Birds: December 2021
Table of Contents
Theme
“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value
than many sparrows” (Matt. 10:29-31).
Said the robin to the sparrow,
“I should really like to know
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and worry so.”
Said the sparrow to the robin,
“Friend, I think that it must be
That they have no heavenly Father
Such as cares for you and me.”
E. Cheney
“Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6-7).
Living Like an Eagle or a Chicken?
While this story is a fable, nicely illustrates the spirit of how we are to live with our focus on heavenly things.
A farmer one day found an injured eaglet in his field. Captured by the majestic beauty of the young bird, he took it home and cared for it. The farmer had chickens in his barnyard, and as they were the closest thing to a relative the young eagle had, he placed the wounded bird with them.
Before long the eaglet became so accustomed to the routine of the barnyard chickens that it seemed to consider itself a chicken! Following them, it scratched, clucked, drank water from a trough and even pecked in the dirt for food just like chickens.
A visiting friend of the farmer was distressed by the eagle’s behavior. “You were not made for the earth,” he said; “you were made to soar in the heavens!” But the eagle paid no attention and continued to scratch and peck in the dirt.
Finally, so frustrated by these unnatural habits, he picked it up, climbed atop a fence post and tossed the bird into the air. But the eagle just fluttered down to the ground and, landing with a clumsy thump, scurried off in search of his chicken friends.
Unwilling to give up, the man took the eagle and climbed up to the roof of his friend’s barn. Again he tossed the eagle up in the air, and again it just flapped its wings helplessly as it fell into a pile of straw on the ground. After shaking its head, the eagle, once again comfortable in familiar surroundings, began pecking at the pieces of straw.
Born for the Sky
The man left, unable to get the sight of those powerful talons caked with barnyard mud from his mind. The next day he came back and, taking the eagle with him, went to the top of a nearby mountain where the sky unfolded in a limitless expanse.
Looking into the eagle’s eyes, he cried, “You weren’t made to live like a chicken! Why stay down here when you were born for the sky?”
He held the confused eagle so that it was facing into the brilliant light of the setting sun, and then with a powerful thrust, he heaved the bird into the sky. This time as the eagle looked at the sun, he opened his wings and, catching an updraft rising from the valley below, disappeared into the heavens.
Many saints of God seem easily to forget their heavenly calling. As belonging to heaven, our occupation should be with Christ, the heavenly man. “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col. 3:12).
Though the Lord has called us to live in the heights, many of us spend our time huddled in the barnyard, trying to find our satisfaction in things of this earth. As we look after the necessary needs of our families, finances and careers, all too often we become more like the world around us, forgetting about that glorious world to which we belong.
May the Lord give us purpose of heart to afresh set our gaze on the “Son,” spending our time soaring in “heavenly places” where He is seated “at the right hand of God” (Rom. 8:34).
K. Harman (adapted)
Learning From the Birds
Israel at present has one problem that is not as prominent as many others, and it is not exclusive to Israel. It is encountered wherever airplanes fly. Because of Israel’s peculiar central position, at the heart of three continents, the migratory paths of more birds pass over Israel than over any other country on earth. An Israeli pilot today faces greater danger of being hit by a migrating pelican than he does from the fire of man-made guns. The estimate of planes lost to birds in recent years is greater than the losses from the combined forces of their Arab neighbors.
The Migration of Birds
In the autumn months, the migration increases as the birds head for a warmer climate. Each spring and fall about half a billion birds fly that route. In their research, men have learned that birds follow a very specific flight plan and at particular altitudes. Men cannot ban the bird flights, so they try to avoid or ban their own planes from these migratory paths at certain times.
The Lord sought to reach Job’s heart by asking questions. In Job 39:26 the Lord asks Job the question, “Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south?” When we consider the yearly migration of such a vast number of birds, we are certainly amazed. It includes very small birds such as hummingbirds and also very large birds such as eagles. Why do they go south for winter and come north for summer? How do they know when to go and when to return? How do these birds all find their way and accurately reach their destination at the same time from year to year?
Wisdom in the Inward Parts
The Lord asks in Job 38:36, “Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts?” Does such a thing apply to the tiny hummingbird? Surely it does apply and explains what men cannot. As to the question, “How do birds find their way?” one writer admits that no one can really answer this puzzling question.
How very wonderful to know the Creator who has put wisdom in the inward parts! To know the Creator is indeed wonderful, but to know Him as Redeemer is greater than knowing all of His creation. If you and I understand the power and goodness of our Savior God, we can gladly do what Peter exhorts in 1 Peter 4:19: “Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.”
Another thing we can learn from birds is taught in Psalm 84:3. “Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even Thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King, and my God.” There we see that the least valuable bird, the sparrow, and the most restless bird, the swallow, find a home and a place for their young at the place of worship of the Lord of hosts. Today we have two refuges for ourselves and our children—the Christian home and the assembly where the Lord is in the midst.
C. Buchanan
The Sparrows and the Farthings
How often have our Lord’s words about the sparrows comforted the hearts of His people! Yes, dear Christian, “are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows” (Luke 12:6-7).
