Reading my devotional this morning, I get stuck on how God caters in a daily meal of quail to feed a plethora of people wandering around in the desert. I consider how many quail might live in a flock, if they lived behind rocks, and whether or not God blew them in off their migratory paths. But then again, they weren’t migrating every day for 40 years, were they?
Faulty logic for sure, the sheer volume of birds necessary to meet the nation’s hunger needs is mind-boggling. In the end, I realize that I’d become caught up in a loop of circular reasoning and decided to quit thinking about the birds.
That is until a short while later while looking at the neighbors’ plum tree outside my window, I say aloud, I wonder if those are, then no, it couldn’t be, but it looks like it might be. My husband asks what? I say there’s a big flock of hummingbirds in the tree nextdoor.
Unsure about the species, I continue to question myself, saying this must be a similar type of bird as I don’t believe that hummingbirds fly in large groups. Even so, here they were, a group of 30 or more flitting about the limbs. In waves of about seven or eight, they hover over the branches for a matter of seconds before flying off almost as quickly as they appeared.
My hubby reaches the window in time to see the last of the birds briefly hover before speeding away. He confirms that they are indeed hummingbirds. We began to talk about how we had never seen more than a pair of hummers in the yards at a time.
I then recall how earlier; I had failed to figure out God’s Quail Meal delivery service with my limited reasoning. Goes to show just because something or an event doesn’t usually happen: it does not mean a thing will never happen. Today’s hummingbird appearance shortly following the devotional questioning serves to reminds me of the need to allow room for the mystery of the miraculous by setting aside my ideas about the ways I think that God can/will/could/should do things.
Scriptures
MSG
ISIAH 55:8-11
8-11 “I don’t think the way you think.
The way you work isn’t the way I work.”
God’s Decree.
“For as the sky soars high above earth,
so the way I work surpasses the way you work,
and the way I think is beyond the way you think.
KJV
EPHESIANS 3:20-21
20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
Lift up your eyes on high: Who created all these? He leads forth the starry host by number; He calls each one by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
A few weeks ago, I awoke in the early hours of the morning with an intense desire to view shooting stars. So leaping out of bed, I make my way outside, in hopes that the clouds hovering over the bay area would be gone.
I was not disappointed; the sky’s panorama was black, clear, and perfect. The beautiful crescent moon was offset by the planet Venus and bright stars shining and sparkling like fine, flawless diamonds accompanied it. I marveled at God’s love and how his handiworks created everything for the benefit of humanity.
Feeling captivated by the scene, I think of an expression from the movie Roots, “behold the only thing greater than yourself.” At that moment, I am completely reassured that there is no one or anything greater than our God. The sight moves me into a state of prayer, worship, and reflection. At some point, I glance upwards just in time to witness the start of a spectacular heavenly event.
I see four stars in a single row, begin a slow glide towards the moon, and one by one seemingly vanished before reaching it. As soon as one set of stars vanishes, another four to five appear to take their place. Each star navigates towards the moon as if being gently reeled in by an invisible string.
The show goes on for quite some time until the last star in the sequence disappears. Later, when two stars in another location streak across the dark sky, I recall why I went outside in the first place. I was grateful that my God, faithful to his nature as a good father, decided to provide me, His child, with the desire of my heart.
Such a thrill, I had never seen or heard of anything like it before.
For me, the experience provides several insights about God’s love for us. First, there is no darkness so vast or too deep that it can bind or block out God’s light. Darkness can never limit God. If His light can pierce through the deepest depths of the darkness enveloping outer space, it can certainly pierce through and eradicate our life’s’ darkest moments.
Next, since God is on a personal basis with billions of stars in the galaxy, surely he must know and care about those made after His own image. His caring nature means we really can approach him regarding the seemingly small or insignificant things that are important only to us.
Finally, all of life’s experiences continue to teach how God rewards those who diligently seek him. And that He also gives us much more than we choose to ask or think. To quote the lyricist, Troy Sneed, “So amazing, so amazing, amazing is my God.”
Psalms 8: 3-9 NIV
3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? 5 You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. 6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: 7 all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, 8 the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. 9 Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Luke 8:17 (NLT) For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all.
