Fleeing Frightful or Faithfully Feeding

Mustard Seed Chronicles: Story Time with LU Grandma

We feed birds…lots of birds in our side yard. At any given time, we have about 15 species ranging from big Woodpeckers, Crows, and Mourning Doves to tiny Titmice, Goldfinches, and Chick-a-dees. It is a joy to watch them, and as we do, God educates us about our own human behaviors. Some lessons are fun, some are very convicting.

This story is about the “convict me” type of lesson. In watching the birds, have you ever noticed them fighting over seed and space? They are selfish little creatures, not letting others feed in the same place where they are, even though there is more than enough room and seed for all of them. Watch their behavior and you’ll see even more. I’ll tell you what God showed me recently!

It is not unusual for us to have 20, 30, or 40 birds at one time within a 25 square foot area of the yard. They will all be happily feeding. Then, all of a sudden, there’s a great flutter of activity as they fly off in a panic. There is nothing that my husband or I can see that would say “danger,” but just the same, they take off! They just fly away! But then almost each time, there will be one or maybe two birds that stay, unchanged by their flock leaving, and just keep eating. They don’t yield to the imagined dangers. They just keep eating!

The birds that flew away come right back after a couple of minutes because they realized there was nothing really to be afraid of. Then, if you watch them long enough, you will see in two minutes they are off again in a flutter. And yet, always, there are a couple still remaining. The ones that stay calm, peaceful, and feeding, getting what they need to survive.

What a lesson that is for me, for us. Do we at the first rumor of some sort of terror fly into a fit? Do we join the others in a panicked flight? Or, do we wait to see if there really is something to be afraid of?

Which one am I? And you? Are we the “fleeing frightful” at imagined terrors, or are we “faithfully feeding” diligently relying on God’s Word where we find truth and His promises for us? God gives us an abundance of promises in His Word about His love and care for us. But if we don’t memorize them and if we don’t spend time making those promises are own, realizing they are meant for us, then we will be more likely to be among the fleeing frightful.

God never promises us a trouble-free life. He does promise us that when trouble does come into our lives with its problems, He gives us His peace (John 16:33), and that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5b). He tells us that we are more valuable than many sparrows (Matthew 10:31), He feeds and waters the birds (Luke 12:24), and all the other wild creatures on this earth (Psalm 104:11-18).

Be the faithfully feeding! Stay and eat and drink the living water (John 7:38) from His Word. Trust that He has overcome the world (John 16:33) and we are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37). His grace is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9) and His mercy is there for us (Ephesians 2:4; 1 Peter 1:3)!

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, especially in our time right now there is just so much that Satan would want us to be fearful of. Every day in the newspaper there’s a new threat or something that would scare us to death if we didn’t know You as Savior and Lord. So, help us LORD to come to You first! To search in Your Word, and “feed” on Your promises before we freak out because, in reality, there is no real reason to do so. We need to be able to choose joy in those circumstances (James 1:2) even if there is some real sort of disaster but can only do so when Your Word in so imbedded in our hearts and minds.

I pray for Your divine intervention as You have already promised, in the precious name of Jesus! Amen!

Be encouraged by this song: Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus!