Gone to the Birds

"Gone to the Birds: Lessons from the Divine Ornithologist"—3
Hen
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• Matthew 23:37
  • Jesus: "How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not."
  • Craig Keener: "Jewish tradition claimed that Jewish people were under God's wings, and when a Jewish person converted a Gentile, he or she brought that Gentile 'under the wings of God's presence.'" (The IVP Bible Background Commentary 111)
  • "No more poignant or tender expression of solicitude ever came from the lips of Jesus." (SDABC 5:493)
  • Desire of Ages: "Divine pity marked the countenance of the Son of God as He cast one lingering look upon the temple and then upon His hearers. In a voice choked by deep anguish of heart and bitter tears He exclaimed, 'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!' This is the separation struggle. In the lamentation of Christ the very heart of God is pouring itself forth. It is the mysterious farewell of the long-suffering love of the Deity." (620)
• Psalm 91
  • KJV (vv1-2)—"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High [Elyon] shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty [Shaddai]. I will say of the LORD [Yahweh], He is my refuge and my fortress: my God [Elohim]; in him will I trust."
  • Ellen White: "God's commandment-keeping people stand under the broad shield of Omnipotence." (8T 120)
  • Psalm 124:7—"We have escaped like a bird from the fowler's snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped."
  • NET Bible dictionary: "FOWLER: A professional birdcatcher. In the days previous to firearms, birds were captured with nets spread on the ground, in traps and snares. . . . or the use of the throw-stick (Ecclesiasticus 11:30). This was a stick 1 1/2 feet in length and 1/2 inches in diameter, hurled with a rotary motion at the legs of the birds and was very effective when thrown into flocks of ground birds, such as partridge or quail, especially if the birds were running up hill." (http://classic.net.bible.org/dictionary.php?word=FOWLER)
  • Ecclesiastes 9:12—"Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so people are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them."
  • Patriarchs and Prophets: "The great mass of the world will reject God's mercy, and will be overwhelmed in swift and irretrievable ruin. But those who heed the warning shall dwell 'in the secret place of the Most High,' and 'abide under the shadow of the Almighty.'" (167)
  • Psalm 91:4—"He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge."
    • Psalm 17:8-9—"Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me under the shadow of Your wings, from the wicked who oppress me, from my deadly enemies who surround me."
    • Psalm 57:1—"Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; and in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities have passed by."
• Psalm 91:11—the line Satan left out—"He will guard you in all your ways."
• Memorize Psalm 91—
  • "Let the more important passages of Scripture [e.g., Psalm 91] . . . be committed to memory, not as a task, but as a privilege. Though at first the memory may be defective, it will gain strength by exercise . . ." (CG 511)
  • According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (Vol 287, No 6, p 742), the National Institute of Aging found that "adults who regularly participate in intellectually stimulating activities [such as memorization] may reduce their risk of developing dementia such as Alzheimer's disease by as much as 47%."

"Under His wings I am safely abiding"
William Orcutt Cushing