The Farmer and the Nest

The Farmer and the Nest

A farmer watched a bird building her nest in a heap of branches pruned from the apple tree beside the farmhouse. All day long the bird toiled; in the evening the farmer destroyed the work she had done - scattering the tiny twigs about and trampling them beneath his feet. The next day the bird, undaunted, began her building once again. Again at evening time her work was destroyed. Judged by the feeble standards of the bird, ignorant of all beyond the cycle of her instincts, the man was cruel and not to be called good. The third day she began her nest once more, but this time in the rose bush beside the kitchen door. In the evening the farmer smiled upon the bird and her work remained. Day after day she continued her cyclic round; the nest was completed; the eggs were laid and warmed beneath her bosom. But long before the time for hatching, the pile of branches from which she had been driven had been removed. Had the farseeing farmer allowed the bird to have her way, all of her nest, her little ones, and her hopes for the season would have been destroyed. She did not see beyond one summer; he saw the end from the beginning.

So our God knows the end from the beginning, and the true believer who has submitted himself to God in Christ has received a new set of senses by which he learns to trust God in all things, even those which he cannot understand. The Lord Jesus said to His disciples, "...What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter" (John 13:7). The simple child of God has learned this lesson well and goes on in confident trust in Him who worketh all things after the council of His own will.

“I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things not done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.’” (Isa.46:9,10)

1. How many times has God destroyed your “nest” before you sought His counsel?

2. What hope does this verse give us when we look at our ruined nests?

3. Read 1 Peter 4:11. How does this verse prevent multiple “nests destructions”?

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