One day I was canoeing down a river. I could tell from my map that there was a high waterfall ahead around which I would have to carry my canoe and supplies.
As I rounded a bend of the river, I could hear the roar of the waterfall, even though I was still two hundred yards away. I slowed the canoe and kept close to the bank of the river as I looked for the trail around the waterfall. As I searched for the trail, I could feel the water was beginning to flow quite swiftly.
Backpaddling to slow the canoe, I noticed a branch floating by with a young bird clinging to it. The mother bird was fluttering around, chirping and scolding, trying to get the young one to fly to shore. But it would not leave the branch which was now rushing towards the waterfall. When her fluttering and scolding didn’t do any good, the mother bird suddenly pushed the young bird off the branch so that it had to fly to keep from falling into the water. The young bird flew to a tree on the shore where it was safe.
Although what the mother bird did may seem cruel, she saved her young one from going over the falls. How often the Lord Jesus works this way too. Perhaps He has brought unhappiness into your life and you wonder why. What the mother bird did seemed unkind, but it was really the best thing for the young bird.
If a problem makes you turn to the Lord Jesus and, as a result, you acknowledge your need of Him as your Saviour and trust Him, it will then be for your good. How much better to have problems and unhappiness if it turns you to the Lord Jesus. God has shown His love to us by giving His only Son to die on Calvary’s cross. There He suffered and died for sinners, and now He waits to save every sinner who will come to Him just as they are and accept Him as his or her Saviour.
ML-07/24/2005