God describes himself in so many different ways to help us understand his loving, forgiving and righteous character. And he describes himself as our heavenly father. But he uses other images to help us grasp this God who we cannot yet see with our own eyes. When Moses was close to death and was handing over the leadership responsibilities to Joshua, he gave the people a lot of last instructions. And in that is a description of God, not as a father, but as an eagle that takes care of his chicks. He says that he spread his wings to take them up…and he carried them safely on his pinions. Pinions? What in the world is that? The pinion on a bird is the very end of its wing. The bones that are at the end of the wing are named much like our fingers. And so the image is of this protective eagle spreading his wings over his chicks and the taking them with the ends of his wings like gripping hands and delivering them to safety. I thought about that yesterday when I was delivering my 4H granddaughter to a friend’s house and she announced that they had picked up her new turkey that she was going to raise and then auction off at fair time. I had worked a couple of summers on a turkey ranch and so I was thinking about these large birds that she was going to have to take care of until Fall. When we got there, we found out that instead of large white turkeys…they were little, yellow bundles of down like feathers. They were only two days old. The other two granddaughters were there too and they were carefully pulling them up out of their box and gently cuddling them. I looked at them with those little birds and saw how careful and protective they were. These chicks were so vulnerable, but the girls were gentle and loving and wanted to protect them. And that’s the way our heavenly father is towards us. He is going to spread his wings over us, but then will use his pinions to carry us in safety and to safety. So, on this Father’s Day, remember that whether your earthly father is present or is no longer with us, you have a heavenly father that is watching, protecting and ready to rescue you safely from any danger that would harm you. Let him do that for you…and you? Well, why not just enjoy the ride?
Here’s our Bible verse for today…
(Deuteronomy 32:11 NLT) Like an eagle that rouses her chicks and hovers over her young, so he spread his wings to take them up and carried them safely on his pinions.
Remember I’m praying for you!
PJ
Here’s our Bible verse for today…
(Deuteronomy 32:11 NLT) Like an eagle that rouses her chicks and hovers over her young, so he spread his wings to take them up and carried them safely on his pinions.
Remember I’m praying for you!
PJ