The prayer of the chicken hawk does not get him the chicken.
~~~~~~~~~ Old Swahili proverb (supposedly)
I'm reminded of the little boy who wants a new bicycle, so he starts praying for one. His friends at school make fun of him, and tell him his plan will never work. This goes on for weeks. No bicycle. Then one day he shows up at school with a new bike. His friends are amazed that his prayers had actually been answered, but the boy explained "I figured out that this is not how it works, so I stole the bike and now I pray for forgiveness."
None of us would advocate theft as a way of getting what we want, but there is a lesson here. I've never seen a chicken hawk in action, but I have seen an osprey dive into the water and come out with a fish, the whole sequence of events taking no more than maybe 2-3 seconds. It is impressive. There's no good reason to suspect that these birds of prey are also birds of pray. They just know instinctively that their methods will work. Fold those wings back, plummet down out of the sky, hit the brakes, and it's dinner time.
What about us? Why do we pray? Are we realistic in our prayer time? Like the little boy, do we pray for a new car to show up in our driveway? James tells us that "the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much." Not ALL, but MUCH. Even if the chicken hawk does pray (what if the chicken is also praying at the same time to be spared?), he still knows that he has to get to work. Like Goose told Maverick (IIRC), "Time to do some of that pilot s**t." First we pray, then like the hawk, it's time to fold those wings back and go get dinner.
Pray not for an easy life, but instead for the strength and resolve to endure the difficulties life presents. We will likely have more prayer discussion in the days to come. Stay tuned.
Blessings all,
NT
James 5: 13-17
In loving memory of Allen Jones, whose prayer time was robust.
~~~~~~~~~ Old Swahili proverb (supposedly)
I'm reminded of the little boy who wants a new bicycle, so he starts praying for one. His friends at school make fun of him, and tell him his plan will never work. This goes on for weeks. No bicycle. Then one day he shows up at school with a new bike. His friends are amazed that his prayers had actually been answered, but the boy explained "I figured out that this is not how it works, so I stole the bike and now I pray for forgiveness."
None of us would advocate theft as a way of getting what we want, but there is a lesson here. I've never seen a chicken hawk in action, but I have seen an osprey dive into the water and come out with a fish, the whole sequence of events taking no more than maybe 2-3 seconds. It is impressive. There's no good reason to suspect that these birds of prey are also birds of pray. They just know instinctively that their methods will work. Fold those wings back, plummet down out of the sky, hit the brakes, and it's dinner time.
What about us? Why do we pray? Are we realistic in our prayer time? Like the little boy, do we pray for a new car to show up in our driveway? James tells us that "the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much." Not ALL, but MUCH. Even if the chicken hawk does pray (what if the chicken is also praying at the same time to be spared?), he still knows that he has to get to work. Like Goose told Maverick (IIRC), "Time to do some of that pilot s**t." First we pray, then like the hawk, it's time to fold those wings back and go get dinner.
Pray not for an easy life, but instead for the strength and resolve to endure the difficulties life presents. We will likely have more prayer discussion in the days to come. Stay tuned.
Blessings all,
NT
James 5: 13-17
In loving memory of Allen Jones, whose prayer time was robust.
