The Sky is Falling!

By Jonathan P. Hill (San Jose)

My wife and I have a “mini-farm” or “backyard farm” of sorts.  Chickens are part of our farm, and we must admit that they are more pets than economically productive poultry, meat on the table chickens.  We even name each of them (our first mistake).

When we buy the little chicks to add to our mini-flock of chickens, we place them in a little wire mesh cage with a heat lamp, water and chick starter mash.  They grow rapidly into these awkward little teenage chickens with long scrawny necks, with a few feathers sparsely populating their necks.  Our little grandson finds them a little scary at this stage – they look like miniature dinosaurs of some bizarre type!

During the process of care and feeding of the young chickens you can observe some of their behavior as a lesson in life.  You must reach into the cage through a small opening with a little hinged door, and then reach over the little chickens to change the water and feed and clean up their mess.  Each time you do this, the chickens squawk and cluck and run about in a great panic.

Do you remember the old folk tale about “Chicken Little?” Our chickens think it’s the end of the world, or the “sky is falling” when they see my big hairy arm reaching over them and they run about their little cage in a great panic.  Their instinct is to run from anything overhead.  God has built into them this amazing defense mechanism.

The chickens did not understand that what was occurring was beneficial for them, even though it was very scary!  They would just as soon be left alone to run around in their dirty straw, completely ignorant of the fact that their straw must be changed, and their water and food replenished.

I think that we tend to believe the “sky is falling” and focus on the immediate trial(s) in our lives and the scary aspects of those trials, not realizing that the hand of God is involved in our care and feeding through every one of those trials.

Perhaps you lost a job, or suffer from a debilitating illness, or you have been sorely wounded in your heart from betrayal by friends, family or even your fellow brethren in the church.  Those are scary things we would rather not experience.

God wants us to be patient and let Him take care of and feed us as He wills.  Maybe during your scary trials, you can remember this scripture to inspire you and help you realize the sky is not falling! “And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. But not a hair of your head shall be lost. By your patience possess your souls” (Luke 21:17-18).