I WAS standing one day in an orchard, when a little tom-tit came and settled on a bough within a foot or two of where I stood, and began to sing.
I don’t know whether you have ever seen a tom-tit. It is a small blue-winged bird, much less in size than a sparrow, very active and bold, and always in motion. jerking his little body hither and thither, with an energy that is amusing as its appearance is pretty—especially to children, with whom it is a great favorite.
But I cannot say much for its song, if song it can be called. It is neither soft nor musical, but consists of four notes only which it would puzzle the most clever musician to find in the music scale. In fact they are more like words jerked out with the great rapidity that marks all the ways of this funny little bird, and uttered three times in succession.
Some birds have been taught to speak, like parrots and canaries; but this little tom-tit, living on the hills of Somerset, had never been taught at all; yet, as he sat perched on the bough beside me, he seemed to be saying as plainly as possible—
“Be ye ready—be ye ready—be ye ready!”
Sometimes he varied it a little, and then it seemed to be— “We be ready—we be ready,” which if not good English, was quite in keeping with the ways of this little bird, as he jerked himself here or there on his perch.
Now I don’t mean to say that this tom-tit either understood or intended to convey what the sounds expressed to me; but it is a message that is certainly worth listening to, because it reminds us of the words of the Lord Jesus when He said, “Be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh.”
Ready for what? perhaps you will ask. Ah! it means ready to meet the Lord Jesus, for you know we shall all have to meet Him one day, either as our Saviour or as our Judge.
That is a tremendous fact which we do well to consider, for it is one thing to meet the Lord as a friend and Saviour, but quite another to have to do with Him as a judge; but we must meet Him, for we read that every eye shall see Him.
But to return to our little tom-tit who was sitting on the bough, as I have said. If he had seen a hawk overhead, do you think he would have remained where he was? No! Indeed he would have darted away in a moment to some thick hedge, or a hole in the thatch, or some other place of refuge, and thus he would have been ready, because he would be safe from the danger that threatened him, safe in his secure retreat.
Well now, Are you ready to meet the Lord Jesus when He comes? —is the question; for if not ready to go to be with Him you will surely be left behind when He comes, and those who are left behind will have to face judgment and condemnation.
I knew a young girl who felt she was not ready and was afraid to sleep at night, lest the Lord should come before morning. She knew her parents were Christians and they would be taken.
She would sometimes ask her parents to pray with her before she would venture to lie down to rest. But the moment came when she was able to rest on the finished work of the Lord Jesus and to know that He had died for her, and that her sins were washed. away in His own precious blood.
What then became of her fears? They all vanished. The Lord Jesus is now her best friend, and if He comes He will take away all His own, and she knows she will be among the number.
In the fourteenth chapter of John’s Gospel we get the precious promises about the Father’s house. And the Lord Jesus said. “If I go away I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.” But we can only be sure of going to the Father’s House by being ready to meet the Lord Jesus when He comes.
We all know something of the joy of going to meet a dear friend, from whom we have been separated perhaps for years; but who can tell what joy will be ours when we see the Lord in glory for the first time?
May that joy be yours, dear reader, as well as mine.
ML 02/08/1925