There are certain things in God’s Word which scientific persons declare cannot be true, because they cannot understand them. Here are two difficulties — not one sparrow is forgotten before God, and all the hairs of the heads of God’s children are numbered! Very charming “difficulties” are these.
Our Father loves us perfectly and according to the infinitude of His own being. How can little creatures like men understand God? If we could understand Him with our natural powers, we should be as great as He! Our Father is infinite in love and power, and most delightful it is to know from the lips of His blessed Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, what His love is.
The little birds of Palestine are called sparrows in our English Bibles, and as sparrows are our most common bird and the least thought of and valued in our land, it is a very happy translation. We need to feel that the insignificant and the common things, as men speak, are those as to which the care of our Father is exercised.
The Father’s Care
Many of us are insignificant and commonplace! We should not be missed if we died—perhaps hardly more than a pebble we cast from the beach into the sea is missed from among the multitudes that form that shore. But the humblest and the poorest is the special object of our Father’s care.
Our Lord bids us “Fear not” in the light of the gracious wisdom and care of our God. Perhaps, when all goes well, we do not sufficiently value His “Fear not,” but when trials arise, when illness is upon us, when, it may be, we lie powerless, then how comforting are His words! And how tenderly He assures our hearts! We are of value in our Father’s eyes.
There is nothing in the world so precious to God as His people. From the earliest days, His people have been the object of God’s care, and at times He has overturned kingdoms to accomplish His gracious ends for them. He who does the great things also does the little. There is not a trial or a pain from which the least among His children suffer that is unknown or disregarded by our Father.
It is a very great relief to rest in the sense of his Father’s care. “Not one of them [the sparrows] is forgotten before God” — surely not one of God’s children is ever forgotten before Him! Oh! no, each one is personally and peculiarly the object of his Father’s tender care and love. We each need the sense of being loved and cared for individually.
Let us then take up a fresh confidence as we watch the sparrows gathering their morsels. It is often a busy day with a little bird to obtain its food and to find enough for its brood, but the little bird is cared for by its Creator, and are not we of more value than many sparrows in the eyes of our Father? Whether it is concerning the bread that perishes or that which endures unto everlasting life, we are the object of our Father’s care.
Young Christian, Vol. 18 (adapted)
Food and Unclean Birds
In Leviticus 11:13-19, we have a description of the various birds which the Israelites were not permitted to eat. There are spiritual lessons for us as Christians in these birds and their character.
“These are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray, and the vulture, and the kite after his kind; every raven after his kind; and the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind, and the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl, and the swan, and the pelican, and the gier eagle, and the stork, the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat” (Lev. 11:13-19).
Of course, the rendering of these names is approximate, and some of the names do not occur anywhere else. Nor is there any aim at scientific terminology, but a practical direction for Jehovah’s people, with a moral application now for faith.
Qualities Hateful to God
Many birds of the heaven are characterized by qualities hateful to God for those whom He takes into relationship with Himself; others are unsuited to be the food of mankind. What can be more opposed to His character than fierceness of birds of prey toward the living and the insatiable greed of vultures toward the dead?
The utility of these last as scavengers, in the actual condition of a fallen world, may be of great value in removing dead carcasses. However, if the Israelite was forbidden to make such birds his food, the Christian is to have no fellowship with ways morally similar, but to avoid and reprove them. If some of these birds boldly seek their prey by day, others find their congenial pursuits in the darkness of the night. There are birds as remarkable for lack of family affection as others are for loving care. But in man, what value is even this if there is no fear of God? Some birds are of towering pride, others of loathsome lust after the unclean; some are known as of plain exterior, others of attractive beauty; some have quiet habits and natural kindness, while others are boisterous, tricky or otherwise offensive. But all symbolize traits with which we should avoid all communion. Christ is to be our food.
Sanctification From Uncleanness
“Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (Rom. 12:16-19).
“Such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11).
“Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from among you, with all malice; and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Eph. 4:28-32).
“Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself up for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-Top of Form
Bottom of Form
smelling savor. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. ... Be not ye therefore partakers with them” (Eph. 5:1-4,7).
But why cite more, when Scripture so largely speaks similar language? Having Christ as our life, we are taught to feed on that heavenly bread, for His flesh is true food and His blood is true drink. Such is the communion that sustains the Christian. What is of the first man is poor food, wholly unsuited and injurious to the new man.
W. Kelly (adapted)
There Is a Path
It has been noted in the Bible that there is no path spoken of in the Garden of Eden. No, for man in his innocence had only to remain in that garden, and as long as he was obedient to the one command given to him, he would be in the enjoyment of God’s goodness. Likewise, we do not read of any path in heaven, for there will be no need up there of being careful about where we walk. But in this world there is a path for faith, and no matter how difficult the days are in which we live, we can be sure that God has a path for us — a path in which we can honor Him.
This truth is illustrated for us by a passage in the book of Job, which was written thousands of years ago. Job could say, “There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture’s eye hath not seen: the lion’s whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it” (Job 28:7-8). The imagery is that of mining, where men dig down under the earth and find valuable minerals, such as silver, gold, iron and copper, as well as precious stones. No animal goes down there to find such things, yet these treasures are very much prized by mankind. But let us look at the passage from a spiritual point of view.
