Over two weeks ago, as I write, my wife Paz and I had one of the pleasant surprises in our lives. It was something we never thought could happen up close, but it did — and it left us with a deeper appreciation of God’s wisdom in creating all things. In this article I’d like to share the joy and delight we experienced in confronting that wisdom. May the lessons learned from the experience prove inspiring and edifying to you who read this.
As Psalm 104:24 exults: “O LORD, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your possessions…” And Psalm 111:2 suggests: “The works of the LORD are great, studied by those who have pleasure in them.”
One day we discovered an intricately and neatly woven bird’s nest, of all places, in a clump of miniature bamboo in the tiny Japanese garden in our home in Angono, Rizal, Philippines. Soon after we did, a pair of fantails or wagtails hovered about us and chattered as if to say, “Hey, that’s our nest!”
Fantails or wagtails are scientifically classified as birds of the genus Motacilla. The particular species or variety (locally called Maria kapra) that frequents our yard has black, brown and white plumage with a yellow underside, a distinct black mask around its eyes, like that of some Pied Piper, and a thin, short crest on its head. The birds have a longish fan-like tail that they wag up and down or sideways, thus the name. For years now they have regaled us with their rather wide repertoire of pleasing, whistle-like songs especially in the morning.
As far as I know, most birds usually build their nest high up in some tree top or some nook in houses and buildings where they, their eggs and eventually their brood are safe from predators like cats, rats, snakes — and human beings, too! Thus it was a puzzle to me that the pair of wagtails would build their nest where they did — at about our eye-level — in our bamboo clump.
Perhaps it was because Paz and I had been away for a month visiting our twin daughters abroad who, one after the other, gave birth to their second babies. In the relative quiet, with virtually no human being to disturb them, the birds had built their nest in our absence. Before we discovered their nest, we had seen them darting back and forth into our garden. We had thought it was just their normal foraging behavior, until we came upon their nest.
A safe spot
Except for its vulnerability to human predators — which I believe my wife and I are not — the nest was quite safe from attacks by cats, rats and snakes. Some inscrutable wisdom must have guided the birds to find the right spot for their nest: in a cup formed by the branches of two bamboo stems, with other stems serving as some kind of fence, with thick enough foliage above as shade to keep the nest at the proper temperature and to protect it from rain. The thin bamboo stems are too slim for cats and rats to climb through, and the bushy branches present an obstacle to a smooth maneuver by would-be predators like snakes. And what marvelous wisdom has taught birds to weave their nests the way they do!
Our discovery of the nest could have discouraged the couple of birds from pursuing their plans to have a family in that spot. But apparently it didn’t. They already had their eggs in the nest. And could it be that the birds perhaps “trusted” us?
This kind of reminds us of Christ’s words: “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). Once we have started on something that’s really good, we need to do it to a finish! And we need to trust in God to help us do it. Those birds seem to have understood this much better than most human beings do!
An act of goodness
Is it possible that birds have some kind of “memory,” about past events in their lives, that shapes the way they react to certain circumstances? I’d like to believe that this may have been the case with those wagtails. Could, perhaps, some memory of a positive experience have been passed on from generation to generation?
Years ago, I chanced upon a fledgling wagtail that had just fallen from off its nest when a high wind blew among the trees in our neighborhood. Fortunately for the baby bird, it landed upon some grassy spot, where it gave out a peep. Left there, the bird would have been easy prey to cats, rats and dogs that roam our neighborhood. I caught the bird and placed it in a small cage, which I hung under the awning of our tool shed. Safe from predators, the bird was soon visited by its parents that came to feed it until it was big and strong enough to fly. That’s when I let it go.
Could it be that birds have better memories of their “benefactors” than human beings have of the greatest Benefactor of all — our Great God and Provider?
Time and time again, this was the problem which the children of Israel had with their LORD God. God did awesome wonders and miracles to get them out of Egypt and bring them to the Promised Land. [Interestingly, God compares His act here to an eagle teaching its young to fly (Exodus 19:4; Deuteronomy 32:11-12).] Psalm 78 and Psalm 106 give a splendid capsule history of the children of Israel having received God’s tremendous blessings and their soon forgetting God’s goodness toward them and their turning instead to idols. [See: God’s Kingdom and Israel.]
“They did not remember His power…” (Psalm 78:42). “They soon forgot His works; they did not wait for His counsel…They forgot God their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt, wondrous works in the land of Ham, awesome things by the Red Sea” (Psalm 106:13, 21).
The apostle Paul admonishes us: “And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same [evil things listed in Romans 1:28-31], that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance” (Romans 2:3-4)?
Paul told his audience at Athens, Greece: “Truly these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained [Jesus]…” (Acts 17:30-31).
