Photo by Michael Gordon
http://www.panoramio.com/user/1085785?with_photo_id=6543519
"Like an eagle that
stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, God spread His wings and caught
them, He carried them on His pinions.
Deuteronomy 32:11
This verse is speaking
of how God led the children of Israel, but we can take it for ourselves. He
will carry us on his wings if we ask him. He does this through our prayers when
we tell him how heavy our burden feels. When we tell him how much we need him.
He lifts us up, he holds our hand, he leads us beside still waters.
"I once saw a
very interesting sight above one of the crags of Ben Nevis, as I was going in
pursuit of black game. Two parent eagles were teaching their offspring, two
young birds, the maneuvers of flight. They began by rising from the top of a
mountain, in the eye of the sun; - it was about midday, and bright for this
climate. They at first made small circles, and the young imitated them; they
paused on their wings, waiting till they had made their first flight, holding
them on their expanded wings when they appeared exhausted, and then took a
second and larger gyration, always rising towards the sun, and enlarging their
circle of flight, so as to make a gradually ascending spiral."
I love the image of God
being a bird who cares for us as the birds care for their young. There are so
many references to this in the Bible. Jesus compared himself to a hen who calls
her little ones to her.
Photo by: Ks mini - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ks.mini
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling." Luke 13:34
I once saw an amazing
thing. I had walked to a pond near my house. It was close to sunset. A mother
and father mallard duck were with their little ones in the middle of the pond.
The mother quacked and started for the reeds. All the ducklings followed but
one. One stayed back. The mother noticed, and after she had taken all the
others to the shore, she went back and quacked some more.
That duckling refused
to follow her. So she leaped upward and landed on top of the duckling over and
over pushing him under the water. She finally stopped; she turned towards home
and the duckling meekly followed. Like most of us, he learned his lesson the hard way.
The mother mallard could
have left that one duckling to go on its rebellious way, but she didn’t. She
knew if she did, he would die. Like the shepherd in another story, she left her
other babes at home and turned to seek and save her one disobedient duckling.
Here are some verses on finding shelter under God's wings:
“How precious is Your loving kindness, O God!
And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.” Psam 36:7
“For You have been my
help, And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy.” Psalm 63:7
“Keep me as the apple of
the eye; Hide me in the shadow of Your wings.”
Psalm 17:8
“Be merciful to me, O
God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your
wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by.” Psalm 57:1
“He will cover you with
His pinions, And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a
shield and bulwark.” Psalm 91:4
