I DOUBT not, dear children, that many of you who read this little paper belong to the Lord Jesus, and I want to say a little to you about God’s care over you and His ways with you.
I want you to think of an eagle spreading its great strong wings, calling the little eaglets to come, and when they are all safely perched upon those wings, taking its flight. The little ones are carried safely on without any effort on their part.
This is the beautiful illustration that God uses when speaking of His people Israel whom He brought out of Egypt, led through the wilderness, and into the land of Canaan. I want to give you the words: “As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did lead him. Deut. 32:11,1211As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: 12So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him. (Deuteronomy 32:11‑12). Is it not very blessed to see God’s care over His people of old? And the same loving care is over you, dear children. You will be carried along, borne as on eagles’ wings, until the Lord has you safe home with Himself in the glory. It is happy to know this care and this love.
But there is something else in the verse I want you to notice. It says, “As an eagle stirreth up her nest.” What does this mean? Let me tell you how the eagle builds her nest. She puts thorns in the bottom of it; but these are all laid smoothly down, and covered over with feathers so that when the nest is finished it is nice and soft. When the little birds are hatched out they have a comfortable home; but the time soon comes when they must learn to fly, and the mother-bird stretches her wings and calls for them to come. Sometimes the little ones refuse to leave the warm, soft nest; and what do you think the mother-bird does then? She goes into the nest and stirs up the thorns, and this makes it so uncomfortable for the little ones that they do not want to stay any longer.
Now, dear little believers in Jesus, there are two things I would like to have you learn from this verse. The first is, that the Lord is leading you in a pathway that you could not tread alone, and His loving care is ever over you. The second is, that you are inclined to be like the little birds: you want to settle down in this world and have everything nice and easy and comfortable, and not give very much thought to the heavenly things.
But God has other thoughts. He wants His own dear people to soar in spirit above the things of earth, and so He sends trials and disappointments. This is His way of “stirring up the thorns.” He has something better, brighter, more blessed for us, than all we could have done here, and He wants our thoughts to go on to that coming, happy day.
He loves us too well to allow all to be smooth, and no sorrow to come to us, so He stirs up the thorns. Sin has come in and marred this whole scene, and God does not want us to settle down in it, so He lets us feel its sorrows and turns our thoughts and hearts to the scene where sorrow will never come, the happy home where thorns will never be felt.
Let us then try to fly. If we feel the pricking of the thorns let us remember that this is not our home. May any sorrows or any trials that come to us, only turn our hearts more to Jesus our Lord, and our thoughts to the time when we shall be with Him: then will the stirring up of the thorns prove a blessing to us. R.
ML 07/23/1899