I read about a little parakeet that had a particularly hard
day.
"Chippie the Parakeet never saw it coming. One minute
he was peacefully perched in his cage. The next he was sucked in, washed up and
blown over. The problems began when Chippie’s owner decided to clean Chippie’s
cage with a vacuum cleaner. She removed the attachment from the end of the hose
and stuck it in the cage. The phone rang, and she turned to pick it up. She’d
barely said ‘hello’ when ‘sssopp!’ Chippie got sucked in. The bird owner
gasped, put down the phone, turned off the vacuum, and opened the bag. There
was Chippie—still alive, but stunned. Since the bird was covered with dust and
soot, she grabbed him and raced to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and held
Chippie under the running water. Then, realizing that Chippie was soaked and
shivering, she did what any compassionate bird owner would do . . . she reached
for the hair dryer and blasted the pet with hot air. Poor Chippie never knew
what hit him. A few days after the trauma, the reporter who’d initially written
about the event contacted Chippie’s owner to see how the bird was recovering.
’Well,’ she replied, ’Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore—he just sits and
stares.’ It’s hard not to see why. Sucked in, washed up, and blown over . . .
that’s enough to steal the song from the stoutest heart."
Do you ever feel like Chippie? I'm sure you do, if we are honest, all of us feel
like that poor bird from time to time. Life
has a way of catching us off guard, sucking us in, washing us up and blowing us
out. In the sermon on the Mount, the
Lord Jesus spoke to a mass crowd, many of them feeling like poor O'Chippie. They were poor, stressed, oppressed by the
Roman Government, despised and rejected.
With hungry hearts they listened as the Lord Jesus spoke words of hope
and life.
Jesus said, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these
things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for
tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matthew 6: 33-34).
Consider the wisdom in the Lord's words.
First of
all, Jesus says to Set your Gaze upon God and His Purposes.
What happens when you set your eyes on your
problems, the problems in the world and the uncertainties of life? You quickly
become discouraged. The joy of life can
be chocked out by the issues of life. The Apostle Paul encouraged us to "Set your minds on things
above, not on earthly things" (Colossians 3:2). I've heard it said, "You can become so
earthly minded that you will be no heavenly good. Yet, if you are heavenly minded, you might
just do the world some good." I
like that.
Second, the
Lord says to Trust Him.
Jesus says that God knows what we
need. If it is encouragement, He is the
encourager. Need guidance? He promises to guide our steps. Forgiveness?
He promises to forgive us and cast our sins as far as the east is from
the west when we repent. It all comes
down to a matter of trust. Jesus says,
"seek first His kingdom...and all
these things will be given to you..."
Third,
Jesus says to Hold On to Hope.
There is not one of us who knows what the day will bring
each morning as we pull ourselves out of bed. Each step of the day is a step of faith. God doesn't promise a smooth ride, but He
does promise to go with us. Meditate on
this wonderful promise, “Never
will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5).
never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5).
