God, Dogs and Hummingbirds

The article reproduced below was taken from The Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotional. It's probably not exactly what one would expect on a site dedicated to personal development, but consider it as an exercise in developing the spiritual aspect of your life.

This article reminds me of something I recently read about understanding God. The author said that one way to try and understand evil in the world is to see that God is to a man as a man is to a dog. The dog doesn't understand that the trip to the vet and the ensuing prodding, poking and sometimes even pain are necessary and designed for its benefit. In the same way, we often don't understand why "bad" things happen to us or those we love.

The author was using the above example as a means of describing how the atheist presumes the ability to know the mind of God, i.e., since there is evil in the world God either does not exist or is not omnipotent. Since we can't know the mind of God it is surely the height of arrogance to place such restrictions on the concept.

Maybe the existence of pain and evil are a consequence of God doing what needs doing. Collateral damage, if you will. Much like the beetle that gets stepped on as we rush to succor a child that has fallen at the play ground.

Perhaps we should learn to emulate the dog's trust. Life would probably seem much less stressful, wouldn't it?
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From The Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotional April 12, 2005

Down and Out in My Dining Room by John Fischer

I had a hummingbird trapped in my dining room today. I cranked the windows wide open and waited for the bird to fly out but nothing doing. I even tried to shoo it out waving my arms but that didn’t work either.
The problem was, every time the bird would try and fly, its instincts told it to fly upwards, so it would skate all over the ceiling, buzzing its wings furiously against it, chirping all the way until it would tire and come to rest on the curtain over the window or the light fixture. I left it alone for a while to see if it would eventually discover the open windows, but each time it took off to fly, it flew upwards and skated on the ceiling like before. It was frustrating — almost tragic — to watch it sit over the open window, catching its breath, oblivious to the fact that freedom lay only a few inches below. I finally succeeded in freeing it by literally sweeping the hummingbird off the ceiling with a broom. It took a number of tries, and it hit the window on the way out, but it flew off unharmed.
All the while I was doing this, I was trying to imagine what it would be like if I were that bird. I am aware that I am trapped, and I am trying to free myself the only way I know how, when this very large figure comes after me. I have absolutely no way of knowing that this giant thing, swatting at me with a broom, wants what is best for me; indeed, he is the only one who can set me free. And then this creature sweeps me off the ceiling and slams me into this invisible barrier, and it is only then, in my attempt to recover from that trauma, that I find I am suddenly free.
Is this not what happens to us with God? He throws some pretty scary stuff at us, and it’s hard to believe He has our best interests at heart. He may even be telling us to fly down, but we don’t hear Him, so He brings something into our lives that forces us down, and only then do we find that down was the way out.
What we have that the bird doesn’t have is a word from God that He is in control. Everything happening to us is happening for a purpose and we will see it someday, but in the meantime, it is for us to trust, and take what He sends our way as coming from His hand.
We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:9)
John Fischer is the Senior Writer for Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotionals. He resides in Southern California with his wife, Marti and son, Chandler. They also have two adult children, Christopher and Anne. John is a published author and popular speaker.

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