a lesson from baby birds

I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it. 

Psalm 81:10

     Every time I read this verse I think of baby birds, heads back, mouths wide, waiting eagerly for food. Baby birds are so fragile, blind, and helpless. They depend utterly on their mother to bring them the food they need to grow. So they wait patiently, trusting the food will come.

     We are similar to baby birds in that we are fragile and helpless, relying utterly on God. But unlike those baby birds, we often don’t trust in our Sustainer and Provider like we should. All too easily, we live life like somehow we know better than God. We buy into the lie that God isn’t as generous as He says He is. We don’t take Him at His Word. Maybe it’s because it seems too good to be true, or maybe it’s because we’ve lost sight of all the ways He blesses us every day. But it’s right there: Open your mouth wide and I will fill it. It can’t be plainer than that. The problem doesn’t lie in God, it lies in us.

     Before the promise, in verse 10, God reminded the Israelites what He did for them in the past. The defining moment in their history as a nation: I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Just like the Israelites, we have been delivered, but out of slavery to sin, not from human taskmasters. Just like the Israelites, that moment should be the defining point of our lives. God intervened and delivered us when we were lost and rebellious. Is there anything more marvelous than this wonderful redemption? How could we ever doubt the full satisfaction that only our Redeemer can bring? And yet we do. In this psalm, God was calling the Israelites to repentance. They were following after other gods that would never satisfy. He reminded Israel of their deliverance because they had lost sight of it. They had lost sight of God’s goodness. Maybe the reason we doubt is because we have too.

     That’s when the beauty of God’s promise enters the picture. Even though we stray, even though we are helpless and fragile, God is still faithful. Our unfaithfulness doesn’t change God’s goodness. He is the one who sustains us and provides for us. So many times, we miss out on the blessings God promises because we lose sight of His goodness. We need to go to the Lord and repent of our doubting tendencies, knowing that He who promised is faithful. If we lift up our hearts to God, relying on Him like the baby birds rely on their mother, He will pour His abundant grace into our souls until we can’t hold any more. What a loving Father we have! 

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!  Matthew 7:11