Ben Fourie

He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. Deuteronomy 32:4

In Deuteronomy 32:4, we read these words of Moses, “… A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.” And in verses 11 and 12,  “… like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions. The Lord alone led him; ...”

We usually consider the book of Deuteronomy as a book filled with laws to tell God’s chosen people how to conduct themselves in the promised land and, furthermore, as a book relating their history. But not everything is set in formal legal terms. In chapter 32, Moses uses a beautiful song to convey some very important facts about God.

The song is essentially about who God is, how He walked a long road with His people, how He acted in different circumstances, but finally it extols the fact that He is a faithful and caring God, even when His people so often show themselves to be unfaithful.

In the song, Moses uses different metaphors to help us understand His faithfulness and protection a bit better. The one we chose here, is that of an eagle stirring up its nest to help its young to engage their world and learn how to face the challenge of flying. During this learning process, the eagle stays very near to them. When the eaglets’ wings start to tire, the eagle is there to spread big wings to catch them and carry them to safety.

That is the way God works with us. He wants us to soar freely, to explore and engage the world around us, but during the process, He is always very near to us. We can rest assured that He will be there to carry us in His arms when we grow weak. Sometimes we hit out at Him with our puny wings, many times we are unfaithful, but he always comes back like He has done with His chosen people to restore the peace between Him and us.

This, says Moses, is not something to be taken lightly. To stay close to God means life for us.

Prayer: Thank you, God, for being faithful even when I try to go my own way. Amen