On Eagles' Wings

Today I would like to share with you a passage from a book I'm currently reading. The book is The Tender Commandments by Ron Mehl. This example really touched my heart, and I pray it will touch yours as well. It's a bit longer than my usual posts, but I promise it's worth it.

Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Exodus 19:4

What does that mean, anyway? If you were a regular reader of "Ranger Rick" magazine, you would know very well what that means. A mama eagle will make a nest at least eight feet by eight feet. . .

She will fill it up with leaves, animal fur, and down from her own breast, making a warm and cozy nest for her chicks. . . But when the time is right, she will start making things a bit uncomfortable for those unsuspecting little eaglets. It all begins when she takes them to a "home" that will be more important to them than any nest or aerie in the world. . . the sky! She will pick them up, take them in flight to a great and dizzying height, and drop them.

This is all shockingly new for the little eaglet. He's never flown a day in his life. For him, life has been a comfy, snuggled-down, fuzzball existence. A soft downy nest, little pals to play with, regular meals, and Mama's protective wings at night. But now Mama kicks him overboard and there is nothing between him and certain death but the wild blue yonder. . .

As the little fella plummets tot the earth, contemplating his comfortable but surprisingly brief life, mama eagle watches. And what does she do? She swoops down just before her eaglet hits the ground, flies underneath, and picks him up. And of course, the poor little bird has gone into cardiac arrest. But there's a happy ending here for the baby eagle, right? Mom is climbing back into the heavens. Oh boy, the nasty trauma is over. Back to the beloved nest. . .and isn't it just about lunchtime?

But what does she do when she regains her original altitude? She drops him again! And again! And each time she swoops down to save him and bears him up. . . on eagle's wings.

And that's exactly what the Lord is saying: "Moses, please tell them--make sure that you remind them-before you give them these commands, how must I have loved them in the past. Remind them how I've watched over their lives every day and concerned Myself about their future."

We can look back on the same thing in our own lives, can't we? Everything we have and everything we enjoy are because of Him and are blessings from His hand. We, too, were headed south one day. There was nothing between us and an eternal abyss but empty space and a long, long way to fall. As Paul put it, we were "having no hope, and without God in the world" (Ephesians 2:12).

But what happened? In Christ, the Lord swooped down and picked us up and gave us everything that we have. And now He sustains us and keeps us every day of our lives.

If we lose sight of that, we can't see anything at all.