The Eagle and The Rock
An excerpt from The Daily Bread
12 May 2005
Read:Deuteronomy 32:1-14
The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. —Deuteronomy 33:27
In the tender song of Moses found in today's Bible reading, God isportrayed as a dedicated mother eagle who can be trusted by her young, even in the scary experience of their learning to fly (Deuteronomy32:11-12).
A mother eagle builds a comfortable nest for her young, padding itwith feathers from her own breast. But the God-given instinct that builds that secure nest also forces the eaglets out of it before long. Eagles are made to fly, and the mother eagle will not fail to teach them. Only then will they become what they are meant to be.
So one day the mother eagle will disturb the twigs of the nest, makingit an uncomfortable place to stay. Then she will pick up a perplexed eaglet, soar into the sky, and drop it. The little bird will begin to free-fall. Where is Mama now? She is not far away. Quickly she will swoop under and catch the fledgling on one strong wing. She will repeat this exercise until each eaglet is capable of flying on its own.
Are you afraid of free-falling, unsure of where or how hard you will land? Remember, God will fly to your rescue and spread His everlasting arms beneath you. He will also teach you something new and wonderful through it. Falling into God's arms is nothing to be afraid of.
—Joanie Yoder
He will ever keep your soul,
What would harm,
He will control;
In the home and by the way
He will keep you day by day.
—Psalter
God's love does not keep us from trials but sees us through them.
I'd like to share this with you because I'd like to share the enjoyment I have from reading this poetic piece of writing for its rich imagery...solid desert rock that shields one from the scorching sun, devoted courage of the mother-eagle who looks out for her eaglets while training them to fly solo, etc.
I find that part about the stirring of the nest most intriguing...how a mother is to summon her courage to purposefully stirrs her nest and lovingly push her off-springs out of their comfort zone and out of the relative security of their nest into the unfamiliar and unknown - from the eaglet's perspective-, while all the while determined and knowing that she is ever ready to do her darnest best to catch them before they are dashed to the ground or against the jagged face of the cliffs.
It takes steely resolve to stem the tide of her fears and to muff the alarming cries and nagging murmurings of a mother's protective instincts before she can get on to do the necessary! Which mother would, without any inner struggles and turmoil, allow her off-spring to be subjected to the potential danger?
The action demands true grit and resolve, great courage, caution, watchfulness, deep sincere love, selfless devotion, true wisdom, far-sightedness and the genuine desire to protect and to provide lasting security - that which sees the off-spring through its lifetime even after her own demise.
For me, this imagery depicts our Heavenly Father's desire to grant us true freedom. It also paints a picture which tells me of His great love for me, His devotion and dedication towards watching over me,protecting and guarding me. It also says much about the disciplinarian side of the Father who wants to train us for our own good, and of how, if for one moment I lose sight of His wisdom and love, and start to doubt and challenge His motive for pushing me out of the secure and comfortable nest, He does not take offense but is constantly there, ever ready to catch me even as I fall.
In being a mother, I fall far short of God's standard and I need Him to provide me with the love, wisdom, discernment, courage, far-sightedness, devotion and determination (and many other, and much much more qualities) needed to do a good job at loving, caring for, safe-keeping, providing, protecting, guarding, teaching, training, guiding, leading, nurturing, disciplining, influencing and sharing.
On my own, I am weak and ineffective. Relying on my own abilities, I, who am weakest in my ability to multi-task, need God's help the most. My role as a mother requires me to rise to meet the challenges thrust at me by varied tasks and sub-tasks. It puts me smack in the vortex ofthe hurricane. All around me the duties and demands of life, whirlingat dizzying speed, threatens to knock me out of my senses and smash meinto minute, ineffectual fragmented bits.
Yet knowing that God is in there with me assures me of His everlasting unfailing protection and renews my hope which stands secure in the fact that He, in His infinite love, goodness and wisdom, knows exactly what He is doing and has a holy purpose for what He has permitted into my life, and those of my loved ones.
