I THINK, my dear young friends, that all of you have heard of the instinct of animals. For instance, some of our birds leave us in the fall, before the cold weather sets in. Who told the birds that winter was coming, and where the warm climate, are? They have never experienced a winter, yet the most of them have never seen a warmer country than ours. But they go to the south, and they know: Yonder is a better home for them!
Only God, the all-wise, and good Creator, could lead these unreasoning birds to act thus. O, that the so much more sensible human beings might follow the needs of their souls, and seek peace and rest with God!
But let me tell you how a young man who was blinded, and unhappy enough to say, “There is no God!” became converted through a little bird.
This blasphemer had inherited from his parents more money than sense, and gave himself up to worldly amusements, until he became blinded and hardened by sin, and even denied the existence of the living eternal God. How poor, and how blind this rich man was!
This unhappy man traveled to South America, and came back quite changed. He believed not only that there was a God, but he believed in God, and in His precious Word. How did this happen? What changed him so? Just listen; he told one of his friends about his conversion, and in his own words I will give, it to you.
“I was in South America, and just as formerly, a great lover of fishing and hunting. One morning I was out hunting, and I followed a wild animal until I was so tired that I could scarcely move; so I sat down on the trunk of a tree to rest a little, when I heard close by, but high up, the anxious cries of a bird. I looked up, and saw him fluttering in the tree above his nest. Standing up, I looked carefully, and saw that the female bird sat in the nest, and seemed, too, to be terrified. Why this panic? I looked all over the tree, but could not perceive any danger. Then I looked all around in the neighborhood of the tree, and yes! there it was—a poisonous snake drawing near to the tree, and directing its fiery, greedy looks at the nest and its inhabitants. Thence the anxiety of the poor little creatures. The male bird still hovered for a moment over the nest, then flew away.
What followed? The snake keeping its object in view, reached the tree, crept carefully up the trunk, and was just at the branch in which the nest was hanging; but the male bird returned just then with a little twig, well covered with leaves in his beak. He laid it down on his little family in the nest, and suddenly flew up to the topmost branch of the tree, and there awaited results. The snake crept on, and stuck his, head out over the nest to seize his prey. But—it started back, turned round, and crept down the tree, just as quickly as it could.
How was that? Why did the serpent retire so suddenly? I mounted into the tree, climbed to the nest, and found there a little twig of a well-known poisonous plant or tree, that these snakes never touch, and of which they are mortally afraid. Then the question arose in my mind;
“Who showed this little bird the only means of saving his little family from the threatening danger?” And immediately the answer came to me:
“God alone has done it; the God that you have dared to deny!”
An arrow from God’s bundle of arrows had struck me. I trembled, and saw myself opposed to God in my blindness, wickedness and enmity. After long seeking, I found salvation and peace in believing on God’s mercy, and the work of redemption accomplished by Christ Jesus.”
Such is the tale of the converted blasphemer. Wonderful, is it not? God has His witnesses and preachers even in the animal-kingdom; yes, in the whole creation. He sends the idler to the ant, to learn industry. He points out the ravens, sparrows and lilies, that we may gain confidence in Him. He points out the crane, who knows its time; the ox, that knoweth his owner; and the ass, his master’s crib. The stars above are to His honor, and the heavens declare His glory.
It is only the fool who says in his heart, “There is no God.”
“Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of His understanding.” Isa. 40:2828Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. (Isaiah 40:28).
ML 11/12/1922