Genuine repentance leads us to faith and trust in God whereby we order our lives according to His Word. But even repentance is something that God, by His divine will, grants to those He is calling to His divine purpose at this time (Acts 11:17-18; 2:38-39). [See: Predestination and The Divine Prerogatives.]
Like the wagtails in our yard, those who understand — and remember — the goodness of God will have a positive relationship with Him. They will trust Him.
Unfathomable wisdom
Paul also remarked: “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out” (Romans 11:33). One of these ways is how God ensures the survival and propagation of the races of His creation.
Take the case of the pair of wagtails in our yard. Surely one of the parent birds must have sat on the eggs during the night and the cold mornings. But in the heat of the day, we found that the birds left it to the sun to incubate their eggs.
One bright morning, while watering our bamboo clump, my wife unknowingly sprayed water on the nest. Soon one of the birds came to sit on the eggs, not caring that we were around watching. The bird seemed to have the sense to understand that the dousing brought down the temperature in the nest and, by some instinct (or wisdom?), it quickly sat on the nest to heat up the eggs!
What wisdom has instructed those birds to know the exact temperature needed to incubate their eggs properly? People in the hatchery business could not survive without their thermometers to tell them the right temperatures for incubation. What if their thermostats, which ensure a steady temperature, should fail? But these birds hack it without these gadgets!
Just a day after we discovered the birds’ nest with the eggs, they hatched! The three hatchlings were a totally helpless bunch. Without their parents feeding them they would not have survived. How very much like human babies!
Jesus remarked, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). Like totally dependent children, we need to trust in God for all our daily needs and — more importantly — our eternal salvation. As Jesus also said, “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). [See: God’s Spirit and Obedience and Saved for Good Works.]
Feeding the babies
For the next ten days, we saw the parent birds assiduously bringing in all manner of food to feed their hungry babies: worms, insects, flower petals, ripe chili peppers, various fruits (I placed some slices of ripe banana, papaya, mango and apple nearby to supplement the birds’ foraging), and what have you.
What wisdom God has placed in these birds so that they “know” by instinct what “balanced meals” to ensure the proper growth of their babies! Many human parents are clueless about what a “balanced meal” is or consists of that they should feed their babies.
On the tenth day from hatching, the baby birds had flown out of their nest! My wife and I agreed: how very much like our nest!
Some human parents, perhaps from a desire to hang on to their “babies,” keep their otherwise not helpless adult children in their “nest.” Who’s the wiser — these human parents or these parent birds?
For days after the baby birds had flown out of their nest, we saw them among the trees in our yard with their parents still feeding them while the young were still learning to find food themselves. Not counting the supplemental fruits we gave them, these birds didn’t seem to run out of food to feed themselves and their young!
Truly we see here, as it were, in “3-D” and “high definition” an actual example of what Jesus tells His people: “Therefore…do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink…Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? …Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’…For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things” (Matthew 6:25-26, 31-32).
Now, notice something that is in the nature of the “fine print” in a contract and thus is often missed or misunderstood as one of the terms of the contract: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Verse 33).
God’s “righteousness” is expressed in His law and commandments. Psalm 119:172 declares: “For all Your commandments are righteousness.” Deuteronomy 4:8 attests that all of God’s laws are righteous. Luke 1:6 says this about the priest Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth: “And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.”
Rich people who are awash in wealth but are not seeking God’s kingdom and righteousness first, live meaningless lives. Poor people who likewise do not seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness wallow in poverty often resulting in lives of sin and criminality.
Strange but true: birds and other creatures on our planet abide better with God’s law than human beings do! [See: A Law-Abiding Universe — But Man! The Flaming Sword East of Eden, and Moses and Jesus — Are they Contraries?]
Better providers
Because birds trust in God to provide them with their food, they are — in many ways — better providers for their young than are many human parents for their children. Paz and I could clearly see how the parent wagtails diligently fed their children until they could take wings. And while their fledglings were not savvy enough to find their own food, the parent birds strung them along in the meantime.
What wisdom God has placed in these birds! They could put to shame some, if not many, human parents! The apostle Paul had to rebuke some who were even already called Christians but who failed to provide for their own household. “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever [KJV: ‘infidel’ or heathen]” (1 Timothy 5:8).
Most heathen people (those who do not truly believe in Christ) have what seems to be a “natural” bent to provide well, if not the best, for their own family. This includes not only food but security as well. Many human parents, however, are eager to kick their no-longer-minor children out of the “nest” and leave them to fend for themselves without care as to whether they are able to fare well or not. Many parents now care only for themselves. They give no thought to God’s standard in Proverbs 13:22, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.”
Often in developing countries, some parents are either so lazy or so mired in some vice that they are unable to provide for their family. By force of necessity some children are driven at a tender age to become the family’s bread-winner. God’s wisdom tells us: “For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children” (2 Corinthians 12:14). Because of disability through a major ailment, some parents may not be able to fulfill this scripture. And in old age some parents may need help from their children. Paul says that to repay one’s parents in their affliction “is good and acceptable before God” (1 Timothy 5:4).
