Our almighty God is like a parent who delights in leading the tender children in His care to the very edge of a precipice and then shoving them off the cliff into nothing but air. He does this so they may learn that they already possess an as-yet-unrealized power of flight that can forever add to the pleasure and comfort of their lives. Yet if, in their attempt to fly, they are exposed to some extraordinary peril, He is prepared to swoop beneath them and carry them skyward on His mighty wings. When God brings any of His children into a position of unparalleled difficulty, they may always count on Him to deliver them.

THE SONG OF VICTORY

When God places a burden upon you, He places His arms underneath you.

There once was a little plant that was small and whose growth was stunted, for it lived under the shade of a giant oak tree. The little plant valued the shade that covered it and highly regarded the quiet rest that its noble friend provided. Yet there was a greater blessing prepared for this little plant.

One day a woodsman entered the forest with a sharp ax and felled the giant oak. The little plant began to weep, crying out, “My shelter has been taken away. Now every fierce wind will blow on me, and every storm will seek to uproot me!”

The guardian angel of the little plant responded, “No! Now the sun will shine and showers will fall on you more abundantly than ever before. Now your stunted form will spring up into loveliness, and your flowers, which could never have grown to full perfection in the shade, will laugh in the sunshine. And people in amazement will say, ‘Look how that plant has grown! How gloriously beautiful it has become by removing that which was its shade and its delight!’”

Dear believer, do you understand that God may take away your comforts and privileges in order to make you a stronger Christian? Do you see why the Lord always trains His soldiers not by allowing them to lie on beds of ease but by calling them to difficult marches and service? He makes them wade through streams, swim across rivers, climb steep mountains, and walk many long marches carrying heavy backpacks of sorrow. This is how He develops soldiers—not by dressing them up in fine uniforms to strut at the gates of the barracks or to appear as handsome gentlemen to those who are strolling through the park. No, God knows that soldiers can only be made in battle and are not developed in times of peace. We may be able to grow the raw materials of which soldiers are made, but turning them into true warriors requires the education brought about by the smell of gunpowder and by fighting in the midst of flying bullets and exploding bombs, not by living through pleasant and peaceful times.

So, dear Christian, could this account for your situation? Is the Lord uncovering your gifts and causing them to grow? Is He developing in you the qualities of a soldier by shoving you into the heat of the battle? Should you not then use every gift and weapon He has given you to become a conqueror?

CHARLES H. SPURGEON

God, like the eagle, stirs our nest. Yesterday it was the place for us; today there is a new plan. He wrecks the nest, although He knows it is dear to us; perhaps because it is dear to us. He loves us too well not to spoil our meager contentment. Let not our minds, therefore, dwell on second causes.

It is His doing! Do not let us blame the thorn that pierces us.

Though the destruction of the nest may seem wanton and almost certainly comes at an hour when I do not expect it and though the things happen that I least anticipate—let me guard my heart and be not forgetful of God’s care, lest I miss the meaning of the wreckage of my hopes. He has something better for me.

God will not spoil our nest and leave us without a nest, if a nest is best for us. His seeming cruelty is love; therefore, let us always sit light with the things of time.

The eaglet says, “Teach me to fly!” The saints often sit idly wishing that they were like to their Lord. Neither is likely to recognize that the prayer is heard when the nest is toppled over!

The breaking up of a nest an act of God’s benevolence? What a startling thought!

Yet, here is an old writer who makes it a subject of praise, blesses God for it, declares it to be the first step of my education! I can understand praising Him for His gifts to body and soul, but I lose my breath in surprise when I am asked to make the first stanza of my hymn the adoration of His mercy in loosing the ties of home!

Nay, my soul, it is to strengthen these ties that my Father breaks up the nest, not to get rid of home but to teach thee to fly! Travel with thy Teacher and thou shalt learn that the Home is wider than any nest!

He would have thee learn of the many mansions of which thy nest is only one. He would tell thee of a brotherhood in Christ, which includes, yet transcends, thy household fires. He would tell thee of the family altar, which makes thee brother to the outcast, sister to the friendless—in kinship to all.

Thy Father hath given thee wings in the breaking of thy ties!

The storm that shook thy nest taught thee to fly!

He found [Jacob] 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.

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.

Even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

The Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

For this GOD is our GOD for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.

Who teacheth like him?

He shall choose our inheritance for us.—He led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

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, and there was no strange god with him.

I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.—Who teacheth like Him?

We walk by faith, not by sight.—Here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.—Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.—Arise ye and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.

Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.—The Lord is gracious and full of compassion. He will ever be mindful of his covenant.

He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.—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, and there was no strange god with him.

His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.—The same yesterday, and today, and forever.

The very hairs of your head are all numbered. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. Fear ye not therefore.

Thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.

When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee.—Even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you.

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.—He bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.—For I am persuaded, that neither . . . height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.—In his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.—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.

Even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.—This God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.

Cast thy burden upon the Lord , and he shall sustain thee.—Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.