Fly! My babies!

Fly! My babies!
Deuteronomy 32:9-12
Israeli wilderness is full of ferocious animals and poisonous snakes and insects. And the weather of the wilderness is very tough, hot in the day and cold in the night. Traveling for a month by walking in the wilderness is no easy task. Severe fear and loneliness captures the traveller. Jacob faced these severe circumstances in travelling from home to Haran. What do you think would be essential for travelling in these circumstances? It would be someone to protect you from all harms.
Today's scripture tells us how God guarded Jacob. Verse 10 says, "In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye." This verse says, "God found Jacob." not "Jacob found God."
We can look at the details of this story in Genesis chapter 28. Jacob ran away from his home because his older brother Esau tried to kill him. As Jacob got exhausted, he took one of the stones and used it as a pillow and slept in the wilderness. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
Furthermore he heard the voice of God, "I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."(Genesis 28:15) From then on, Jacob was never nervous or in fear till he arrived to Haran.
1. God guards us.
Just after coming out of the Vatican court, Galileo(Galilei) said, "But the earth revolved around the Sun." Likewise God always protects even if people do not feel or believe it. Today's scripture proves this with this expression, "He guarded him as the apple of his eye."
Many Christians use this expression when praying to God, "Lord, guard us as the apple of your eye." As you know, one of the most important organs of our body is eye. The size of our eye is very small. But if it does not work, our whole body cannot move.
Therefore some medical doctors joke, "When God created the man, he spent only one hour to make all the organs of the body. But God spent 23 hours to make the eyes." Actually our eyes were made very precisely. The human eye has 300,000 circuits and 100,000,000 nerve cells. Our eyes can automatically adjust distance, contrast and color.
The eyelid opens and closes automatically. The eyeball is always in proper humidity through the tear gland. And the tears that have been used get cleaned through a sewer called the nose. If dust gets in our eyes, all the functions of our eyes cooperate to extract the dust from our eyes. This is eye mucus.
God put our eyes safely in the firm two caves of our skull because our eyes are very important. That's why the rates of eye accidents are lower than other organs. Therefore the expression "God guards us as the apple of his eye." means that God believes we are precious and will guard us perfectly. I want you to believe this.
2. God trains us.
Parents think their baby is so pretty, or prettiest especially when it is their first baby. They serve their first baby like a god. Parents have a subjective view toward their babies. But when the baby grows up, the parents realize that serving their child like that is not the best idea. So they train their child. They push their child to go to school. They set up some rules for their child. Sometimes they punish their child. Parents do this to help their child become successful in the world. They do this because they love their child.
Likewise God trains us. God trained the Israelites in various ways before letting them in to the land of Canaan. God has a specific training curriculum for each and one of us. Today's scripture compares us with an eagle. We can find this in other scriptures as well. Psalms 103:5 says, "God satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's."
Isaiah 40:31 says, "But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."
Why does God compare us with an eagle? Is it because eagles are beautiful or peaceful? No, in fact, eagles have very sharp beak and claws. God compares us with eagles because eagles have a special character. Today's scripture explains that.
First of all, eagles build their nest in a very high mountain. If you have not seen an eagle yet, why don't you go to Lake Minewankan in Banff? When you travel over Lake Minewankan by boat, you can find eagles living in the high mountain.
They build their nest with thistles on the bottom, then leaves or cloths on it, then skins of animals, and lastly, they take out their soft feathers from their neck and spread over it on top. It is a really nice bed. No other animals can ruin their nest because it is located in the high mountain and even if they did reach it, they can't wreck it because it is so strong. Algologists(bird specialists) say some eagle's nests weigh about 200 kg. Perhaps eagle's nests are the strongest and most comfortable nests among all other animals' nests.
And in these nests, the eagle lays out her eggs. Her baby eagles spend time very comfortably in the nest. The mother eagle feeds her baby eagles. The baby eagles have nothing to worry about. When the baby eagles grow, the mother eagle flaps over the nest in order to be seen by her baby eagles. The baby eagles try to mimic their mother's flapping. But they cannot attempt because of fear.
When the baby eagles grow more, the mother eagle stirs up its nest. and the soft feathers are gown away and only the thistles are left. Then the baby eagles cannot stay in the nest because it is painful to be in the thistles. This makes them want to leave the nest.
Like a mother eagle, God takes care of us and feeds us even if we do not do anything. We are fed the spiritual needs in order to become a mature Christians. At this time, we feel comfortable. But this good time does not last long. Why? Because God wants to train us. God wants us to fly like an eagle.
Look at the Israelites. Jacob's whole family immigrated to Egypt when Joseph was the prime minister of Egypt. They received the best land Goshen from the king of Egypt. They prospered in Goshen. Their population became more than two millions. If these circumstances lasted on and on, they would not leave Egypt.
But the circumstances changed. Their new-born babies faced death by Egyptians. And they were mobilized for hard labour. That's why they wanted to leave Egypt. That's why they prayed to God earnestly to save them. Problems are the way of training us to search for God.
The mother eagle takes out her baby eagles from the nest and fly high in the sky and suddenly lets them go. Have you ever felt the fear of riding a roller coster. At least, we have seat belts on the roller coster. But the baby eagles have no seat belts. They might scream desperately. "Mom, I am going to die! Help! Help!"
Then the mother eagle spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions. And then the mother eagle soars up again and lets them down again and again. The mother eagle has no fear of failing to catch her babies. If she fails to catch her babies, they will die. But the mother eagle never make that mistake. If she does, she is no eagle.
Think of God. God does not fail to catch us. If God fails, he is no more God. God wants to train us not kill us. God treats us perfectly. During the constant training, we learn to fly like the baby eagles. If the baby eagles do not learn to fly, they are not eagles but chicken. That's why the mother eagle shout, "Fly! My babies! I hope all of you will learn to fly in this foreign land. God really guards you. Amen!