Whew – in the last few weeks, the winds of change have certainly blown through our world. We did not expect to see the COVID19 virus come and strip back the covers to magnify the disparity that exists in employment, finances, healthcare, and other areas. Nor did we expect to see scenes of death, false accusations, and protests come riding across the airwaves of our televisions and personal devices.
In the past few days and weeks, I have encountered many responses and held conversations with others about the recent acts of injustice portrayed in our world. During all of this, I have come to realize that with many, there still appears to be some confusion around what we need at this moment: compassion, pity, sympathy, or empathy.
Compassion is important to humanity, and the Bible presents several illustrations of how it should interweave itself throughout the fabric of our lives. I am unable to recall a time where I read about Jesus displaying only empathy or pity for anyone. There was an expression of sympathy at the death of Lazarus, but compassion soon follows.
The very essence of the gospel message of salvation has its basis in compassion; it was the nucleus of Jesus’ ministry. His very words, heart, and actions show us that compassion is core to improve the human experience as it motivates and moves us to change. The present time of social unrest serves as a reminder that we are obligated to help each other.
Receiving help from others is necessary; we are all essential to play our role and build the bridge to bring about healing to our communities. Compassion implies action and HELP, now is not the time to stand still or silently sit when we see signs and symptoms of our world quivering and quaking. Come on, get your compassion on, and be a part of the solution.
Furthermore, lest we become tempted to “quickly” fall back into our regimens of normality, remember the norm for many individuals contain routine and normalized suffering. Please, take a moment to rest upon those words and imagine yourself walking in those shoes daily. The desire pulsing in our hearts is to live with a sense of fairness coming our way.
Heaven forbid that we should find ourselves embracing the Spirit of Cain and only seek to serve self. If that be the case, here are a couple of truths to remind us of our human connectedness:
No man is an island; we all need each other.
Absolutely, no one, comes into or successfully goes through this world alone.
By being part of the same world, any existing illness left untreated, eventually spreads to infect other parts of the world.
Whenever Jesus saw needs, he stopped to help, and he never turned anyone away. He spoke with all who came to him and often even held hard conversations, like with the woman at the well. He dared to go past the surface conversation that she offers; instead, he digs deeper and moves to heal and address her spiritual ills. As followers of Christ, when the opportunity presents itself, we, too, are called to host those bold, courageous, and compassionate conversations respectfully.
In summary, 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 instruct us to share the comfort that we receive from God with others. Meanwhile, let’s not get it twisted about what type of conversation we are having pity-pathetic, sympathetic, empathetic, or compassionate. Here is a brief guide for each:
Pity – occurs when we acknowledge the undue suffering of another individual.
Example: Oh, my goodness, I cannot believe what I am hearing or seeing; it is so sad.
Sympathy – occurs when we express care about someone’s suffering and feel genuine sadness whenever we think about it. We hope that the person feels better soon.
Example:I am sorry that the protests are happening, and I wish I could help, but there is nothing that I can do. I hope that life returns to normal soon.
Empathy – occurs when we feel someone’s suffering because we have walked through the same set of circumstances.
Example: I had the same experience, so I know just how you feel.
Compassion – occurs when we do not wish to see someone suffer, and we offer relief to counteract their suffering.
Example:With all that is going on, I want to help, let us discuss it further so that I can share my views and come to a better understanding of your perspective and see how we can work to change things.
Ways to offer compassionate support:
Listen – be a good listener and allow others to share their opinions.
Pray – ask God to search our hearts to show us any biases that may exist, pray for peace and racial reconciliation, and repent when God surfaces something in our hearts that should not reside there.
Thought partner – seek ways to have conversations that bridge gaps and bring about change.
Utilize Media – write, create videos, art, poetry, music, and so on to share your viewpoints creatively and positively.
Again, compassion is about simply taking steps to help bring about a change. Let us not give up on each other; to quote Jessie Jackson “keep hope alive” because God loves us and sees value in unity and diversity.
Ephesians 4:3 (NLT) Make effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.
Coram Deos 