First of all, we read the positive statement, “There is a path.” In these difficult days, the path for the believer may seem hard to find, and sad to say, some dear Christians are saying, “Things are getting so confusing in this world that it is impossible to know how to follow the Lord.” But God assures us that “there is a path,” and surely He will never give us instruction in His Word without making it possible for us to walk in it.
Birds of Prey
Then it talks about how no fowl knows that path. He is probably referring to birds of prey like the eagle or the owl, who have wonderful eyesight. A flying eagle can see a mouse on the ground as far as two miles (more than three kilometers) away, and it can see a rabbit as far as three miles (almost five kilometers) away. This kind of eyesight speaks to us of human wisdom, which can indeed be very effective in natural things. But it is no help in finding the pathway of faith, for that path can be found only in communion with God. The wisdom of God is found only in Christ, of whom it is said that He is “made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30). Only the wisdom of God in Christ can show us the path God has for us in this world.
Vultures
Then we read about the vulture — a bird that also has very keen eyesight. But unlike birds of prey, the vulture feeds on dead things. It too can spot a dead carcass several miles away. Then it flies toward the carcass, circling around as it gets closer to it, so as to attract other vultures. Together they devour the dead animal, and sometimes even eat the bones too.
The vulture perhaps speaks of the worldly system in which we live and move. As long as we are perceived by the world to be spiritually alive as Christians, the world will not likely be attracted to us. But it is easy for us as Christians to settle down in this world, and to be spiritually dead, feeding on the dead things of this world. It is this kind of Christian to which the world is attracted, just as the vulture is attracted to the carcass of a dead animal. But just as the vulture has not seen the wealth obtained in mining, so he cannot discover the path God has for His children. We are safe from the vulture in that path.
The Lions
Then we read about the lion’s whelps, or, in other words, the young lion. The lion in Scripture speaks of strength, but when the young lion is mentioned in the Bible, it usually speaks of super strength. But even the young lion cannot tread the path of the miner; he has never been in such a place. So it is with the path of faith. No matter how strong we are naturally, we cannot walk the path of faith in our own strength. We need the Lord’s strength to do it, and we must walk that path in continual dependence upon Him.
Finally, we read that the “fierce lion” has not passed by that path. The lion is known to be one of the strongest and fiercest of wild animals, and very few other animals will dare to fight with him. The lion in Scripture often speaks of Satan, for he is described as “your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion ... seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). However, he cannot attack us in the path of faith, for he knows that he is a defeated enemy. He may pass by many other paths, looking for those whom he may attack, but he has not passed by the path of faith.
We see then that there is a path for faith in this world and that it is a path that cannot be discovered by human wisdom. It is a path to which the world is not attracted, and it cannot be trodden in our own strength. Finally, it is a path in which we are safe from the attacks of Satan. If we look to Him, trust Him and obey Him, the Lord will always show us that path, no matter how great the confusion in this world.
In these last days, things are getting more difficult in every part of the world. Yet the Lord is the same, His Spirit is still here to lead and guide us, and His Word will give us wisdom, through Christ, to have “all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). He will see us safely home in that path!
W. J. Prost
God's House and the Way
We get ourselves so accustomed to certain things by their constant use that the power of their meaning becomes destroyed. It may be a bad word or a good word, but words that would deeply affect others thus fail to move us. This we find but too true as regards the Scripture truth itself. What an effect such an announcement as that in John 3:16 would have upon us—if listened to for the first time and the value of its meaning entered into! Just the same is it with this scripture before us. “How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts” (Psa. 84:1). Would not such a thought as being in God’s court, as men dwelling in God’s own house, greatly delight and surprise us, if heard for the first time and understood its meaning? What an effect such a truth as this would have upon us if fully believed! God going to make us dwell with Himself in His own house!
“How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord” (vs. 2). The heart that has found God longs for a dwelling-place with Him. It was this desire that moved Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration to make a request for three tabernacles; they could not bear the thought of the Lord Jesus going away. He could not remain, but left them and us words of comfort. “I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:3). His people shall dwell with Him. “Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am” (John 17:24).
The Sparrow’s Place of Rest
The heart that longs for God finds rest in the altar of God. “Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even Thine altars, O Lord of hosts” (vs. 3). How beautifully this parenthesis shows us the tender care God has over all His creatures! He does not fail to find a house for the most worthless of birds and a nest for the most restless. What confidence this should give us! How we should rest! What repose the soul gets that casts itself upon the watchful tender care of Him who provides so fully for the need of all His creatures! We know what the expression of “nest” conveys, just as well as that of “a house.” It is a place of security — a shelter from storm, a covert in which to hide oneself from every evil, a protection from all that can harm, a place in which to rest.
“Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house: they will be still praising Thee” (vs. 4). The visitor does not know all that belongs to the house, but nothing can be kept back from a dweller: He is at home and knows all the privileges and blessings of the house. In time past, God did come into the temple after a Jewish order, but the people were shut out from even this glory — the very opposite to dwelling with God. They did not know the constant blessing of the house.
