Birds on the Brain

Is it pathetic that the highlight of my day was watching two big hawks flying near my window? (Don’t answer that!). I’ve never been much of a birdwatcher – I’m actually not 100% positive that the birds I saw were actually hawks – but they looked so graceful and peaceful soaring in the blue sky. They were probably circling some sort of carrion down in the hospital parking lot that was beneath my field of vision, but from my perspective, they looked utterly majestic. I decided to be a bit rebellious, maneuvering myself out of bed and waddling over to a chair near the window with the hope of a better view. As soon as I exerted all that effort, the hawks disappeared, but it was very nice to sit in the sun for a few moments. I then realized I was panting from fatigue at even this modicum of exercise, so I shuffled back into bed.

I was a bit bummed that my feathered friends had come and gone so quickly, but knew that I was far from able to control their flight patterns. As the Lord said to Job, “Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom and spread his wings toward the south? Does the eagle soar at your command and build his nest on high?” (Job 39:26,27). The more Job struggled with the concept of God’s sovereignty and his desire for concrete answers to life’s mysteries, the more the Lord illustrated that humankind is simply not equipped to understand the intricacies of creation, life and death, let alone control these complex processes. As I lie in bed and try to wrap my head around why the Lord allowed me to go into pre-term labor and then has kept my labor from further progressing for nine weeks, I am reminded that such questions, while honest and harmless, simply fail to grasp the reality that God’s ways are higher than my ways. Christian author Ray Stedman, in his summary of the Book of Job, eloquently captures the truth that I am vaguely circling:

“The great lesson of the book is that there are times when we cannot be told the whole picture. There are times when God does not adequately explain life to us. There are times when we must trust that not all suffering occurs because we are bad, but because it can also be the source of some final good. The deepest note in the book may be struck when, out of the desolation of his heart and yet with the Spirit of God within him urging him on to faith in the midst of his bewilderment and confusion, Job says,

But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. (Job 23:10)

“That is the lesson of this book. Life is too complicated for us to handle alone. It gets so involved that we can’t even be given some of the answers at times, but God is saying, “If you just take a look at all the problems that I keep solving on the very simplest levels of life and which even then are far beyond your ability to cope with, can’t you trust me to work this one out as well?” In Romans Paul rejoices, “We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28).

Well put! So while I did not initially intend for this post to be about anything deeper than my fascination with my winged neighbors, I am thankful that the Lord can use even small object lessons to strengthen my understanding of Himself.