“In a desert land [God] found [Israel], in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, 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.” (Deut 32:10-11)

For twelve years I had been breathing to my left side while swimming freestyle in competitive races. Whether it was a sprint, middle distance, or long-distance event, I breathed on my left because that’s what I was used to. It was easy, natural, and comfortable. When I got to college, however, my new coach noticed a good deal of wasted motion in my stroke. He said it was slowing me down and had to be eliminated if I wanted to swim faster. The only way for that to happen, he said, was for me to start breathing on the other side. The right side.

I tried it, and I hated it. Breathing on my right was not easy, natural, or comofrtable, and I couldn’t get the hang of it. At practice, I would get disoriented, swim crooked, scrape the lane ropes, and swallow a whole lot of water over the span of three hours. I would go home sick every night. Swimming was no longer fun. In fact, it was sheer drudgery. I started despising my coach, and I wanted to quit. No scholarship was worth the pain brought on by that one alteration in my stroke.

But a funny thing happened after a few months of breathing to the right. Little by little my times kept dropping. I was getting faster. I was winning more races. I started having fun again. And I began to think, “Maybe my coach knows what he’s talking about.” As it turns out, he did. Eventually, I had to eat humble pie and recant my despisals.

I can’t say it ever felt completely natural for me to breathe to the right, but it worked. It just took some extra focus, energy, and perseverance during that initial period of change. Even today when I swim, I revert to left-side breathing when I get tired because it’s easier. It’s my default position, and it’s still comfortable for me. But if I want to hit top speed, I have to breathe on the right to make it happen.

So it is in life. Personal growth can hurt. Changing our ways can be uncomfortable. Surrendering our persoanl paradigms to embrace a new ones can be challenging. In my particular field—theological higher education—things are changing rapidly, and a lots of faculty members across the nation are having to learn new ways of teaching and facilitating learning. The same is true for the church at large—an instution known for changing at the speed of molasses. But nearly every industry has been forced to make significant changes lately, especially in light of globalization, the digital revolution, and now a worldwide pandemic. As many have discovered, changing is hard, but not changing is fatal.

The same dynamic can be true spiritually. Deuteronomy 32:11 tells us that God is “like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young.” In other words, God can sometimes press changes on us in ways that make us uncomfortable. In the process, they can make him as unpopular as my swim coach was to me when he first made me breathe to the right. How so?

When an eagle builds a nest, it uses not only twigs and sticks, but also rocks, pebbles, and thorns. Initially, these sharp objects are covered by down feathers from the mother eagle. But as her eaglets grow, she intentionally “stirs up” the nest, removing the feathery cushion and exposing the rocks and thorns. They baby birds don’t like it. They get jabbed and stabbed, but mama bird has a purpose. She’s intentionally making it too uncomfortable for her children to stay in the nest. Indeed, she’s getting them ready to launch. 

Mama bird knows there’s so much more to life for her children than staying safe in a familiar nest all their days. There’s a world of soaring flight and adventure to enjoy outside. It’s the picture of a wise parent helping the young ones grow beyond their fears. It’s also the picture of God launching his people into new adventures that require a step of faith. 

Might God be calling you to take step? To leave the nest? To soar to a new place of adventure with him? Maybe it’s a new job. A new ministry. A new social group. A new degree program. A new way of thinking. It might not be comfortable at first, but it’s part of his good and wise plan to launch us into flight. 

We have to recognize that God is “stirring our nest” in love, not cruelty. He really is for us not against us, even in the midst of transition and change. Max Depree has said, “We cannot become what we want by remaining what we are.” Change is indeed hard, and it comes with a certain degree of mystery. We wonder, “Where is this going to lead? How will it all turn out in the end?” But as Bob Goff says, “Embrace uncertainty. Some of the most beautiful chapters in our lives won’t have a title until much later.” Well said.

Are you still jittery about taking a step? If so, take comfort in the rest of Deuteronomy 32:11. The eagle “spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions.” In other words, God won’t drop us. He may stretch us in faith, but he’ll never abandon us. So, let’s get ready to soar with him. He’s got this. And he’s got us.

God of grace and God of glory,
On thy people pour thy power;
Crown the ancient church’s story;
Bring its bud to glorious flower.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
For the facing of this hour,
For the facing of this hour.
– Harry Emerson Fosdick

Image Credits: shutterstock.com.

It’s interesting to note that David’s name is mentioned in the New Testament, but Shimei’s is not.

Shimei? Who’s that?

Exactly.

Shimei was one of David’s severest critics and verbal tormentors (cf. 2 Samuel 16). He delighted in publicly cursing the man whom God had called and anointed to lead his people. On one occasion he even pelted the king and his men with stones.

Shimei was way out of line. Still, the critic had a point. David, of course, had failed miserably a few times, both in his leadership and in his moral life, so Shimei was partly right.

Dead right. (Isn’t it scary that we can sometimes be right in a wrong way?) Amazingly, David brushed him off and went to God for strength. It’s a good thing for Shimei that he did. When given the opportunity to kill the guy, David refused to execute him for his slander, abuse, and hostility.

He even forgave the rascal and granted him amnesty. Who does that?

• A man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22).
• A man who had deeply repented of his own sin (Psalm 51).
• A man who himself had received of God’s free grace (Psalm 32).
• A man who had a rock-solid faith in God and a hope-filled destiny (Psalm 3).

Maybe that’s why the Holy Spirit ensured that David would be the first and last human name in the New Testament (Matthew 1:1; Revelation 22:16). It’s a phenomenon seemingly rooted in more than just literary happenstance.

The Holy Spirit ensured that David would be the first and last human name in the New Testament.

Outside the names for deity, David’s name opens and closes the New Testament. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega—the A and the Z—but David is the B and the Y.

Indeed, the literary game Matthew plays with the number 14 in Jesus’ genealogy (Matthew 1:1-17) corresponds to the numerical value of David’s name in Hebrew (D=4 + V=6 + D=4). Matthew’s point is hard to miss: “I give you Jesus, the Messiah, the son of David.” Christ is the long-awaited fulfillment of the Davidic covenant (2 Samuel 7).

But how is it possible for David to receive such an honor given the various ways in which he had failed the Lord? We may not have any other answer to that question but that God is God. In his infinite wisdom, God chose to bookend the story of Jesus with reminders of a flawed leader for whom Christ also died. The very layout of the New Testament shows us that Jesus is truly “the friend of sinners” (cf. Matt 11:19; Luke 7:34). Jesus, the perfect king, lovingly and literarily envelops his people. That should give all of us hope.

Yes, David endured certain consequences for his sins (some inflicted by the likes of Shimei), but he never lost his kingship, he never lost his calling, he never lost his relationship with God, and he never lost his pen.

While Shimei was out publicly slandering David because of his flaws, David was writing sacred Scripture. Keep that in mind next time you hear that your enemies are gloating over you because of your failures.

While Shimei was out publicly slandering David because of his flaws, David was writing sacred Scripture.

Just keep doing what God told you to do because his judgments are vastly different from man’s judgments.

Shimei who?

God of all grace, thank you for your grace. Grant me the grace to receive your grace, and the grace to be a conduit of it to others. Amen.