Our Father - the Eagle

“He found him in a desolate land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, cared for him, and guarded him as the [apple] of His eye. He watches over His nest like an eagle and hovers over His young; He spread His wings, catches him, and lifts him up on His pinions.” Deut. 32-9-11.

A few years ago when I was a registrar for a middle school I had an encounter with a family that breathed life into these verses. A father came to enroll his son for whom he had just been granted custody. He didn’t even know he had a son since the boy’s mother had never contacted the father. The father and his present wife were unable to have children and had been praying for a child. The man was contacted by DSS and informed that he had a son whom had been raised by an alcoholic mother now imprisoned. This was confirmed by a DNA test and the couple was ecstatic.

A few weeks later the boy came to live with his real dad and stepmother. This is where the story takes flight as if the first part wasn’t enough. A few weeks after the boy came to live with the couple he shared some letters with his father that he had written to God during his desolate wilderness. These letters were an intimate exchange between the boy and His heavenly Father crying out that he would be delivered and that someday God would bring him to his earthly father. In the letters, the boy described that God was going to lead him to his father which is exactly what occurred.

This boy had few people on his side, and few people who knew his story or his suffering. But the One who had control knew his story and “hovered” over him for twelve years. To hover is to “flutter in the air without moving very far from the same spot” according to the dictionary. His heavenly Father surrounded him, cared for him and guarded him until he was given over to his earthly father.

Some of our loneliest times in the wilderness is when we are able to witness God soaring on our behalf. He knows our wings are too weak to take us where we need to be. He spreads His wings and shows us how to soar and when to soar. As little nestlings, we have our mighty Eagle to protect each of us as He stirs the nest igniting our passion for flight and teaching us how to fly with new found strength, power and knowledge.

Only God knows when our spiritual wings are strong enough to take us to new found heights but when He incites flight we must believe we can fly!