Our picture today shows an owl looking in on a family of little mice in a hole in an old tree. Mr. Owl thinks those little mice will make a very fine dinner, but we hope they will stay inside in safety.
We read about the owl in Scripture, and he is classed among the unclean birds, which the children of Israel were not to eat (Lev. 11:16,1716And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind, 17And the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl, (Leviticus 11:16‑17); Deut. 14:15,1615And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind, 16The little owl, and the great owl, and the swan, (Deuteronomy 14:15‑16)). Even though he might be a snowy white owl, nevertheless, being an owl, he was unclean.
Perhaps you ask why this was so? The owl comes out at night and flies in the dark; he also feeds on flesh. We believe that God would teach us that in a spiritual way, he is like a sinner who lives in the darkness of this world’s night, and shuns the light; he also feeds on fleshly things. This is what the old fallen nature in us loves. However, the new nature in a Christian loves the light of God’s presence, and feeds upon Christ and heavenly things.
The mouse, which crept and ran on the earth, was also unclean, in contrast to the grasshopper that could leap and fly above the earth. The children of Israel could not eat the former, but they could the latter. The one tells of the old nature which never gets above the earth and this defiled scene; the other speaks of that energy of faith in a child of God that enables him to rise above the earth and to enjoy the heavenly places and things which are ours in Christ.
The mouse is only a little animal but he does a great deal of mischief, and leaves traces of his bad work behind. So it is with all bad and unclean habits; we should seek to put them far from us and cultivate good works, those things that are pleasing to God. “Cease to do evil; learn to do well.” Isaiah 1:16,1716Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; 17Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. (Isaiah 1:16‑17).
ML 05/19/1968