My friend George Bowers, pastor of Antioch Church in Woodstock, VA, writes a weekly column for the Northern Virginia Daily. Here is a piece from a week ago, shared with his blessings and permission.
Bob
It’s time to
make hay while the sun shines! These warm June days are filled with haymaking
for farmers all around our valley as evidenced by giant green marshmallows and
smaller green cubes peppered throughout the fields.
One of the
hazards farmers face in mowing hay this time of year is the possibility of
inadvertently hurting or killing young fawns. Every spring, some of these baby
whitetails are unintentionally harmed as farmers harvest their forage to feed
our future steaks and burgers.
Why don’t these fawns scamper off when they
hear the machinery approaching? Because their mothers placed them there. These
newborns have no scent and make no noise, so they are virtually undetectable by
coyotes and other predators shopping for dinner. When the doe plants her fawn
in the tall grass, she can enjoy her own lunch with reasonable assurance her
young’n is safe.
This strategy wired into doe and fawn by their
Creator is normally very successful in protecting the defenseless youngsters.
Even when predators stroll nearby, as long as the fawns lay completely still,
their spotted brown camo prevents potential disaster.
When the
Israelites were trapped between the Red Sea and the Egyptian Army, Moses told
them in Exodus 14:13 to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord! Standing
still is often the most difficult strategy since most of us like to devise our
own methods of escape. Instead of relying on God’s plan, we concoct our own
plans that usually lead to pain.
Except for the occasional Haybine or sickle
bar, God’s plan for fawns works exceptionally well. Their discipline to remain
completely motionless even when they have to be bursting with fear is amazing.
Although this
effective response is likely due to instinct rather than the doe’s instruction,
it can certainly instruct us. Those little fawns trust their mothers so much
that they are obedient even unto death.
How often we fail to trust our Heavenly
Father. We commit to obeying Him and to resting in His care. We promise to
submit fully to His leadership while testifying of His infinite wisdom and
power. Then, at the first sign of trouble, we spring up and run like a scared
rabbit thinking God has somehow failed or forgotten us.
Ultimately, God
is much wiser than any animal or human. His ways are higher than our ways and
beyond our understanding. Instead of human reason, obedience requires faith and
trust, sometimes even in spite of what appears to be impending danger. Even
then, God’s plan is always best.
Paul tells us in
Philippians 2:8 that “[Jesus] humbled Himself and became obedient to death —
even death on a cross!” Resisting the temptation to flee the Garden or run from
Golgotha, He submitted to God’s plan, allowed Himself to be arrested, tortured,
and crucified that we might be saved. Instead of jumping up and running away as
death approached, He remained faithful.
Later in the New Testament, we read about Stephen who was also obedient unto death as well as James the Apostle. Peter, Paul, and many others were certainly willing to die if necessary. Eventually many of those early believers resisted the urge to abandon God’s clear directives and paid for it with their lives.
Still today, Christians in Nigeria, North
Korea, Afghanistan, Somalia, and many other countries display the same
faithfulness of our valley fawns by remaining obedient even unto death. Like
Jesus, Stephen, and all the others, they know that to perish obeying Christ is
eternally better than surviving by disobeying Him.
Thankfully, most
Christians in this country don’t face the threat of martyrdom. Nevertheless, we
are challenged by social and cultural pressures which tempt us to bolt from
Biblical standards and God’s morality. May we learn a lesson from these tender
fawns and remain obedient to Jesus and His Word, even unto death. Blessings,
George
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