Perhaps in reaction to the charge against parents becoming “overprotective,” many have gone to the other extreme and have failed to give any protection to their children at all! Not so, those parent wagtails in our yard. Every time I came near their nest, they would hover around me and would chatter as if to say, “Hey, no trespassing!” One time I got too close to the nest with my camera while one or both of the parent birds saw me; I got a light peck at the back of my head from a protective bird!
True faith in God leads a man or woman to provide well for his own household — the necessities of life, including protection and security.
Planning ahead
While I was a college student I had a slogan posted on the wall in front of my dormitory desk. It went:
[PLAN A]
[ HEAD ]
Many young people now plunge into “unprotected” sex with the opposite sex without thinking about the consequences of such an act to their future. Many end up aborting pregnancies and thus committing murder of innocent lives, in the name of “personal choice” or “my body, my choice.” Others who do give birth to babies do so without proper preparation to provide for their young — financially, psychologically and spiritually. How can they when, as children-turned-parents in a hurry, they are young and immature themselves?
God’s wisdom tells us: “Prepare your outside work, make it fit for yourself in the field, and afterward build your house” (Proverbs 24:27). Young people are to prepare themselves to be fit to work in whatever field of their interest and competence before they think seriously about having a family.
That pair of fantails in our yard had built their beautiful nest before they mated and laid eggs to hatch! Why can’t many human beings be as wise as these birds? Whether rented, owned or used free, decent housing is a must for a robust and happy family.
“A house is not a home,” goes an old adage, which Burt Bacharach turned into a moving song decades ago. More than just a mere physical structure, a decent home is one where parents provide not only material support but especially emotional and spiritual support too (Ephesians 5:17-6:4; Colossians 3:18-21). All this certainly entails prior preparation and training in one’s home, church and school — proper planning ahead.
Paying their dues
In our yard are several guava trees, a “chico” (or sapodilla) tree, and a noni tree (locally called apatot). I’ve seen birds — wagtails certainly, besides many sparrows and a few finches — peck at the ripening fruits. They all seem to consume only a part of the fruits and leave the rest to human beings who may fancy the fruits too! Birds seem to understand better the principle of give-and-take than do many human beings who are out only to exploit and pillage — some even in the name of “Christianity.”
Besides benefiting from our fruit trees, birds in our yard also enjoy splashing themselves in a birdbath that I’ve hung and whose water I replace regularly. Birds certainly know how to pay back by giving us free entertainment: their vigorous bathing and shaking off water are such a delight to behold! And birds certainly know how to rid our trees and other plants of harmful insects. They also “pay their dues” by dropping their “fertilizer” on the plants. Not to forget: their musical chirps, warbles and whistles as they fly in the air or flit from tree to tree sooth the nerves of man.
The whole setup is beneficial to both man and birds — especially the birds.
The wisdom of God tells us: “Honor the LORD with your possessions [KJV: “substance”], and with the firstfruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine” (Proverbs 3:9-10).
Because most people would rather honor themselves than God, they withhold from God what is His due. The prophet Malachi had, long ago, spoken about this human frailty:
“Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes [10% of one’s increase] into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house [the temple in old Jerusalem or the Church of God], and try Me now in this,” says the LORD of hoses, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor will the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” says the LORD of hosts, “And all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,” says the LORD of hosts. (Malachi 3:8-12.)
Unlike birds that know how to pay their dues to whoever tends their environment, most men fail to recognize the Provider of all things and to offer Him the dues He claims for Himself. Not that He needs anything, but this is His way to bless people. [See: The New Testament Teaching on Giving.]
Learning from birds
From the dim past, men have had all sorts of dreams about being able to fly like birds. God created birds using such features as light skeletal frames, aerodynamic (or streamlined) bodies, wings to create lift, etc. We can understand these principles to show us human beings how we can rise and soar above our earth-bound, sinful humanity — thanks to the science and technology of aeronautics.
One of God’s promises to those who have true faith in our Creator is found in Isaiah 40:31 — “But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
While this promise refers mainly to the glorious state of the children of God when resurrected to immortality, beginning at Christ’s return (1 Corinthians 15:50-55, etc.), the principle can apply to our overcoming sin and our sinful nature in this present life, with the help of God’s Holy Spirit of power. [See: The Higher Law of the Spirit and Breaking Down our “Walls of Jericho.”]
I am sure there are other mighty lessons that we can learn from birds. I trust that the few I’ve shown here help us to draw closer to God and trust Him more for everything we need — especially everlasting life!
Pedro R. Meléndez, Jr.
070315/1300615