Gone to the Birds

"Gone to the Birds: Lessons from the Divine Ornithologist"—2
Ravens
www.newperceptions.tv

• 1 Kings 17:1-16
  • James 5:17-18—"Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops."
  • Prophets and Kings: "Unbelief was fast separating the chosen nation from the Source of their strength. Viewing this apostasy from his mountain retreat, Elijah was overwhelmed with sorrow. In anguish of soul he besought God to arrest the once-favored people in their wicked course, to visit them with judgments, if need be, that they might be led to see in its true light their departure from Heaven." (120)
• Ravens
  • The differences between ravens and crows (https://www.audubon.org/news/how-tell-raven-crow)
  • The intelligence of ravens and crows: "Common ravens have been observed calling wolves to the site of dead animals. The wolves open the carcass, leaving the scraps more accessible to the birds. They watch where other common ravens bury their food and remember the locations of each other's food caches, so they can steal from them. This type of theft occurs so regularly that common ravens will fly extra distances from a food source to find better hiding places for food. They have also been observed pretending to make a cache without actually depositing the food, presumably to confuse onlookers." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_raven#Intelligence)
  • BBC report on crow's 8-step problem solving skill (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVaITA7eBZE)
  • Job 38:41/Psalm 147:9
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• Luke 12:24, 6, 31
  • John Banister Tabb (1900) Holy Ground:
               PAUSE where apart the fallen sparrow lies,
               And lightly tread;
               For there the pity of a Father's eyes
               Enshrines the dead.
  • Illus: Desire of Ages: "Not even a sparrow falls to the ground without the Father's notice. Satan's hatred against God leads him to hate every object of the Saviour's care. He seeks to mar the handiwork of God, and he delights in destroying even the dumb creatures. It is only through God's protecting care that the birds are preserved to gladden us with their songs of joy." (356)
  • "Not a sigh is breathed, not a pain felt, not a grief pierces the soul, but the throb vibrates to the Father's heart." (Ibid)
  • Malachi 3:10
  • Nelson Searcy: "God is a giving God. He gave us life; he gives us breath; he gave us the earth and all its inhabitants; he gives us purpose; he gives us new mercies every single day. Most importantly, he gave us his Son on a Jerusalem hillside. God withholds no good thing from those who love and honor him. So how could we possibly be stingy with God in the area of our finances, especially when he has gone so far as to ask us to 'test him' in this one thing?" (Maximize 39)
  • Education: "Only in the light that shines from Calvary can nature's teaching be read aright. Through the story of Bethlehem and the cross let it be shown how good is to conquer evil, and how every blessing that comes to us is a gift of redemption." (101)
     

Make God first, and He will make it last . . .
and last . . . and last.