How is it that we feel ourselves wonderfully more united to a Christian we may have known only for half an hour than to a mere acquaintance we may have known all our lives? Is it not the reality of the truth that God is there? Oh, the joy this knowledge gives the heart! How complete, how perfect, is God’s work! He has fitted us for this house, and we have in Him all we need. Communion with God always gives confidence in His power. This is the key to the psalm before us. If my heart has learned the love God has for me and what His purposes are towards me, I can trust Him to order the way. If my heart is set upon this glorious dwelling-place, I shall not be so much occupied about the ease or comfort of the way, as I shall be to know that it is the way. The glory of the inheritance will be far more to me than the character of the things that are round the pathway to it.
The Valley of Baca
“Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well” (vs. 6). The valley of Baca is a place of sorrow and humiliation, but one of blessing also. For Paul it was the thorn in the flesh—something that was truly humbling and called forth from him a thrice-repeated prayer. But when he heard the Lord say, “My grace is sufficient for thee,” he no longer pleaded for its removal. No; he rather gloried in his infirmity, that the power of Christ might be known. This was the place of blessing to Paul: He found it a well. The valley of Baca was turned into a spot of untold intimacy and nearness to God. With some of us, this valley may be the loss of that nearest our hearts, or the thwarting of the will, but it is a place of blessing. We get far more refreshing from the painful than the pleasant things. This is God’s way of showing us what He is, and so, in passing us through the valley of Baca, He makes it a well.
So we read in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “In everything give thanks.” How is this to be done? Did Paul give thanks for the thorn — the very thing he supposed would hinder his usefulness? Not while looking at the thing itself—it was only when his eye was fixed on the heart and the hand that had done it. We must see the love that has ordered it and the hand that has appointed it; then we can give thanks.
“The rain also filleth the pools” (vs. 6). The Lord can make springs in the desert to meet His people’s need or send down rain from heaven to supply their wants. He knows neither difficulties nor impossibilities; to lean upon Him is undisturbed security. He will bring His people safely through every trial, and every fresh victory should increase the strength of their confidence in Him.
God Our Shield
“Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of Thine anointed” (vs. 9). In every sorrow God is our shield. But some may say, My sorrow is brought on by my sin. Sad it should be so! But even then we can say, “Look upon the face of Thine anointed.” God can always look upon His Son with delight; He is ever well pleased in Him, and we can plead what Christ is. There is no position a saint can be in but that he may go to God for help. No; although his very sorrow is the result of his sin, there is no other way of getting rid of it but by going to God and hiding behind His Anointed. Christ is our only shelter. He is a covert in every storm, even that which our own failure has brought upon us.
There is just one other word about the way. Now, what are our ways? What is our walk in the way to the place to which we are going? Are our ways suited to the home for which God has prepared us? Are we so behaving ourselves as to rejoice in the thought that this world is crumbling? Is the hope of the Lord’s coming our daily delight? Does it influence us in the ten thousand details of our everyday life? Or are we so walking hand in hand with the world that the very thought of His coming fills us with shame?
“Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord” (Jer. 17:7).
J. N. Darby (adapted)
Conviction and Confidence
In Leviticus 13 we learn how the leper was convicted of his condition. It was not through feelings or his own assessment of himself. Rather, it was the discernment of the priest that convicted him. Then we read, “All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be” (Lev. 13:46).
In Leviticus 14 we find the same in principle. The leper being cleansed is once again to be brought back, but how? “Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed, two birds, alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop. And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water; as for the living bird he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water; and he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field” (Lev. 14:4-7).
In the above verses which describe the cleansing of the leper, we have a striking picture of the principle on which God now justifies the ungodly, namely, on the ground of the death of Christ, by which sin is put away and righteousness established, and the resurrection of Christ, which proclaims God’s satisfaction and our justification.
The Two Birds
The bird killed in an earthen vessel, over running water, is in picture Christ crucified, and the living bird let loose, Christ risen and glorified. All this is the result of that which was in God’s heart respecting poor sinners on earth, helpless and hopeless in their ruin. What a comfort to be able to show all this to a poor sinner as God’s testimony, that the word which silences him on his side opens the door of hope on God’s side. Wonderful message, yet more wonderful messenger He who came from heaven to make it all good in His death and resurrection for us!
We have seen, I trust, that it is God’s testimony to man’s ruin, not man’s feelings or thoughts about it, and that God has likewise given testimony to all that was in His heart in the gift, death, resurrection and glory of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. There is one other point of testimony to which I would direct attention. How did the leper know he was cleansed? On the same authority as that which convicted him of leprosy. As at first he was pronounced unclean by the priest, so now being cleansed, he is “pronounced clean.” As at first, on the word of the priest, he took his place outside, so now on the word of the priest, he takes his place inside; in both cases it was the word of the priest. How important, how blessed is this! Many a person is perplexed from not simply taking God at His word, which is the true source and spring of all known enjoyment, as it is written, “The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing” (Rom. 15:13). And on the other hand, many a person is blinded and deceived, judging its state by its own apprehension of it or its own feelings, and not realizing the complete ruin all are in. Likewise, such fail to see the wonderful provision God has in love made in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to meet us where we are. May we all joy in the Savior — the Savior who died on the cross for sinners, who by His death has made atonement, has risen again from the dead and gone into heaven, the author of eternal salvation to all who look to Him.
