The Birds
My grandmother gave me a pet parakeet when I was young. He was very pretty and lived in a great cage with all the amenities a pet parakeet might need - food, water, a perch, something to peck on, and cover for sleeping. He was domesticated but he still had wings to fly and knew he was a bird and that birds were made to fly. Whenever his cage door was opened there was a chance he would try to get out. Sometimes he escaped and mayhem broke loose! He would fly into walls and get tangled in curtains and we would run around trying to catch him and get him back to his cage where he would be safe. He was a captive wanting only to be free to do what he was made to do even if he didn't really know much about flying. He didn't understand that his cage provided safety and comfort and he didn't care that I loved him and provided for his every need. His moments of sudden freedom mixed with his lack of knowledge about flying and inability to navigate inside a house put him in extreme danger. I can't even let myself think of the mess he would have been in had he managed to escape the house.
One time my brother and I gave my mother a canary. He was such a sweet little yellow song bird. But he had to be taught to sing. Being a domesticated canary who lived his life in a cage and apart from other songbirds he probably didn't even know what singing was supposed to sound like. So we bought him a record that had music with a choir of canaries singing along. After just a few minutes of listening and hearing the other birds he found his own voice. He was still alone in his cage but he sang from the heart in union with the others he could hear but not see. Each time we played the record he would sing like that. Otherwise he was quiet - except when the telephone rang - how could I forget that! The telephone was in the kitchen where we kept his cage and when it rang it woke up the songbird. He wouldn't stop singing until the call ended, almost as if he thought he was singing along with the people having the conversation.
Both of these birds were loved and blessed in their places of captivity. Both were protected from the dangers of going from domestication to the wild without adequate training or experience. Both had everything they needed but neither was complete in their life's full intention - the parakeet who wanted to fly and the canary who wanted to sing along with others. Neither of them really understood what life was like outside the cage but both knew there was more. And neither was satisfied with captivity.
Recently I was meditating on Psalm 31 and a light went off in regard to my own feeings about captivity as I read these verses: Psalm 31:19-24 How great is Your goodness, which You have stored up for those who fear You, which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You, before the sons of men! You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of man; You keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the LORD, for He has made marvelous His lovingkindness to me in a besieged city. As for me, I said in my alarm, "I am cut off from before Your eyes"; Nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications when I cried to You. O love the LORD, all you His godly ones! The LORD preserves the faithful and fully recompenses the proud doer. Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the LORD.
It dawned on me that I sometimes seek refuge in God - and cry out for Him to hide me in His secret place and shelter me from the storms of life but when I get to this place, I suddenly feel like I am captive - like the psalmist in a beseiged city! I am safe behind the wall where I have been taken in response to my cries to be hidden and sheltered - but I am also trapped behind the wall! And, like the psalmist I am alarmed and feel cut off and forgotten. And just as He always does, Father God revealed this warped thinking to me by pointing it out with this psalm and reminding me of the parakeet and the canary. Though in a beseiged city - a cage - we are all hidden, sheltered, and blessed with His marvelous lovingkindness. And we can trust that He will preserve us. We can be strong and take courage and know that when the time is right we will be set free to fly or to sing or to be king. All we need to do is place our hope in Him and rest in the cage of His perfect presence - because in His presence is where we really want to be, isn't it?
Along with birds, our family also had dogs and cats. Both the parakeet and the canary knew we had a cat because the cat made his presence known to them. The birds were safe in their cages even when the cat would sit with its face pressed against the wire of the cage staring and growling. The birds were safe even when the cat would lay next to the cage with its body wrapped around the perimeter for hours hoping the bird would somehow venture outside the cage. But did the birds feel secure and safe and sheltered? They didn't. They would sit still hoping the cat wouldn't see them. Or they would jump all around and squawk out fearful bird sounds until someone would notice and shoo the cat away. And sadly, one of them was so afraid one night when the cat wrapped his body around the cage that it died of fright - simply died and fell from its perch to the floor of the cage while the cat watched. Remembering this and still thinking of Psalm 31 leads me to Psalm 131.
Psalm 131:1-3 God, I'm not trying to rule the roost, I don't want to be king of the mountain. I haven't meddled where I have no business or fantasized grandiose plans. I've kept my feet on the ground, I've cultivated a quiet heart. Like a baby content in its mother's arms, my soul is a baby content. Wait, Israel, for God. Wait with hope. Hope now; hope always!
