The last day Moses lived on this earth he called all of Israel together to teach them the Song of Moses. The imagery in this poetic language stirs the heart of the righteous and gives so much hope to the saints. The song describes what God did for the Jews as He brought them out of Egypt. “He found him in a desert land and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye. As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up carrying them on its wings” (Deut. 32:10-11).
We know the words of Jesus as He described how often He had longed to gather Jerusalem as a hen gathers her young under its wings, but the words of Moses take it to another level. The young eaglet is learning to fly, and he does this because he learns how to fly sitting on the back of its parent. The parent does not just push the young eagle out of the nest but takes it up and carries it on his back.
Look at these words from one who visited Canaan many years ago about what he saw. “Two parent eagles were teaching their offspring, two young birds, the maneuvers of flight. They began by rising from the top of a mountain, in the eye of the sun. It was about midday, and bright for this climate. They at first made small circles, and the young imitated them; they paused on their wings, waiting till they had made their first flight, holding them on their expanded wings when they appeared exhausted, and then took a second and larger gyration, always rising towards the sun, and enlarging their circle of flight, so as to make a gradually ascending spiral” (Pulpit Commentary on Deut. 32:11).
David also used similar imagery when he said, “Hide me under the shadow of your wings” (Psa. 17:8). “How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wing” (Psa. 36:7). “In the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities have passed by” (Psa. 57:1). “You have been my help, therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice” (Psa. 63:7). Oh, that we could have the heart of this man whose heart was like God’s heart!
In the midst of trials, trust God “until these calamities have passed by.” We are sheltered under His wings, but when we reach the limits of our endurance He does far more. Think about that young eaglet, whose world was seemingly about to end, and then his parent came and carried him on its back. God does that for us.
Remember the words from our Master in the Sermon on the Mount: “Behold the fowls of the air.”