W. T. Turpin (adapted)
A Strange Dove
It is not only divine names that have meanings; there is also meaning in human names, at least in Scripture history. Sometimes they were expressive of the faith of those who conferred them; Eve, Noah and Joseph are examples of this. Sometimes new names were given as marks of lordship or proprietorship. Thus Pharaoh renamed Joseph (Gen. 41:45), Nebuchadnezzar did the same to Daniel and his friends (Dan. 1:7), and the Lord Jesus granted the surname Cephas to Simon the fisherman (John 1:42). And what shall we say of the Savior’s own name and the meaning of it? “Thou shalt call His name Jesus [Jehovah the Savior]; for He shall save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21).
Was Jonah Like His Name?
Jonah means “dove.” What was in the minds of his parents when they named him is not recorded, but we are reminded that it was in a bodily form like a dove that the Holy Spirit descended upon the Man Christ Jesus (Luke 3:22). This lovely emblem of purity, gentleness and peace perfectly suited Him upon whom it came. But with Jonah, where do we discover anything dove-like in his attitude to the people of Nineveh? Surely his cruel talons are suggestive of a very different bird!
We cannot help contrasting our prophet with Joses the Levite of Acts 4:36-37. So kindly were his deeds and so gracious was his ministry that the apostles surnamed him Barnabas, which being interpreted, means “son of consolation” or “son of encouragement.” Barnabas deserved his name before he received it; Jonah received a sweetly suggestive name that he never seems to have deserved at all!
Nineveh Repented
Nineveh repented; king, nobles and people fell low together at the feet of their justly indignant Creator. Heaven was thus filled with rejoicing, as the Lord teaches us in Luke 15. But while heaven rejoiced, “it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry” (Jonah 4:1). Alas, what is man! What an exposure of the narrowness and selfishness of the human heart, even in a divinely chosen and specially favored servant of Jehovah! He would have preferred the whole population of a vast city to perish than that his own reputation as a prophet should suffer! He was amazed that he should have gone through the streets of Nineveh announcing judgment within 40 days, only to find the divine sentence withdrawn! Yet why should God have given 40 days’ notice, unless He desired to give time for repentance? Does not Peter tell us that He is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9)? Did He not say, long before Peter’s day, “I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God; therefore turn yourselves and live ye” (Ezek. 18:32).
Jonah’s Behavior
Had Jehovah dealt with Jonah’s own nation as he would have liked Him to deal with Nineveh, not an Israelite of any tribe would be found on earth today. Jonah’s behavior reminds us of the churlish elder son of Luke 15:25, who “was angry and would not go in,” because the father was lavishing grace upon a returning sinner.
The disappointed prophet prayed that he might be allowed to die. If death was so desirable, why had he ever asked to be released from the fish’s belly! Elijah also once asked that he might die, because his testimony was not prospering as he expected (1 Kings 19:4). Happily God intended for him a triumphant translation, without passing through death at all. A similar wonderful departure is the proper hope of all Christians today.
Although as wrong as he could be spiritually when he prayed his peevish prayer, Jonah had not lost all sense of his true relationship with God. Thus he addressed Him as “Jehovah” and said, “I pray Thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that Thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest Thee of the evil?” (Jonah 4:2). If he really knew all these delightful things about God, it should have been his joy to proclaim them to sinners everywhere. We now know God more intimately than Jonah. The cross of Calvary has revealed grace and mercy such as Jonah could not have imagined. Is it our joy to proclaim it to young and old? If we are to be a true testimony of God, our hearts must be in tune with the great compassionate heart of God. We must develop a yearning over the perishing, and it should be our prayer and labor that we may “by all means save some” (1 Cor. 9:22).
W. W. Fereday (adapted)
Remembering the Lord: A Recollection
I remember the first time I attended a meeting when the hymn, “O Christ, what burdens bowed Thy head” (Little Flock Hymnbook #137), was sung. There was a table in the center on which sat a cup of wine and a large loaf of bread. Having been a cleric and a graduate of a seminary, I wondered how they would get along. Who was going to take charge? Who would lead? One dear old brother gave out that hymn, “O Christ, what burdens bowed Thy head.” They sang it with such feeling, and I found my soul deeply touched.
I wondered who next would say something — who was going to take the next step. Well, another brother read from Psalm 102 and then Psalm 82 and sat down. After that another brother prayed. I had never heard a prayer like that — extolling the work of Christ on the cross of Calvary — how He had dealt effectually and absolutely with the question of sins and had borne all the judgment that was my due. He stressed sins, not sin, because the Lord dealt with that definitely, eternally: “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Peter 2:24).
I was wondering what would happen next when another note of praise — a hymn — was given out on the same theme, the suffering of Christ. After this a brother got up and broke the bread and they all partook of it except a group at the back. Later I asked another, “Why didn’t they partake?” The answer was, “They’re the Lord’s, but they haven’t asked for their place at His table.”
The same brother then gave thanks for the cup and they partook of it. Later a basket was passed around and they put in as the Lord had prospered each one. The meeting ended with a little exhortation from Psalm 102, which I’ve never forgotten.