This is the picture of the captive bird - or captive me - fully hoping in God, resting in His presence, trusting His shelter, and believing in the freedom that only He will bring. If I live like the psalmist describes in Psalm 131, even the enemy at the gate or the cat around the cage will not cause me to fear or lose hope in the One who makes me free. Though I am beseiged I am safe and blessed in His presence! And while I wait and hope my heart will fly around His throne and my heart will sing with choirs of angels in praise! Who could want more?
With sparrow-like trust,
amy
Psalm 84:1-4 How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young— a place near your altar, O LORD Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.
One time my brother and I gave my mother a canary. He was such a sweet little yellow song bird. But he had to be taught to sing. Being a domesticated canary who lived his life in a cage and apart from other songbirds he probably didn't even know what singing was supposed to sound like. So we bought him a record that had music with a choir of canaries singing along. After just a few minutes of listening and hearing the other birds he found his own voice. He was still alone in his cage but he sang from the heart in union with the others he could hear but not see. Each time we played the record he would sing like that. Otherwise he was quiet - except when the telephone rang - how could I forget that! The telephone was in the kitchen where we kept his cage and when it rang it woke up the songbird. He wouldn't stop singing until the call ended, almost as if he thought he was singing along with the people having the conversation.
Both of these birds were loved and blessed in their places of captivity. Both were protected from the dangers of going from domestication to the wild without adequate training or experience. Both had everything they needed but neither was complete in their life's full intention - the parakeet who wanted to fly and the canary who wanted to sing along with others. Neither of them really understood what life was like outside the cage but both knew there was more. And neither was satisfied with captivity.
Recently I was meditating on Psalm 31 and a light went off in regard to my own feeings about captivity as I read these verses: Psalm 31:19-24 How great is Your goodness, which You have stored up for those who fear You, which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You, before the sons of men! You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of man; You keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the LORD, for He has made marvelous His lovingkindness to me in a besieged city. As for me, I said in my alarm, "I am cut off from before Your eyes"; Nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications when I cried to You. O love the LORD, all you His godly ones! The LORD preserves the faithful and fully recompenses the proud doer. Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the LORD.
It dawned on me that I sometimes seek refuge in God - and cry out for Him to hide me in His secret place and shelter me from the storms of life but when I get to this place, I suddenly feel like I am captive - like the psalmist in a beseiged city! I am safe behind the wall where I have been taken in response to my cries to be hidden and sheltered - but I am also trapped behind the wall! And, like the psalmist I am alarmed and feel cut off and forgotten. And just as He always does, Father God revealed this warped thinking to me by pointing it out with this psalm and reminding me of the parakeet and the canary. Though in a beseiged city - a cage - we are all hidden, sheltered, and blessed with His marvelous lovingkindness. And we can trust that He will preserve us. We can be strong and take courage and know that when the time is right we will be set free to fly or to sing or to be king. All we need to do is place our hope in Him and rest in the cage of His perfect presence - because in His presence is where we really want to be, isn't it?
Along with birds, our family also had dogs and cats. Both the parakeet and the canary knew we had a cat because the cat made his presence known to them. The birds were safe in their cages even when the cat would sit with its face pressed against the wire of the cage staring and growling. The birds were safe even when the cat would lay next to the cage with its body wrapped around the perimeter for hours hoping the bird would somehow venture outside the cage. But did the birds feel secure and safe and sheltered? They didn't. They would sit still hoping the cat wouldn't see them. Or they would jump all around and squawk out fearful bird sounds until someone would notice and shoo the cat away. And sadly, one of them was so afraid one night when the cat wrapped his body around the cage that it died of fright - simply died and fell from its perch to the floor of the cage while the cat watched. Remembering this and still thinking of Psalm 31 leads me to Psalm 131.
Psalm 131:1-3 God, I'm not trying to rule the roost, I don't want to be king of the mountain. I haven't meddled where I have no business or fantasized grandiose plans. I've kept my feet on the ground, I've cultivated a quiet heart. Like a baby content in its mother's arms, my soul is a baby content. Wait, Israel, for God. Wait with hope. Hope now; hope always!
This is the picture of the captive bird - or captive me - fully hoping in God, resting in His presence, trusting His shelter, and believing in the freedom that only He will bring. If I live like the psalmist describes in Psalm 131, even the enemy at the gate or the cat around the cage will not cause me to fear or lose hope in the One who makes me free. Though I am beseiged I am safe and blessed in His presence! And while I wait and hope my heart will fly around His throne and my heart will sing with choirs of angels in praise! Who could want more?
With sparrow-like trust,
amy
Psalm 84:1-4 How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young— a place near your altar, O LORD Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.
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