There are seasons in life when everything begins to feel unsettled.
What once felt familiar no longer feels comfortable. What once worked no longer seems to work the same way. Relationships shift, provision changes, and suddenly you find yourself asking, “God, why is this happening?”
In Deuteronomy 32:11, Scripture gives us a powerful picture:
“As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings…”
This is how God works with His people. He does not stir the nest to destroy us. He stirs the nest to develop us. He disturbs our comfort because He is calling us higher.
Comfort Was Never the Destination
The nest is a place of safety, but it was never meant to be permanent.
At some point, what once prepared you can begin to limit you. God will often shake what has become too familiar because He is awakening purpose, maturity, and deeper trust in Him. As Isaiah 43:19 says, “Behold, I will do a new thing…”
Many believers struggle in seasons like this because we naturally want comfort. We want what is known, predictable, and safe. But calling is rarely found in comfort. Just as Abram was called to leave what was familiar in Genesis 12:1, God often leads us beyond what we know so that we can discover who He is in a deeper way.
Identity Changes Everything
A major part of this journey is identity.
Too many people still define themselves by past struggles, failures, labels, or pain. But grace was never given as permission to remain bound. Grace is the supernatural enablement to become what God has called you to be. The cross did not only forgive sin — it opened the door for transformation.
When you know who you are in Christ, you stop fighting for acceptance and begin living from acceptance. You stop seeing yourself through the lens of yesterday and start seeing yourself through the truth of who He says you are. Scripture reminds us in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The Battle Is Real, But So Is God’s Presence
That does not mean the battles are not real.
There are genuine seasons of spiritual war. There are times where anxiety, temptation, fear, shame, or heaviness try to press in. But even in those moments, the believer must remember: you do not fight for victory — you fight from victory. We are called to “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12), not from a place of defeat, but from a place of confidence in Christ.
God is not absent in the struggle. In fact, the shaking season is often the place where He is closest.
The eagle does not stir the nest and then abandon its young. It hovers.
In the same way, God remains near in the very seasons where you feel stretched, uncertain, or weak. Isaiah 41:10 reminds us, “Fear not, for I am with you…” What feels like disruption may actually be discipleship. What feels like pressure may be preparation. God teaches His people to war and stand in truth. As Psalm 18:34 says, “He teaches my hands to make war.”
Some Things Cannot Go Into the Next Season
Sometimes growth also means letting go.
Joshua 1 reminds us, “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore, arise…” (Joshua 1:2). There are seasons, relationships, and forms of provision that cannot go with you into what God has next. It may be painful, but not every ending is destruction. Some endings are necessary for transition.
Joshua 5 says the manna ceased (Joshua 5:12). The provision of one season ended because God was leading His people into another kind of trust. In the same way, God may change what you depended on so that you can learn to depend more deeply on Him.
Remember What God Has Done
And yet, even in the shaking, we remember His faithfulness.
Joshua 4 speaks about memorial stones — reminders of where God came through (Joshua 4:7). That is important, because the only healthy reason to look back is gratitude. We remember what He has done, not to live in the past, but to honor His faithfulness as we step into the future.
God Is Teaching You to Fly
If your nest is being stirred, do not panic.
God may be moving you from comfort to calling, from old identity to true sonship, from fear to faith, and from survival to dominion.
The stirring is uncomfortable, but it is not pointless.
God is teaching you to fly.
