"Ye have seen . . . how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto Myself" (Exodus 19:4).

This was part of the first message which Moses received for the people of Israel when they arrived at Mount Sinai. The beautiful image used to express God's care for the people was no doubt very appropriate to the natural surroundings in which the tents had been pitched. The people had come three months' journey, the last part of which was among mountains and through passes which gradually led them higher and higher until they had come at length to the lonely grandeur of Mount Sinai. The eagle is an inhabitant of such places and builds its nest among the loneliest and loftiest crags which are only reached by its broad and powerful wings.

Surely this was a fit emblem of the way in which the people of Israel had come their long journey. A stronger arm than that of Moses had supplied their needs and a wiser one than he had been their guide. The mighty power and the unceasing love of Jehovah their God, though unseen, had been underneath them all the way, sustaining and protecting.

Why had these people been favored so? If they never knew it before they would understand now that it was that they might be brought to Jehovah. "I have brought you unto Myself," he says to them. They had often thought no doubt that God had come down to deliver them from the bondage of Egypt because of their miserable state and the groanings which had been wrung from them there. Those who thought so read the same lesson of God's love to them in all that had happened since their deliverance. This was all true, but there was something better still. All their experiences God designed should be to bring them to the knowledge of Himself. He would have, amid the idolatry of the nations, a people on earth who knew Him. It was for this blessing that He had brought them that marvelous way up into the mountain tops, there to reveal Himself to them still more nearly, more openly.

Had we eyes to see we should find the same eagles' wings beneath each one of us, bearing us ever upwards to the place where we may learn more of God Himself. We often think of our circumstances in the light of our own blessing and comfort. God would have us think deeper than that, and see in all that occurs in our lives, opportunities of learning of Himself. We have been brought to a place where we may learn of Him in the fullest and best way—in the face of Jesus Christ. But every day there are opportunities of experiencing how He is bringing us closer to Himself in the things that befall us.

May we have grace to rejoice in the knowledge that we are borne along to such a blessed conclusion by those strong eagles' wings which never swerve from the path of divine purpose.

"And now in perfect peace we go
   Along the way He trod,
Still learning from all need below
   Depths of the heart of God."

—L.C.H.