That’s God’s promise
September 30, 2011 (Friday)
While in prison in Rome, the Apostle Paul received a gift from the people in the church at Philippi. He wrote a letter to thank them (we call it “the Book of Philippians”). As he thanked them for the gift, he assured them that God was supplying all his needs and would do the same for them: “My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19 KJV).
I saw a program this week about hummingbirds of several kinds living in various places. One of them had an unusually long beak (twice as long as we in Rockport are accustomed to seeing on the hummers that visit here). Seems its source of nectar is a flower that hides its sweet stuff so deeply inside itself that an ordinary beak can’t reach it. So that particular kind of hummingbird has an unusually long beak, actually longer than its body. The program I saw featured several kinds of birds with distinctive features that they needed for survival. Each had what it needed.
This is God’s way with us. He gives us what we need. Not necessarily what we want, but what we really need. We have come to rely on that beautiful Bible verse, “My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19 KJV).
And the program also featured a type of hummingbird that builds its nests near other hummingbird nests, forming a little community of nests. In the midst of the nests is a hawk’s nest! Seems the diet of the mother hawk does not compete with the hummingbird’s diet, and since the hummingbirds are so tiny (and fast!) the hawks are not interested in them as food. Because of the hawk and her chicks, critters that prey on the hummers stay away. So the little guys are protected, and are not afraid. Wow, there’s a message for us in there somewhere. We might be able to visualize this situation when we quote a verse that says, “I will not fear.” Things are not always what they seem to be. Calm down. Trust the Lord.