Like a Pelican of the Wilderness
It says there, “I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert. I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop” (Psa. 102:6-7). The brother then turned to 2 Corinthians 5:21, “He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” Why had he brought that in? “Well,” another said, “those are unclean birds according to the law of Moses, and that is what the Lord Jesus endured. He was without sin, but our sins were laid on Him; your sins and mine were heaped upon that blessed One.” That is my memory, beloved, of the first time I was able to observe a remembrance meeting. It was precious. Are we growing careless?
Now another thought I have enjoyed: Nearness to the Lord Jesus would keep us from sectarianism, the most natural weed of the human heart. The service of love will seek to give according to the need, and because of the need we will never think of slighting the objects of the Savior’s love. “Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse: peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thine helpers; for thy God helpeth thee” (1 Chron. 12:18).
E. F. Smith (excerpted from an address)
The Parable of the Cedar and the Two Eagles
Discipline preserves us for future blessing, but it does not exalt us in this present world. Connected with this thought, let us read this parable in Ezekiel 17.
This cedar is Judah, or the house of David; the two eagles are the king of Babylon and the king of Egypt. Judah, the cedar, had incurred the discipline of the Lord, and the Lord used the king of Babylon, one of the eagles, as the rod of His hand, for correction. Under this rod, the house of David would be humbled, but preserved — for correction is for purifying, not for destruction. Discipline plants us in “a fruitful field” and by “great waters,” but we grow there, for the present, only as “a willow tree,” as “a spreading vine of low stature.” As this parable has it, “base,” but kept and sheltered (Ezek. 17:5-6,14).
Jehoiachin, who was of this cedar, found this to be so. He humbled himself under this eagle, the king of Babylon, the Lord’s rod for correction, and he was preserved, though “base,” for a season. For 36 years he was hid in Babylon, but he was then exalted, proving that he had been planted in “a fruitful field,” though, for so long a season, he was but “a willow tree.” (See 2 Kings 24-25.)
The King of Egypt
But another eagle comes near this cedar, and this cedar, the house of David, in the person of Zedekiah, who succeeded Jehoiachin, solicits him, “bends her roots towards him, and shoots forth her branches towards him, that he might water it by the furrows of her plantation.” (See Ezekiel 17:7.)
Zedekiah seeks the king of Egypt, “that he might give him horses and much people” (vs. 15), might flourish again under his shadow, refusing to be any longer “a willow tree.” But this was rebellion against the Lord’s rod, and the Lord looks at it as rebellion against Himself. He inquires, Shall such a cedar prosper? And He answers, He shall not prosper. Zedekiah shall know not merely the discipline but the judgment of the Lord (Ezek. 17:19-20). What a picture this is, and what a moral may be read in it!
The Hand of God
Happy is it when the soul bows to the hand of God, accepting the chastisement of our sins. It is the place of blessing. Israel’s blessing began there. When they stripped off their ornaments and sought the Lord outside the camp, they were in the way to a blessing (Ex. 33). And so, after they had failed in the kingdom, as they had failed in the wilderness, their blessing lay in Babylon as before it lay outside the camp. They must accept the chastisement of their sins and go there.
It is thus with us individually. We must be broken in order to be blessed. Discipline will keep us for future exaltation, but leaves us “base” in this world. It is a “fruitful field” to the soul. But these are terms we do not particularly like. We would rather “bend our roots” towards that which may help us in the world. But that way, which is our own way, will end, as with Zedekiah, in shame and ruin. (See 2 Kings 25.) Accepting the discipline of God, submitting under His mighty hand, will end, as with Jehoiachin, in blessing and exaltation.
J. G. Bellett (adapted)
Fed by the Ravens
In 1 Kings 17 the prophet Elijah is seen alone with God in the secret place of prayer. Every servant of God has his Cherith (being in the backwater) before he reaches his Carmel (being in the public eye). Joseph, on the road to universal dominion, must have his Cherith. He must pass by way of the pit and the prison to reach the throne. Moses must have his Cherith at the backside of the desert before he becomes the leader of God’s people through the wilderness. And was not the Lord Himself alone in the wilderness forty days tempted of Satan, and with the wild beasts, before He came forth in public ministry before men? Not indeed, as with ourselves, to discover our weakness and be stripped of our self-sufficiency, but rather to reveal His infinite perfections, and discover to us His perfect suitability for the work which none but Himself could accomplish. The testing circumstances that were used to reveal the perfections of Christ, are needed in our case to bring to light our imperfections, that all may be judged in the presence of God, and we may thus become vessels fitted for His use.
This indeed was the first lesson that Elijah had to learn at Cherith — the lesson of the empty vessel. “Get thee hence,” said the Lord, “and hide thyself” (1 Kings 17:3). The man who is going to witness for God must learn to keep himself out of sight. In order to be preserved from making something of himself before men, he must learn his own nothingness before God. Elijah must spend three and a half years in hidden seclusion with God before he spends one day in prominence before men.
I Have Commanded the Ravens
But God has other lessons for Elijah. Is he to exercise faith in the living God before Israel? Then he must first learn to live by faith from day to day in secret before God. The brook and the ravens are provided by God to meet His servant’s needs, but the confidence of Elijah must be in the unseen and living God, and not in things seen. “I have commanded,” said the Lord, and faith rests in the word of the Lord.