In Him I have access to enduring strength, unflinching courage and unconditional unending love. Indeed, my God is the Rock, my refuge.Having come under the protection of this rock, the sun-scorched land and its merciless elements cannot render me lifeless, withered, hardened and useless.
Many a times, I feel that my life as a teacher, a wife and a mother seems all too ordinary. I fear that upon my death-bed, I might look back to regret that I've lived a dry, uneventful and barren life; I fear having lived a wasted life.
This desert landscape of my life at times SEEMS barren and dry, and sometimes it becomes almost too difficult to take even that one more wearying step. It is during such moments that my eyes are lifted to gaze upon the rock which gives sweet respite from the scorching heat.
The Rock shields and it shades. It backs me up and holds me secure, if I will but in quiet confidence lean trustingly upon it, entrusting myself and the entire weight of my load to its unfailing support.
To those on the run, be it from their inner fears or from external threats of harm, it offers a hiding place to which every lost and confused wanderer can go to find solace and rest. Even when the unexpected desert storm, with its sudden flashfloods, lashes out at me from out of the blue and threatens to cut me off fromall that is familiar, tested and tried, I can climb to safety. Even then, the eternal Rock stands solid and secure, constant and inmoveable. Even then, as at all times, help is available to me. TheRock. The eternal Rock of Ages.
O how I love the Rock of Ages...cleft just for me! Let me hide myself inThee! Lift me up to stand upon this Rock - safe and secure - where Iwill proclaim the name of the LORD and praise the greatness of ourGod!
There! Once again, I've put into written words the very innermost thoughts and feelings which I have about my God!
It is not my intention to persuade or to convince, but to merely capture the voices from my heart and to document my inner thoughts.
Deuteronomy 32:1-14
My desire and attempt to appropriate it ….
Lord, let your teaching fall like rain and descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.
I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Oh, praise the greatness of our God!
He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. In a desert land he found me, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded me and cared for me; he guarded me 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 me.
12 May 2005
Read:Deuteronomy 32:1-14
The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. —Deuteronomy 33:27
In the tender song of Moses found in today's Bible reading, God isportrayed as a dedicated mother eagle who can be trusted by her young, even in the scary experience of their learning to fly (Deuteronomy32:11-12).
A mother eagle builds a comfortable nest for her young, padding itwith feathers from her own breast. But the God-given instinct that builds that secure nest also forces the eaglets out of it before long. Eagles are made to fly, and the mother eagle will not fail to teach them. Only then will they become what they are meant to be.
So one day the mother eagle will disturb the twigs of the nest, makingit an uncomfortable place to stay. Then she will pick up a perplexed eaglet, soar into the sky, and drop it. The little bird will begin to free-fall. Where is Mama now? She is not far away. Quickly she will swoop under and catch the fledgling on one strong wing. She will repeat this exercise until each eaglet is capable of flying on its own.
Are you afraid of free-falling, unsure of where or how hard you will land? Remember, God will fly to your rescue and spread His everlasting arms beneath you. He will also teach you something new and wonderful through it. Falling into God's arms is nothing to be afraid of.
—Joanie Yoder
He will ever keep your soul,
What would harm,
He will control;
In the home and by the way
He will keep you day by day.
—Psalter
God's love does not keep us from trials but sees us through them.
I'd like to share this with you because I'd like to share the enjoyment I have from reading this poetic piece of writing for its rich imagery...solid desert rock that shields one from the scorching sun, devoted courage of the mother-eagle who looks out for her eaglets while training them to fly solo, etc.
I find that part about the stirring of the nest most intriguing...how a mother is to summon her courage to purposefully stirrs her nest and lovingly push her off-springs out of their comfort zone and out of the relative security of their nest into the unfamiliar and unknown - from the eaglet's perspective-, while all the while determined and knowing that she is ever ready to do her darnest best to catch them before they are dashed to the ground or against the jagged face of the cliffs.
