Wednesday, October 28, 2015
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Our office was for the birds! I mean literally! See, our former ministry offices were in a large old factory building and we were on the top floor, the third floor. We were very grateful and we still are for the space the Lord provided. The birds were too! They really seemed to like it there. The building had a few rotted eaves where the birds crawled in and ate, and sheltered from the weather. Then they decided it would be nice to build a nest there, right under the roof. In fact, when we recorded some things in our radio studio there, they would even chirp in with their singing.
But there was a problem with that apparently safe place. The birds began wandering around up there in that large dark attic, especially at night. And evidently, they lost their way and they became disorientated. In the morning - you've got to take my word for this, I was an ear witness to it - I heard their little footsteps walking back and forth and their unhappy chirps. There was no food or water in that attic. When birds get in tiny little spaces like that, it's difficult to rescue them, and they often die. That attic that looked so inviting, so comfortable, so secure. It turned out to be a dangerously hostile place!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Bird Brain Choices."
Our word for today from the Word of God is in Psalm 84. And by the way, birds aren't the only creatures looking for a place to feel safe and secure. We all have a need to find a person, or a place, or a position, where we're safe, where we can have a comfortable nest. The only problem is, as many of us have found out, some of what looks like a place where you can find security turns out to be a place where you get lost, you get starved, you get hurt!
Psalm 84, "How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord,' my heart and my flesh cry out for the Living God. Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young, "A place near your altar O Lord Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your presence, they are ever praising you."
Here's a picture of a vulnerable little sparrow who finds a truly safe home. She nests right at the place where you meet God, the altar. The Psalmist says that that's where he has finally found security as well, in the Presence of the Living God. But so many people
have nested in the wrong place. See, we can't see Jesus, so instead we settle down where there is comfort and safety we can see. In so doing we often end up in a place that ends up hurting us.
Maybe you're there right now? A wrong relationship that looks like a secure place to land, but it costs too much. Maybe you ran to a wrong job, a wrong career, maybe you ignored or abandoned what the Lord was telling you to do for something a little more secure. The nesting place has let you down, hasn't it - pulled you down? Or maybe you're tempted right now to make a choice based on security largely. "I'll do what looks comfortable and safe." That's how I'll decide. Well, that could turn out to be a bird brain choice. Choices based on security are very often God's will mistakes, and comfort becomes a trap.
Can I invite you to the altar of God? In fact, in your heart you may need to come to an altar and surrender your life anew to the Savior who died for you. He's the only One who can anchor your needs and you'll know that you'll never end up lost or wounded - not in His care. You've tried other nests that advertise security. They've been disappointing substitutes for the real thing, which is the love and the leadership of Jesus Christ.
I know giving everything to Him might look risky. You say, "What's it got to do with the things that really matter to me?" Listen, anyone who loved you enough to die for you will never do you wrong. He's your safe place. You can know that because He loved you enough to die on the cross for you.
You want to reach out to Him today; make Him the leader of your life? Listen, we'd love to be there for you in the middle of all that if you'd just go to our website ANewStory.com. Why don't you text us at 442-244-WORD.
The search for security led those birds above my head to some fatal choices. Don't make the same mistake. Run to the strong arms of Jesus, for as the Bible says, "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty" (Psalm 91:1).