Moreover, to enjoy God’s provision the prophet must be in the place of God’s appointment. The word to Elijah is, “I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.” It was not left to Elijah to choose his hiding place; he must submit to God’s choice. There only would he enjoy the blessings from God. In the place of God’s appointment the ravens would act completely contrary to nature; they would bring bread and flesh to Elijah twice day. God can command his creation at any time and place, but here obedience on Elijah’s part is important.
Implicit obedience to the word of the Lord is the only path of blessing. And Elijah took this path, for we read, “He went and did according to the word of the Lord.” He went where the Lord told him to go, he did what the Lord told him to do. When the Lord says, “Go and do,” unquestioning and immediate obedience is the only path of blessing.
The Brook Dried up
But the brook Cherith had a yet harder and deeper lesson for the prophet — the lesson of the brook that dried up. The Lord had said, “Thou shalt drink of the brook;” in obedience to the word “he drank of the brook.” Then we read, words which at first sound so strange, “the brook dried up.” What can it mean? Was he doing the wrong thing? Far from it; beyond all question he was in the right place, and doing the right thing. He was in the place of God’s appointment, yet the brook dried up.
How painful this experience — to be in the place of God’s appointment, and yet suddenly to face the complete failure of the provision that God has made for the daily need. How testing for faith! But if God lives, what matter if the brook dries? Mercies may be withdrawn, but God remains. The prophet must learn to trust in God rather than in the gifts that He gives. That the Giver is greater than His gifts is the deep lesson of the brook that dried up.
The Home at Bethany
Is not the story of the brook that dried up told in a different setting when, at a later day, sickness and death invaded the quiet home life at Bethany? Two sisters bereft of their only brother came face to face with the brook that dried up. But their trial turned to the “glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.” That which brings glory to the Son carries blessing to the saints. If Lazarus was taken, Jesus the Son of God remained, taking occasion by the failure of earthly streams to reveal a fountain of love that never fails, and a source of power that has no limit So, too, in the prophet’s day, the brook that dried up became the occasion of unfolding greater glories of Jehovah, and richer blessings for Elijah. It was but an incident used by God to take the prophet on his journey from Cherith — the place of the failing brook — to the home at Zarephath, there to discover the meal that never failed, the oil that did not waste, and the God that raised the dead. If God allows the brook to dry up, it is because He has some better, brighter portion for His beloved servant.
Nor it is otherwise with the people of God today. We all like to have some earthly resource to draw upon; yet how often, in the ways of a Father that knoweth we have need of these things, we have to face the brook that dries up. In different forms it crosses our path: perhaps by bereavement, by the breakdown of health, or by the sudden failure of some source of supply. It is well if, in such moments, we can by faith in the living God accept all from Him. The very trial we shall then find to be the means God is using to unfold to us the vast resources of His heart of love, and lead our souls into deeper, richer blessing than we have ever known.
Hamilton Smith (adapted)
The Sweet Savor of Clean Beasts and Birds
Animal sacrifices, instituted by God before the flood, were continued after it; Noah, on his coming forth from the ark, offered up burnt-offerings on the newly-ordered earth. We learn that he offered burnt-offerings (Gen. 8:20), but only of every clean beast and of every clean fowl. Before the flood Noah was evidently well acquainted (Gen. 7:2) with clean and unclean animals, though the means by which he had learned it has not been recorded. With the giving of the law further teaching in reference to sacrifice was unfolded, but prior to that we meet with burnt-offerings, with sacrifices which resembled in character somewhat the peace-offering of the Mosaic ritual, and drink-offerings. After the flood, each progenitor of a nation must have carried with him from the cradle of the race the knowledge that such sacrifices could be offered to God. Immensely important as such teaching was, it was not all that God intended to impart. Before He had called Israel out of Egypt, and had given them a ritual in which sacrifices occupied prominent place, the Lord made known what He thought of the burnt-offering, and something too of what it was in His eyes to give up to death an only Son. We learn these lessons from the histories of Noah, Job and Abraham.
Noah, as he came forth from the ark, reared up his altar and offered his burnt offerings. It may have been a silent service, for we read of nothing that God had heard, but only of what He smelled. A silent service perhaps, yet how full of meaning to Him, and instruction to us; for our attention is clearly meant to be fixed on the sacrifices then offered up, on which the Lord’s eyes rested, and which were well pleasing to Him.
Sweetness to the Lord
A sweet savor! This is the first time we meet with such an expression. “The Lord smelled a sweet savor; and the Lord said in His heart” (before He spoke to Noah He spoke to Himself), “I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Gen. 8:21-22). The Lord would change His way of dealing with man, and would institute, as long as earth should last, an abiding order of things. But why these thoughts and purposes of God? Because of the sweet savor of the sacrifice. Viewing all that yet remained alive on earth of the human race, God declared that man himself was unchanged. As children of Adam, then, we have nothing to boast of before God.
Punishment then, whether suffered or witnessed, does not change man. The announcement therefore of a change in God’s dealings with him did not arise from any improvement in man, whether present or prospective. It arose simply and solely from the sweet savor which God smelled. Hence we are permitted to see what God can do for man by virtue of the death of His Son. It was this that was before Him as He smelled a sweet savor, and straightway communed with Himself.
