Isaiah 31

A Protected Life

As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts protect Jerusalem. Isaiah 31:5.

Did you ever hear of certain great families in which there were traditions handed down from one generation to another? It is not an unusual thing to find the writers of novels making use of the idea. Sometimes a story may be made out of such a tradition as that when a certain part of an old family house goes to ruin, the last heir of the family will die. Novelists do not as a rule choose lovely traditions to write about. It is in real life, and among people who have a strong faith in God, that the most beautiful of these are met with.

I knew of an Indian girl who, although she was of high caste, and had everything given to her that money could buy, felt that her life was somehow very sad. She longed for the freedom which she knew you boys and girls have. Her father was a seeker after

God. She loved and reverenced him with all the strength of her nature; but he died and left her with a younger sister very lonely. The two girls, not being married early as most Indian girls are, often spoke to each other about their future and about God. They had a little brother, and the elder of the sisters kept telling him how good their father was. And then she often added that she believed God would never forget them or any of their family because of their father's great faith. When the boy went to England to attend a university, she blessed him and said, “Never forget about your father, dear Sitesh: God will bless us because of him.” Her words were like the psalm you sometimes sing in church.

The Lord of us hath mindful been,

And he will bless us still:

He will the house of Isr'el bless,

Bless Aaron's house he will.

That was how the Israelites felt in the old Bible days. They had set out from Egypt with God's promises in their minds, believing firmly that they would see them fulfilled. Moses, their great leader, had the greatest faith of all. Near the end of his life, he wrote a beautiful song. One verse of it spoke about the eagle fluttering over her nest and protecting her young. So, says the song, would God care for His people Israel. The idea became a tradition. Isaiah, the greatest of all the prophets, often spoke of it. He was thinking of it when he wrote this text: “As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts protect Jerusalem.” Isaiah thought of God as having a loving heart.

“Birds” mean the smaller kind of feathered creatures not anything so big as an eagle. The word “hovering” is feminine in the original Hebrew, so the verse might read: “As little mother-birds hovering, so will Jehovah of hosts protect Jerusalem.” You know how the mother-bird protects her nest with the young ones in it? She passes backwards and forwards with flapping wings: you can tell she is nervous and troubled by her very movements. Isaiah had such a bird in his mind. When he knew that Jerusalem, the city that he loved so much, was in danger because Sennacherib was marching upon her with his army, the pity in his own heart made him think of the pity and love of God.

And don't you remember how, long afterwards, Jesus Christ spoke about the beloved city, and said: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her brood under her wings, and ye would not!”

You think you can take care of yourselves, I know, and of other people, too. There was a little girl whose father and mother were going to take a very long holiday. They meant to go to America. The mother was very troubled at leaving her three boys and her only girl “Don't worry, mother,” the little girl said, “I will take care of us.” After people have lived a lifetime, they think differently. They feel that they want someone who loves them, and is ready to sympathize with them: and not only one who loves them, and is sympathetic, but one who is at the same time strong enough to protect them from evil.

A laborer's cottage was flooded in a great storm, and the father had to take his little boy through the surrounding water to a neighbor's house some distance away. “Weren't you frightened?” asked the kind friends as they dried and fed the child. “Oh no,” answered the little lad, “I was walking with father.” That is how it should be between you and God.

God has promised to take care of you. But His promise is conditional. “He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust.” That is condition number one. Then you must try to obey Him. You know what that means. All things work together for good to them that love, to them that trust, to them that obey. Is not that a splendidly protected life? Why not make it yours?

Little children playing

In the sunny light,

Little children saying,

“Mother dear, good-night”:

God is always near,

Watching from above,

You need never fear,

For His name is Love.

(Grace H. Stewart)