It takes steely resolve to stem the tide of her fears and to muff the alarming cries and nagging murmurings of a mother's protective instincts before she can get on to do the necessary! Which mother would, without any inner struggles and turmoil, allow her off-spring to be subjected to the potential danger?
The action demands true grit and resolve, great courage, caution, watchfulness, deep sincere love, selfless devotion, true wisdom, far-sightedness and the genuine desire to protect and to provide lasting security - that which sees the off-spring through its lifetime even after her own demise.
For me, this imagery depicts our Heavenly Father's desire to grant us true freedom. It also paints a picture which tells me of His great love for me, His devotion and dedication towards watching over me,protecting and guarding me. It also says much about the disciplinarian side of the Father who wants to train us for our own good, and of how, if for one moment I lose sight of His wisdom and love, and start to doubt and challenge His motive for pushing me out of the secure and comfortable nest, He does not take offense but is constantly there, ever ready to catch me even as I fall.
In being a mother, I fall far short of God's standard and I need Him to provide me with the love, wisdom, discernment, courage, far-sightedness, devotion and determination (and many other, and much much more qualities) needed to do a good job at loving, caring for, safe-keeping, providing, protecting, guarding, teaching, training, guiding, leading, nurturing, disciplining, influencing and sharing.
On my own, I am weak and ineffective. Relying on my own abilities, I, who am weakest in my ability to multi-task, need God's help the most. My role as a mother requires me to rise to meet the challenges thrust at me by varied tasks and sub-tasks. It puts me smack in the vortex ofthe hurricane. All around me the duties and demands of life, whirlingat dizzying speed, threatens to knock me out of my senses and smash meinto minute, ineffectual fragmented bits.
Yet knowing that God is in there with me assures me of His everlasting unfailing protection and renews my hope which stands secure in the fact that He, in His infinite love, goodness and wisdom, knows exactly what He is doing and has a holy purpose for what He has permitted into my life, and those of my loved ones.
In Him I have access to enduring strength, unflinching courage and unconditional unending love. Indeed, my God is the Rock, my refuge.Having come under the protection of this rock, the sun-scorched land and its merciless elements cannot render me lifeless, withered, hardened and useless.
Many a times, I feel that my life as a teacher, a wife and a mother seems all too ordinary. I fear that upon my death-bed, I might look back to regret that I've lived a dry, uneventful and barren life; I fear having lived a wasted life.
This desert landscape of my life at times SEEMS barren and dry, and sometimes it becomes almost too difficult to take even that one more wearying step. It is during such moments that my eyes are lifted to gaze upon the rock which gives sweet respite from the scorching heat.
The Rock shields and it shades. It backs me up and holds me secure, if I will but in quiet confidence lean trustingly upon it, entrusting myself and the entire weight of my load to its unfailing support.
To those on the run, be it from their inner fears or from external threats of harm, it offers a hiding place to which every lost and confused wanderer can go to find solace and rest. Even when the unexpected desert storm, with its sudden flashfloods, lashes out at me from out of the blue and threatens to cut me off fromall that is familiar, tested and tried, I can climb to safety. Even then, the eternal Rock stands solid and secure, constant and inmoveable. Even then, as at all times, help is available to me. TheRock. The eternal Rock of Ages.
O how I love the Rock of Ages...cleft just for me! Let me hide myself inThee! Lift me up to stand upon this Rock - safe and secure - where Iwill proclaim the name of the LORD and praise the greatness of ourGod!
There! Once again, I've put into written words the very innermost thoughts and feelings which I have about my God!
It is not my intention to persuade or to convince, but to merely capture the voices from my heart and to document my inner thoughts.
Deuteronomy 32:1-14
My desire and attempt to appropriate it ….
Lord, let your teaching fall like rain and descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.
I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Oh, praise the greatness of our God!
He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. In a desert land he found me, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded me and cared for me; he guarded me 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 me.
posted by Me at 5/12/2005 01:40:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home