When life settles down, I will be able to focus … to work hard … to achieve … to fulfil my potential. When all my ducks are in a row (metaphorically speaking), then I shall write, I shall weed, I shall create and I shall be the woman God wants me to be.
That’s a lovely dream. A nice ideal. But not realistic.
A wild ride
In my imagination, inspired by a Bible verse and distracted from a webinar, I find myself flying high.
Wind whips my hair. My cheeks are red and chapped. The air is icy. My heart pounds in my throat. My fingernails just about pierce the skin beneath strong feathers and my legs flail wildly, trying desperately to stay on top of the giant wing and not behind it. I look down, down, down through squinted eyes. There, I see my safe and cosy home, a tiny speck in the landscape.
A seminar
In reality, I was sitting in my safe and cosy home. I was in front of the computer screen, participating in an online seminar, watching a presentation by a fellow student at MST (the Melbourne School of Theology). The topic was the ancient Israelites’ two confessions of faith. One dealt with who they themselves were (Deuteronomy 26:5-11) while the other, known as ‘the YHWH creed’, described their God and ours (Exodus 34:6-7).
The content was fascinating. I sat, listening, doodling, making notes to keep myself focused. Then one aside that the presenter made caught my attention. Or, rather, God pointed me to it. I scribbled furiously.
… the LORD … said…. ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself….’
Exodus 19 3b, 4 NIV
Eagles’ wings
As the presenter continued with his topic, I skipped around Biblehub.com following this delightful tangent.
‘Eagles’ – plural. God’s people were carried on eagles’ wings. I picture myself on one wing of an eagle, hanging on tightly, and you, perhaps, on the other. He (whoever ‘he’ may be) is on a wing of a second eagle and she (whoever ‘she’ may be) is on that eagle’s other wing.
I know, I know … I am being too literal. Those ancient Israelites had to take one frenzied step after another even as God miraculously liberated them from Pharaoh’s grip.
In a parallel passage in Deuteronomy 32:11, God represents himself as an eagle which stirred up its nest so as to force the young out. The eaglets then had no choice but to make their own feeble flight attempts, afraid yet secure with the wings of the parent eagle underneath. That sounds outright scary.
Out of Egypt
God carried his people on eagles’ wings from Egypt.
Egypt, in the context of Exodus 19:4, represented slavery, suffering, oppression and hopelessness … yet it was familiar to that generation of Israelites. They knew what each day would hold.
Leaving Egypt meant that they became fugitives then nomads. Yes, there were incredible displays of God’s power along the way. Their divine direction was indisputable, in the form of a special cloud or pillar of fire to follow. Yet it was anything but comfortable.
This was how God treated his people. He carried them from Egypt on eagles’ wings. Uncomfortable, inconvenient, the future unknown, but carried nonetheless.
And he carried them to himself.
A theophany
After God spoke these words through Moses, he proceeded to give the ancient Israelites a glimpse of his own nature – he, the one who had been their God for generations.
It would do us good to stop sometimes and meditate on this expression of God. It is a rather different to some of the various pictures that our culture paints of the Divine One. Fire – lightning – thunder – billows of smoke – loud trumpet blasts – the whole mountain reverberating with the divine presence – an experience that made even the great leader Moses tremble with fear (Hebrews 12:21). If I had had the privilege of standing there with the Israelites, I would have probably joined them in begging Moses to make it all stop (Exodus 20:19-20).
This is where those eagles’ wings had taken them. To God himself.
Carried
When I think of God carrying me on eagles’ wings, I think of an effortless flight. I sing with a sense of peace and harmony, “I will rise on eagles’ wings”. I visualise myself soaring – high, confident, calm, safe and triumphant in God.
I wonder how those ancient Israelites thought about their flight from Egypt? Were they confident? Calm? Did they feel safe?
Many people are struggling these days. As well as the pandemic, there are the usual pressures of life transitions, the added concern about our national economic outlook, uncertain work prospects for those we love and more. In the middle of these current uncomfortable, unsettling, insecure and sometimes outright frightening days, I wonder how we see God.
It is right to think of God as a place of refuge, safety and stability. However, I wonder if we ever think of him unsettling us, like a parent eagle unsettles her eaglets?
In no sense am I suggesting that this pandemic or other forms of suffering are all about us. Our current situation is quite different to The Exodus. But I am suggesting that being ‘carried on eagles’ wings’ isn’t necessarily a smooth ride.
Symbols
The presentation finished. I stopped scribbling. But I kept pondering, intending to write this blog post. And then … it’s a long and irrelevant story as to how … I came across this carved eagle that very same day.
The carving came from a Siberian Baptist pastor whose life was anything but secure. He gave it to my father many years ago. It reminds me that even in the uncertainties, the difficulties and the chaos of life, God still carries his people. He is an unchanging God. He carried his people out of Egypt and to himself. He carried that Siberian pastor decades ago. And he carries us – his people – on eagles’ wings today.
Forget my ducks being in a row. That’s not going to happen.
Even in the chaos and clutter of life, we are living out our identity as people of God right here and now. The ride might look a bit different, though, to what we anticipate when we sing, “I will rise on eagles’ wings.”
God carries us to himself. As the writer to the Hebrews put it, we have not come to a burning mountain but “… to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God” (Hebrews 12:22).
It’s quite a ride.
2 replies on “Carried on Eagles’ Wings”
the imagery spoke to me about the discomfort being real while in the security of being carried on eagles wings.
Not how we usually think of that as triumphant and being carried sounding restful. Thanks for unpacking it more realistically. Makes sense of the actual rocky road of faith that we travel.
I think Jacqueline has written exactly what I was going to express. Just before reading this I had read something by a “Christian pastor” who said that, from Deuteronomy 28.8 that everything we touch is blessed!! I don’t want to get into a debate about that because there is so many ” yes buts”. This reflection on the “being carried on eagles wings” that reminds me that we are very much secure there with an awesome destination, is not necessarily in our comfort zone. Again, Suzanne, thankyou.