Deuteronomy 32:10,11 “The LORD 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.”
God fiercely loved his people. Deuteronomy 32 is a song Moses recited to the whole assembly of Israel to remind them about how God had acted on their behalf. God’s love was both incredibly tough and tender.
The toughness can be seen in verses 15 to 38, where we read of judgment, abandonment, rejection and more. There are consequences to disobedience, apathy and pride.
The tenderness of his love comes through beautifully in the imagery of today’s verses. We read of how the eagle handles its young, which chimes with what we know of mothers teaching their offspring to fly. This is how they go about it: The eaglets are nurtured in the comfortable nest to begin with, whilst the mother spends much of the time hovering above them so that the eaglets can see what is possible. She progressively removes more and more of the fur and hair from the nest to make it less comfortable for the eaglet, encouraging it to leave the nest for good. If the eaglet doesn’t voluntarily leave the nest, the mother eagle nudges it out of its comfort zone so it has to fly. It free-falls a while before the mother swoops under it to pick it up on her wings. This process is repeated until the eaglet learns to fly on its own. Even then, the mother continues alongside the eaglet for a while until it has matured sufficiently to soar on its own.
It’s a beautiful picture of God’s love for us, both tough and tender at the same time. Both are needed to get us to fly. Can you see how the Lord has been dealing with you in this way?
Lord, I choose to trust you today as you nurture me with both tenderness and toughness. Amen!
Leave a Reply