God Blesses His Creatures
We read that, besides speaking to Himself, the Lord opened His mouth to let those around the altar learn of His ways in goodness. God blessed Noah and his sons. This was something quite new. He had blessed Adam and Eve when in innocence. He had blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; but never, that we read of, did God bless a sinful creature, till Noah had taken of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and had offered them as burnt-offerings unto the Lord. Then He did not wait a moment. The ground was laid in type on which He could bless, and He did. He blessed Noah and his sons. Before the flood God spoke to Noah, but never addressed one word to his sons. After the burnt-offering had ascended up to Him He spoke to them all, and recognized them all as having a place before Him. He blessed them all in the fullest way as regards earthly things, and as creatures of earth, sinful though they were, they could enjoy His blessing.
Food Given
Noah, though the father of all alive upon the earth, did not occupy that place in creation which Adam had filled. But what God never gave to Adam He bestowed on Noah and on his sons. To Adam there were given for food every herb bearing seed, and every tree in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed (Gen. 1:29). After the fall God allowed them to eat only of the herb of the field (Gen. 3:18). But on the acceptance of Noah’s burnt-sacrifice, God gave to man everything on earth for food — all that grew, and everything that lived on earth, in the air, and in the sea, blood only excepted. From this God has never withdrawn. What God then said holds good to this day. The grant is as free as ever (1 Tim. 4:4-5).
So as we exercise our freedom as to articles of food and of flesh especially, we are sharing in the grant the Lord then made on the ground of the sweet savor of the sacrifice. Had the grant depended for its continuance on man’s obedience it would have been forfeited long ago. Had it been promised on the ground of any improvement to be made in man’s nature, it never could have been enjoyed. But given solely as it was on the acceptability of the sacrifice, its continuance was not dependent on conditions which man had to fulfill. As long as that sacrifice, of which Noah’s burnt-offerings were but types, abides in acceptance before God, so long, while men need such food, can that grant continue. In this we see an illustration of a principle of great importance to us. All depends for man’s blessing on this: What is the sacrifice in God’s eyes? What a blessed ground is this to rest upon! Here God can act according to the dictates of His own heart. Here man, unworthy though he be, can receive richly and unconditionally from God.
Christian. Friend, Vol. 6 (adapted)
My Dove
“O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely” (Song of Sol. 2:14). His dove knows where the secret places of safety are in the towering clefts of the rock—the rugged terrain, the steep precipices. By guidance of the Holy Spirit, she knows where the place of safety is — His wounded side.
During the days of deep trial, she nestles in safety in His arms of love at His wounded side. The timid, fluttering dove securely rests while the storm passes. Would she lose her hold in her place of safety? No, He holds her, or all around would be lost. These are the everlasting arms. Are we enjoying them? Or are we making our own way, leaning on this poor, helpless world, when the Lord asks us to trust Him?
No bird of prey can molest His dove. She trusts Him, so safety is sure. Have we learned this? She is in the place of safety, without fear. Could the arms of this world provide us with more safety than the everlasting arms? We know Him only in the measure that we trust Him (1 John 2:3).
C. E. Lunden
His Feathers
In Matthew 23, the Lord takes up the Jewish leaders and shows their Pharisaical wickedness and character. Then He pours out eight woes on them. This chapter closes His public ministry with this solemn judgment on the leaders of the nation. They were like the unfaithful shepherds spoken about in Ezekiel 34:1-3.
Then He opens His heart to the nation, desiring that their children may see the marvelous grace to that nation when He comes again to “turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers” (Mal. 4:6).
He laments, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see Me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Matt. 23:37-39).
In Psalm 91:4 we read, “He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust.” This verse answers to the Lord’s desire as the true Shepherd, expressed in His lament over Jerusalem.
C. E. Lunden
Song of the Sparrow
I’m only a little sparrow,
A bird of low degree;
My life is of little value,
But the dear Lord cares for me.
He gives me a coat of feathers—
It is very plain, I know;
Without a speck of crimson,
For it was not made for show.
But it keeps me warm in winter,
And it shields me from the rain;
Were it bordered with gold and purple,
Perhaps it would make me vain.
And now that the spring time cometh,
I will build me a little nest,
With many a chirp of pleasure—
In the spot I like the best.
I have no barn nor storehouse;
I neither sow nor reap;
God gives me a sparrow’s portion,
And never a seed to keep.
If my meat is sometimes scanty,
Close pecking makes it sweet;
I have always enough to feed me—
And life is more than meat.
I know there are many sparrows—
All over the world they are found,
But our heavenly Father knoweth
When one of us falls to the ground.
Though small, we are never forgotten;
Though weak, we are not afraid;
For we know that the dear Lord keepeth
The life of the creatures He made.
I fly through the thickest forest;
I alight on many a spray;
I have no chart nor compass,
But I never lose my way.
I just fold my wings at nightfall,
Wherever I happen to be,
For the Father is always watching,
And no harm can happen to me.
I am only a little sparrow,
A bird of low degree,
But I know that the Father loves me:
Dost thou know His love for thee?
“Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?” “Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows” (Luke 12:6-7).