Like an eagle
In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions. The Lord alone led him; no foreign god was with him. (NIV) Deuteronomy 32:10–12
Environmentalists are saying a great deal about eagles today. They want them preserved as an endangered species. Christians can learn much from what the Bible says about eagles.
The eagle is one of the largest and most powerful birds in the world. Some eagles weigh as much as twelve or thirteen pounds and have a wingspan of about seven feet. The nests of eagles are called eyries and are built mainly of sticks and often lined with fresh green leaves while they are being used.
Once a year, the female lays one or two eggs, and they are carefully tended, sometimes even by the male eagle, until they hatch in about forty days. Both parents then guard the nest and take food to the young.
At about eleven or twelve weeks, a curious thing happens. If the eaglets do not venture forth on their own; the parent eagle “stirs” or rocks the nest, tipping the eaglets out! The young eaglets flap about in panic, still novice at this flying business. The parent eagle hovers watchfully, waiting for the critical moment. With wings spread wide, the eagle then swoop down underneath those babies and delivers them back to the security of the eyrie.
Ours is a God of powerful gentleness. Ours is a God whose timing is perfect. Like the parent eagle, He is sensitive to our needs. He knows when the nest has become too comfortable and needs a little stirring. God, too, watches carefully, and as with spread wings, catches us up, and brings us to Himself. But He wants us to learn from our fluttering and flapping. He wants us to leave behind our panic and learn to wait on Him. Then with our eyes on our parent eagle, we will begin to know what it means to soar on eagles’ wings! Indeed it is no secret what God can do...just hope in Him and He will carry you on eagles’ wings. AMEN.
‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself’ (Exodus 19:4).
“...but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles...” (Isaiah 40:31)