For the Birds

“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32, NIV).

God often uses unique experiences to remind us of his care.  Such was the case on a recent stay at my sister-in-law’s house in Nebraska.  Through a downstairs bedroom window, I observed a baby robin that had fallen into the window well.  The well was too deep for the bird to climb out and too narrow for it to gain enough momentum to fly away.  I soon recognized that if the baby robin was going to survive, I would have to rescue it.

I quickly devised a plan to scoop the bird from the window well.  When I stooped down beside it, however, it began to chirp wildly in fear.  Soon, I was bombarded by the baby robin’s family, who, unbeknownst to me, had been watching intently from a nearby tree.

After rescuing the baby robin, I reflected upon my harrowing experience.  The small bird had mistaken my best intentions at saving it for a desire to harm it.  Had the baby robin only known that I was attempting to help, it would not have so vehemently resisted.  Sometimes, we are like that baby robin.  We find ourselves in some sort of predicament, often of our own making, and we resist God’s well-intentioned attempts to rescue us.  We might cry out in fear, hurt, or rebellion, when, all along, God’s desire is to help us.

May we truly recognize that God is for us, not against us, and that he cares for us in a much deeper way than I cared for that baby robin.  May we cry out to him in heartfelt prayer, and may he rescue us from the deepest pit in which we find ourselves.