On Eagles’ Wings – June 18, 2018

Exodus 19:2-8a, Psalm 100, Romans 5:1-8

A couple weeks ago before Mother’s Day, I read somewhere that we should not celebrate Mother’s Day or Father’s Day in our churches because it’s not a day of celebration for everybody. Someone may have lost their father or someone has a father who was never a great father, and Father’s Day brings back painful memories.

And it’s interesting that in Bible study, some people shared with me that they found pretty hard to pray to God as their Father with the Lord’s Prayer because their image of a father was damaged by their real dad.

Today we have Father’s Day and another celebration, as this Sunday is Aboriginal Sunday too and that is why we can learn together about a real Father who is father for all of us, for Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals and also for those who have great memories about their father and for those who don’t.

From Exodus chapter 19 we can see why God is the best example we have on Father’s Day. Through Moses he had a message for the Israelites which was that if they obeyed God and kept the covenant, they will be God’s treasured possessions, and also a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

How does this sound? Is it good to belong to God, to be his own people? I think it’s pretty cool but to really be his people we should do the same, we should obey him and keep the covenant.

But who is this God and why should we do this, why should we believe in his promises? I hear this question from those who had a bad relationship with their father: what if these are only promises and God will never keep them?

And friends, he knows us. That is why we should read the Bible because God himself is the one who told the Israelites why he asked them to obey him. God says:

"You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself."

This is a special reminder that before God asked anything from them, He saved them. They were in exile in Egypt and God carried them out on eagles’ wings.

The eagle can bear up the young eaglets on its pinions, which are the outer wings. This is basically what God did when He carried Israel out of captivity from Egypt and continued to carry them on in their wanderings in the wilderness.

And also, when the storms hit, eagles can fly far above the storms, indicating that God is never affected by conditions for He is also sovereign over nature.

Being in exile is a big storm but God saved them and brought them out and after this he told them that if they kept the covenant with God and obeyed him, they would be his nation. It is not only a sudden promise, but also a planned action by God who knew how to save his people even before they promised to obey him.

He saved them and that was the reason why he asked them to keep his covenant and obey him.

Because this is the biggest problem with many parents, they cannot keep their promises, or they ask for something before showing their love.

God is pure love, he saved those people because he already loved them.

And did you know that his love never changed although the Israelites didn’t keep their promises, they didn’t obey God and didn’t keep the covenant? Let’s look at Romans chapter 5 verses 6-8:

Can you hear this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God loved those Israelites and saved them from Egyptian captivity, and throughout the ages he sent prophets and apostles to spread the good news of how He loved us, he sent Jesus Christ, the only son who died for us while we were still sinners.

Did you know this? Did you know that He loves you so much? If you never accept him into your heart, if you never accept Jesus as the one who died for you I ask you to look back into your lives.

Here we are today on June 18 2017, please look back into your life and see whether God carried you on eagles’ wings, whether he lifted you up above the storms. It’s not an accident that you are here. He brought you here to hear the good news, that we have peace with God through Jesus Christ.

Do you need this peace? I need this today and tomorrow, on Tuesday and every day.

Years and years ago when I was a student we had to take a chaplaincy course in the hospital. Our task was to go into the patients’’ rooms and ask them whether they want to talk to us and also to pray with us. and then at the end of the day we gathered together and shared what we experienced, what we learned.

And one day I had to go to the pulmonology ward and one of the women asked me to come to her bed and pray with her. She was a gypsy woman, and I called them gypsies and not Romas because my gypsy friends asked me to call them gypsies. So I met with this gypsy woman who told me she had a seven-year-old son who would start school in September and she wanted me to pray with her to survive till then. She had stage four liver cancer and the doctors told there were no hope for her. She had strong faith in God, never asked any questions about why God allowed the cancer to take her life, she only wanted me to pray with her to live till September. It was in April and of course I prayed with her but after this meeting when we had our gathering to share our experience I couldn’t do anything else, only cry. The women’s faith hit me in my heart. I was so young, probably 21 years old, full of energy and with big dreams about my life as a missionary in Africa, then the meeting with this lady changed me. I asked the leader of our group, why did God allow this and why did I have to be there. Our leader only asked one question: can you believe in miracles?

That gypsy woman at the end of her life believed in miracles, she had peace from God. She knew somebody who could lift her above the storms. It was in April, we finished the chaplaincy class and I never heard anything about the woman, but I will always remember her and how through her life God taught me to believe in miracles and ask peace from him.

Once there was a big storm, a cross stood on Golgotha and Jesus Christ died for us. If you want to know more about this love, more about the father’s love, read the Bible, pray to him and he will reveal himself to you through the Holy Spirit. Amen