Lately, this scripture verse has been popping up in several diferent circles, and I have to wonder what significance it holds in my life and in others. Here it is:
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem . . . how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. (Matt. 23:37)
But....you were not willing. Just think about it, God has so much to offer us, His comfort, His guidance, His wisdom. He is an all knowing, all powerful God....and yet, we were not willing.
Imagine this, a mother hen, gathering her chicks. She is providing a protection that the chicks don't even know about yet. This mother has seen others swallowed up by the "enemy", this mother has seen her siblings die from the invadors. She knows, and so when her little chicks want to leave her wings, she turns them around, she keeps them near her, she provides them a safe place to grow.
The interesting thing about this picture is that eventually, the chicks need to learn to do things on their own. But, knowing my mother instinct, I imagine the mother hen nearby keeping a close eye on her young hen to see how they fair in the world, and to come to their aide if need be.
God will give us times in our life where we need to step up (with Him right there next to us) and follow the calling of His lead. He will show us when to hold back, when to prepare for the invader (the enemy) and how to fight back, and He is always there to rescue us and hold us in our defeat, to pick us up and place us back under His wing so we can receive comfort again.
Are we one of those chicks that leaves the mother hen? Do we wonder far from our food source, out of the coop and into the wild because we think we can do this on our own? We can't folks, we are going to get eaten alive by the wolves that surround our world. If we need to venture out into dangerouse territories, and we will have adventures, and the hen's wing may even guide us there, we will not be alone. He is always with us.
I don't know about you, but I often try to face hard times on my own and do it on my own strength, but "If we wait upon the Lord, our strenth will be renewed, we will rise up like wings of eagles, run and not be weary, walk and not faint". So, my trust, and my strength HAS to come from the Lord, or I will fall, and I will be like a lost little chick, out from under the wing of the mother hen.
