In our opening text for this week’s devotional, you will see why I like to stand and watch the eagles in the mountains.
On Eagle’s Wings
‘You have seen for yourselves what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagles wings and brought you to my mountain.’ (Exodus 19:4)
What could God possibly be trying to say here by mentioning that He “carried them on Eagle’s wings?”
When I watched this eagle pictured above in the mountains,near my place, I recall the speed, the skill, and the reliablility of the eagle’s wings to rise above the storm clouds, in his flight. He was very precise and powerful in the ways that he landed and took off. The Eagle’s flight is used here by God as a similitude of sorts to illustrate how God saves us. The speed, the surety, and the tender care with which the people of Israel were, transported from the house of bondage,is remarkable. The flight of an Eagle is truly a good way to illustrate God’s care for us.
The eagle of the Alps is sometimes beaten down by the tempest into the narrow defiles of the mountains. Storm clouds shut in this mighty bird of the forest, their dark masses separating her from the sunny heights where she has made her home. Her efforts to escape seem fruitless. She dashes to and fro, beating the air with her strong wings, and waking the mountain echoes with her cries. At length, with a note of triumph, she darts upward, and, piercing the clouds, is once more in the clear sunlight, with the darkness and tempest far beneath.
So too, we may be surrounded with difficulties, discouragement, and darkness. Falsehood, calamity, injustice, shut us in. There are clouds that we cannot dispel. We battle with circumstances in vain. There is one, and but one, way of escape. The mists and fogs cling to the earth; beyond the clouds God’s light is shining. Into the sunlight of His presence we may rise on the wings of faith. {Ed 118.2}
The flight of an eagle and how it so befittingly is expanded into a fuller detail gives us a figurative or symbolic illustration of the important work of redemption. In Deut 32:11-12) we see this illustration of the Christ’s work of redemption
Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreads its wings to catch them, and carries them on its feathers, so the LORD alone led his people. No foreign god was with him. (Deut 32:11-12)
The follower of Christ must have faith abiding in the heart; for without this it is impossible to please God. Faith is the hand that takes hold of infinite help; it is the medium by which the renewed heart is made to beat in unison with the heart of Christ. {MYP 102.3}
In her endeavors to reach her home, the eagle is often beaten down by the tempest to the narrow defiles of the mountains. The clouds, in black, angry masses sweep between her and the sunny heights where she secures her nest. For a while she seems bewildered, and dashes this way and that, beating her strong wings as if to sweep back the dense clouds. She awakens the doves of the mountains with her wild cry in her vain endeavors to find a way out of her prison. At last she dashes upward into the blackness, and gives a shrill scream of triumph as she emerges, a moment later, in the calm sunshine above. The darkness and tempest are all below her, and the light of heaven is shining about her. She reaches her loved home in the lofty crag, and is satisfied. It was through darkness that she reached the light. It cost her an effort to do this, but she is rewarded in gaining the object which she sought. {MYP 102.4}
This is the only course we can pursue as followers of Christ. We must exercise that living faith, which will penetrate the clouds that, like a thick wall, separate us from heaven’s light. We have heights of faith to reach, where all is peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. {MYP 103.1}
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.(John 14:27)
Is it any wonder that the Bible tells us that Jesus can “save to the uttermost, anyone that comes unto God by Him?” (Heb 7:25)
He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge. His truth is your shield and armor.(Psalms 91:4)