eagle stays calm. It does not retaliate, but ... it rises. "The higher the eagle soars, the thinner the air becomes. The crow? it can't handle the altitude. Eventually the crow gasps, loses strength, and falls off. Not because the eagle attacked, but because the eagle ascended. Let the crows talk. Let them peck. You don't have to respond. Just keep going higher. They can't follow you forever. Your growth will suffocate their noise. So don't engage. Elevate." This should be our story.

Habakkuk 3:10 reads, "The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me walk upon mine high places." Hind is another word for a female deer. Because it is naturally sure-footed, it has the innate ability to scale high, mountainous areas that other animals cannot. While lowlands are subject to flooding (think: the disasters and tragedies of the human condition), high places offer safety. If an animal has the ability to easily navigate those high places, he not only gains a better vantage point, but is relatively free from ground-based threats. In God, we have the ability to rise above the problems endemic to the lowlands, the dirty, awful things of this life. Just like our friend the eagle. The naysayers, the rock throwers, the haters of all that is good. In Him, we can rise above all those problems as we dwell with Him in the high places.

Okay. So to get rid of the crow-like harassers, I have to get to the high places with God. Sounds good. But how exactly do I do that? Isaiah 58:14 gives us a cause and effect scenario. It says, "Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." If I delight myself in God, if I seek Him, He will give me the ability to rise above all the mundane and troublesome things endemic to this world and enjoy a little bit of Heaven here on earth.

What happened to Charlie Kirk was tragic. The world's reaction has been distressing. But we don't have to live in that reality. We can rise above it.

When Jesus redirected his oh-so-human-and-snarky disciples from the vengeance they were bent on, verse 56 ends with "And they went to another village." We don't retaliate. We rise above. And we live out the best vengeance—going on with the mission we are called to, never wavering.

"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint" (Isaiah 40:31).