Week Twenty-Four - Thou Art No Bird!

My friend gave me a little book to read by Amy Carmichael called His Thoughts Said…His Father Said. It’s a different sort of book than most; the disciple puts forward his question or thought in one paragraph; then, the Lord answers in another short couple of paragraphs. It makes for some interesting reading. I want to share one of them with you today.

 

“His thoughts said, ‘Arrows are shot, as it were, from darkness, from nowhere. I cannot see whence they come and I do not know why they are shot. I only know that I long to escape out of their reach.’

 

His Father said, ‘That is not a new temptation. Meet it as he did who wrote, ‘How say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain? They make ready their arrow upon the string that they may shoot in darkness.’ (Psalm 11:1-3 NASB) Arrows shot in open day can be seen and countered. Arrows shot in darkness test the temper and poise of the spirit. But do not flee as a bird. Thou art no bird.”

 

“Thou art no bird!” I love that! It doesn’t take much to cause a bird to fly, does it? One wave of the arms, one unexpected noise, and they take flight. But we are not birds! We should not be so easily moved or frightened.

 

Sometimes, circumstances happen in this world where to flee would seem the fair and natural thing to do, but the path of duty is plain. We are to remain where we are. We are to boldly face the danger and commit the whole matter to God.

 

The wicked want to scare us out of our faith, to intimidate us, or cause us to doubt God’s ability, but we know our calling. We are to trust in Him—come what may. We are to stand. We are to be found faithful, not flighty!

 

Take time to read the whole of Psalm 11, and you will see that though the enemy was trying to scare David, he knew where to place his trust. “In the Lord put I my trust,” he says.

 

I know these are perilous times. I know fear and sadness grip our hearts with the things that we see and read, but we have a calling, “be ye blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life” (Philippians 2:15, 16).

 

Let’s not be birds. Let’s be light-bearers, standing confidently, and doing our duty!