I would like to tell you how a young man, who was spiritually blinded, and unhappy enough to say, “There is no God,” became converted by means of a family of birds.
This blaspheming man had inherited a sum of money and gave himself up to worldly amusements, until he became hardened by sin. He even denied the existence of the living, eternal God. How poor, and how blind he was!
Seeking for whatever would please him, he went to South America. Soon afterward he came back and he was no longer unhappy. Now he believed in God and the Bible. How did this happen? What changed him so? Listen to the story as he told it to a friend.
“I was in South America, and just as before, I loved fishing and hunting. One morning on a hunt, I followed a wild animal until I was so tired I could scarcely move. I sat down by a tree to rest a little, when I heard close by, but above me, 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 it too seemed 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 was drawing near to the tree, and directing its fiery, greedy looks at the nest and its occupants. This was the cause of the anxiety of the poor little birds. Soon the male bird 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 twig, well covered with leaves, in his beak. He laid it down on his little family in the nest and suddenly flew up to a higher branch to watch what would happen.
“The snake crept on and stuck his head out over the nest to seize his prey. Suddenly it pulled back, turned round and crept down the tree, as quickly as it could.
“How was that? Why did the serpent leave so quickly? I climbed up to the nest and found there the twig that the male bird had brought. It was from a well-known poisonous plant, one which 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 family from the threatening danger?’ And immediately the answer came, “‘God alone has done it, the God that you have dared to deny!’
“It was as though an arrow from God had pierced me. I trembled as I realized how I had opposed God in my blindness, wickedness, eternity. I got before God and I found salvation and peace in believing on God’s mercy, and the work of redemption accomplished by Christ Jesus.”
Such is the story of the converted blasphemer. Wonderful, is it not? God has His witnesses and preachers even in the animal kingdom and in the whole creation. He sends the lazy man to the ant, to learn to be industrious. He points us to the ravens, the sparrows and the lilies of the field, that we may gain confidence in Him. He tells us of the ox that knows his owner, and the ass that knows his master’s crib. The stars above are all to His honor, and the heavens declare His glory.
“Hearken unto this,... stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God.” Job 37: 14.
“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 06/11/1967