June 16, 2020
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For most of us it's rare to see an eagle, and so an event when you do see one of those majestic birds soaring overhead it goes something like this: "Look! An eagle!" If you're driving when you hear that, your passengers might be in serious danger. Of course, an eagle isn't born knowing how to fly. Just like us learning to walk, they need to learn to fly and it's actually I imagine a pretty traumatic experience. Mama Eagle takes you high for a ride on her back and then she dumps you. Suddenly, you are hurtling through the sky with the ground below racing toward you. All the while, Papa Eagle is circling overhead, just watching. In a panic, the little eagle remembers watching Mom and Dad use these feathery things at their sides, so he clumsily extends his wings and starts flapping them frantically. That's a good start, but it's not enough to save him from this rapidly approaching disaster below. At that moment, Papa Eagle suddenly swoops downward at eye-blurring speed, flying straight for his falling child. And in a perfectly timed rescue, the father swoops in under his baby, catches him on his back, and takes him back to the sky.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Father Who Catches You."
That day of his first attempt to fly, Junior Eagle learns a very important lesson - your father can fly faster than you can fall. So can yours. Your Heavenly Father, that is. If there's been a time when you've put your total trust in Jesus Christ to be your rescuer from your sin, then the great God of the universe is your Father. And no matter how fast or how far you may fall, He can always fly faster than you can fall. He catches His falling children. For where you are in your life right now, that might be some of the best news you've heard in a long time.
Jude, verse 24, our word for today from the Word of God, tells us that "He is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy." Maybe you say, "Yeah, but I've gone too far. I've done too much. I've been gone too long." You think you're somehow beyond the rescuing reach of the Heavenly Father. Well, you're wrong. There's not a sin you've committed that He did not cover when He died on the cross for you. Romans 5:20 announces the wonderful news that "where sin increased, grace increased all the more." In other words, there's always more grace than there is sin. Hallelujah!
If you're one of His falling ones, if you're one of His falling ones, then you'll find yourself or someone you know in this wonderful description of what Jesus is doing about it right now. Listen to these verses from Ezekiel 34: "This is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'I Myself will search for My sheep and look after them. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak.'"
Then, lest the wandering and the falling have caused you to forget who you are and whose you are, He says, "'You (are) My sheep, the sheep of My pasture...and I am your God,' declares the Lord." If you're away from Him, you know that the best days of your life were when you were close to Him. You got away, but you can't stay away. He's come looking for you.
You've been afraid to fly again; afraid to come back to Jesus because you might mess up again or because you think He wouldn't want you back after what you've done. Not only does He want you back, He's come looking for you today!
Yes, you've been falling. But this very day, the Father who loves you has swept down from the sky. He's come underneath you to catch you and carry you home.