Three trumpeter swans, flying in loose formation, flew over a pond on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. They were making their annual migration down the coast of North America. The sun was beginning to set, and the birds needed a place to spend the night. They decided the small pond would suit their needs. The trumpeter swans began a swift descent to the surface of the pond. Just before touchdown, they spread open their nearly seven feet of wingspan to act like a drag parachute in order to slow down. Then they used their webbed feet to skim across the water. They almost looked like they were water skiing. Once their bodies touched down, they curled their long necks, tucked in their wings, and settled in for the night’s rest.
The next morning, after the sun had been up for a couple of hours, the swans decided it was time to leave. These largest of all North American waterfowl, weighing nearly thirty pounds, need forty feet of open space to take off. Beginning at one end of the pond, they stretched out their long necks and began swimming, and then they beat the air with their long wings to give them lift and extra speed. Lastly, they used their webbed feet to run across the surface of the water in order to gain the burst of speed necessary to go airborne. The first bird took off and barely missed the branches, and so did the second, but the third bird ran out of space and had to use her large wings to halt her forward progress before crashing into the trees at water’s edge. Maybe the bird wasn’t as skillful or as strong as the others, but she wasn’t able to go airborne from the small pond. The tall alder trees acted like the bars of a jail to hold her back.
Bird watchers saw the waterfowl and soon realized the beautiful swan was trapped on the small lake. They continued to watch as autumn turned into winter. At first, the swan, by extending its long neck below the water, found aquatic plants to eat, but trumpeter swans need ten pounds of food a day, and soon, the food supply in the pond ran out. The trumpeter lost weight and began to look sickly. In its weakened state, the bird watchers worried the beautiful swan wouldn’t live out the winter.
The beautiful and graceful trumpeter swan, unable to take off and fly as she was meant to, was slowly starving to death on the pond. The bird in trouble is a little picture of the human race alienated from God. The bird was beautiful, and mankind has been given many beautiful qualities too. They, of all the creatures on the earth, have been made in the image of God. This means they have been given an “intellect,” or the power to understand. They should have used their understandings to reach out to God and to love Him. But instead, sin entered the scene and spread a horrible disorder over everything. Human beings love created things more than the Creator, and their understandings have been darkened. Sin has also broken the relationship which should have existed between God and his most noble creature on earth.
The trumpeter swan was also perishing with hunger. There was no food in the pond. And apart from knowing God, there is no spiritual food in the world either. There may be entertainment. There may be gratification of lust. There may be games to play and battles to fight, but apart from a true knowledge of God, there is no spiritual food which has the power to nourish our souls.
We don’t have to go through life alienated from God and in a state of spiritual starvation. Nearly two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ came to earth to restore the broken relationship between man and his Creator. He did many marvelous things, such as walking on water and healing the sick, but His crowning achievement was to go to the cross and die for His creature’s sin. His death has an infinite power to cancel out the sins of all who believe on Him. “The blood of Jesus Christ [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)).
After He died, His body was placed in a tomb, but death couldn’t keep Him in the grave. He rose again on the third day. Later, He ascended up into heaven where He was given a name above every other name. “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-119Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9‑11)).
It is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone that sinners can enter into a new and living relationship with God, a relationship that will last into eternity. By faith, they become His children and heirs of eternal life. “Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:2626For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26)).
It is also in Him that we can find food for our souls. “I am the bread of life,” the Lord Jesus said. “He that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst” (John 6:3535And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. (John 6:35)). He surely is food for the hungry soul.
Because of the wonderful redemption that is in Christ Jesus, souls have a way to escape the sin that has entrapped them. No longer must they perish. They can turn to the Saviour and find the help they need. “That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:1515That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:15)).
The swan wasn’t left to perish either. A group of concerned birdwatchers got together and, in kayaks and canoes, herded the swan towards a volleyball net they had hung between some trees. The swan got entangled in the net. The birdwatchers carefully extricated the bird and then transported it to a refuge where she will be well fed and eventually released in the spring.
It is only through faith in Christ that you can have the relationship with God that you were made for. In Him alone, there is nourishment for the hungry soul. “Labor not for the [food] which perisheth, but for that [food] which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you: for Him hath God the Father sealed” (John 6:2727Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. (John 6:27)). By God’s grace, won’t you make the Saviour your own and in Him find the soul food which will endure unto everlasting life? “O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him” (Psalm 34:88O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. (Psalm 34:8)).