In Eagle’s Care

Text:

Deuteronomy 32:9-12:

9   For the LORD’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

10   He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

11   As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:

  12   So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.

 

Theme:

In The Eagle’s Care

 

Introduction:

• The book of Deuteronomy, as the remainder of the Pentateuch, of which Deuteronomy is the 5^th book, is believed by contemporary scholars to have been a writing adopted by Moses, or, simply put, written by someone else other than Moses. However, there are many portions of information that leave many believing that it was written by Moses.
  • The book of Deuteronomy consists chiefly of three discourses delivered to the people of Israel by Moses a short time before his death. They were spoken to all Israel in the plains of Moab, in the eleventh month of the last year of their wanderings.
  • These addresses to the people are followed by what may be called three appendices, namely

(1) a song which God had commanded Moses to write;

(2) the blessings he pronounced on the separate tribes; and

(3) the story of his death and burial, written by some other hand, probably that of Joshua.

• Our text is found within the first of the appendices, specifically the song that God had commanded Moses to write concerning His people.
  • 9 à They are His CHOSEN people.
    • God is dedicated to us and His relationship to us.
  • 10 à “He kept him as the APPLE of His eye”
    • He brought them out of Egypt
    • He brought them through the Red Sea on dry land
    • He led them through the wilderness
    • He taught them how to live as His people
    • “Apple” – God’s special, chosen people out of all of His creation

 

Body:

• 11 à Further explanation of their being God’s special, chosen people
  • Compares God’s relationship to His people to the relationship of an eagle to her young
    • Eagle stirs up the nest à spurns the young to flight by taking away the fluff and exposing thorns.
      • 2Corinthians 4:8-9 gives our plight, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed”
      • However, we must remember that it is God who sometimes causes and always allows the TROUBLE in our life, which “stirs up our nest”…don’t blame it on Satan.
        • Psalms 51:8, “Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.”
        • We need some thorns in our life to make us get out of our “comfort zone” or we may never “get out of the nest” to fly on our own.
          • Exodus 4:21, “And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.”
        • Don’t worry because God knows what we can bear!
          • As the hymn says, “And He knows. Yes, I’m so glad He knows.  He knows just how much we can bear.”
        • Eagle flutters over the young à makes it known to the young and those around that the young are HERS only
          • The young know that He is their God
            • Exodus 3:14, “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”
            • Psalms 100:3, “Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.”
          • Others know that He is the God of His people
            • The Jews and the prophets of Baal said in 1Kings 18:39 after the experience on Mt. Carmel, “And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.”
        • Eagle spreads wings over the young à protects the young from harm and gives assurance and warmth
          • Psalms 91:3, “He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.”
            • His wings are a shelter
              • Psalms 61:3, “Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.”
            • Under His wings is the position of a Believer’s Trust
              • Jeremiah 48:40, “For thus saith the LORD; Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread his wings over Moab.”
              • John 17:17, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”
        • Eagle takes them à acts on their behalf to keep them in her care
          • Psalms 139:10, “Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.”
            • The Lord leads and guides His children.
          • Psalms 118:5, “I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.
            • When we call on Him, He will answer and get us out of trouble.
        • Eagle bears them on her wings à carries them, lifts them, on/with her very power
          • As the song by Jeffrey Osborne says, “On The Wings of Love”
          • God’s Love is represented by the wings of the eagle.
            • 1John 4:16, “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”
              • God is Love!
            • John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
              • The epitome of Love is seen in what God did for us by sacrificing His only Son
              • John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
            • Exodus 19:4, “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.”
              • God showed his Love when He delivered the children of Israel from the hands of the Egyptians.
            • Isaiah 40:31, “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
              • The power of God’s Love is what carries us, lifts us, delivers us, and sustains us. We don’t get weary or faint because we are trusting in God as His wings “bear us”.

 

Conclusion:

• God is our Eagle!!
• 12, “So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.”
  • It was ONLY God and none other who provided for the children of Israel
  • They served no other god

Can’t nobody do me like Jesus

Can’t nobody do me like the Lord

Can’t nobody do me like Jesus

He’s my friend!

• I am in the Eagle’s care!
  • It was God who found me!
  • It was God who changed me!
  • It was God who saved me!

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