Ever since I was knee high to a grasshopper my mother would tell me: “Be careful of the kind of people you make friends with.” Not until much later in life did I understand what she meant in saying, “birds of a feather flock together.” God has always used birds in unusual ways to teach his principles.
God destroyed all mankind and animals with water from the face of the earth except those who were in Noah’s Ark. Noah wanted to know if God had completed His judgment upon the earth, so he released a raven from the safety of the ark as his first winged spy, an informant [stool pigeon] for the status of the waters receding so they may once again subdue, bring harmony, multiply and replenish the earth as God had mandated Adam and Eve [Genesis 1-3].
That bird never did come back. Have you ever wondered what happened to that raven when he got tired of flying and refuse to return to the ark of safety? There was no dry land for him to rest. Did he drown? Later Noah sent out a dove. It proved to be faithful and was miraculously guided by God back to the safety of the art to deliver the hopeful message that the waters had receded as he had a tree twig in his mouth [Genesis 7-8].
In prophet Elijah’s day during a crucial time in the history of Israel when it looked as if the worship of the true God might be completely eliminated in the northern kingdom, there were 7,000 other prophets there but they were paralyzed with fear and kept quiet. Elijah told of the Lord’s judgment to King Ahab, “As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain, except at My word.”
It did not rain for three years and six months. Only when Elijah prayed again, the heavens honored his prayers and gave rain so the earth could produce [James 5:17]. Elijah showed a strength greater than most of us in our life with God. No doubt God was the supreme reality of Elijah’s life. Even though he stood in the presence of King Ahab, he was conscious that he also stood in the presence of someone greater that any earthly king. The angel Gabriel himself [1 Kings 17] [Luke 1:19]. The drought that Elijah declared and decreed was a great threat to Israel and King Ahab.
Therefore, Elijah life was in danger and God sent him to a hiding place. There was fresh water to drink and God command the ravens to deliver food for him to eat. Our great God used something unclean to provide for his prophet. God didn’t tell Elijah where he would be safe until he first delivered his message to King Ahab. God leads all his prophets one step at a time.
Dr. King was such. A modern day prophet of God. Like all the others He spoke the word of God to us, government officials and the church. He became a threat to the world’s systems as he suffered and was killed for righteousness sake. He declared that we shall overcome if we heeded to his message from God: “The judgment of God is upon us today. And we could go right down the line and see that something must be done—and something must be done quickly. Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne. Yet that scaffold sways the future. And behind the dim unknown stands God, within the shadow keeping watch above his own. Don’t judge by the color of a person’s skin, but rather by the content of their character.”
God placed His holy seed in everything He created. But Adam wanted to decide what was right for them. Afterwards, every human was born with the propensity to do evil until we are born again of the seed of Abraham [Jesus]. This empowers our soul to duplicate our Kinsman Redeemer. Mount up with wings as an eagle and soar to new heights.
We can tell who you are by who are you flocking with! Tweedle-dee.
