Are You a Chicken or an Eagle

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 KJV  

The story is told of an early American farmer who found an eagle’s egg and put it into the nest of a brood chicken. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them.

All its life, the eagle, thinking it was a chicken, did what the chickens did. It scratched in the
dirt for seeds and insects to eat. It clucked and cackled. And it flew in a brief thrashing of wings and flurry of feathers no more than a few feet off the ground. After all, that’s how chickens were supposed to fly.

Years passed... the eagle grew very old. One day, it saw a magnificent bird far above in the cloudless sky. Hanging with graceful majesty on the powerful wind currents, it soared with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings.

“What a beautiful bird!” said the eagle to its neighbor. “What is it?”

“That's an eagle - the chief of the birds,” the neighbor clucked. “But don't give it a second thought. You could never be like him.” So the eagle never gave it a second thought and it died believing it was a chicken.

Hens are referred to but once in the Bible, when Jesus mentions them symbolically as a “type” of people in Jerusalem who could not/would not hear His message nor heed His call. This mass of people lived lives that kept them earthbound, with eyes locked on things of this world, scratching out an existence, unaware of the One who is above us all.

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her own brood under her wings, and ye would not! Luke 13:34 ASV



Chickens are afraid of life, seldom bothering to fly or reaching any potential they might have. They are lazy birds, content with the mediocre, satisfied with grubs and grains. The eagle, however is a different character altogether… it is an A+ waiting to happen. The eagle, for its size is the most

powerful bird alive, a 5lb eagle can kill an animal weighing 6x its weight. If we had the same weigh to strength ratio most of us could lift 326 Kg (720 lbs) Many cultures have stories of eagles carrying off small children, and this is certainly not beyond the realms of possibility. 

Eagles are born to be monarchs of the sky, fearless of storm, beast or man. It is a bird of war, yet they mate for life and are devoted to their chicks, going to great lengths to provide for and protect them. Our Lord likens Himself to an eagle… “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall rest under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of Jehovah, my refuge and my fortress; my God; in Him I will trust. Surely He will deliver you from the fowler’s trap and from the destroying plague. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall trust. His truth shall be your shield, and buckler.” Psalm 91:1-4

God uses the analogy of an eagle to challenge us as believers; no one will ever train a chicken to catch fish, yet He made eagles experts at catching fish, and He has made us fishers of men and women… if we will but “mount up with wings as eagles”.

From God's Word:

Three things are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I do not know: the way of an eagle in the air; the way of a snake on a rock; the way of a ship in the middle of the sea; and the way of a man with a maiden. Proverbs 30:18-19

Updated and republished from August 18th 2014