A Crow of a Different Kind
After last week's episode about the crows, you'd think that'd be enough of the animals on Ol'
McCasada's farm. Truth is, we've got an unofficial menagerie out here. There are bunnies and
squirrels, the occasional deer who wanders across the lawn and munches on the apples, and my
sister had an all-out battle with a family of racoons who were wreaking havoc on her chickens.
She went into full princess warrior mode and won in a battle with them using only her anger
and a pitchfork to bring them down. You don't mess with a woman and her chickens. She
eventually sold what was left of her flock, and the few we had were decimated by-coyotes?
Possoms? Dogs? We don't know. Gone the way of the dodo for us, and we never replaced
them.
So imagine my surprise when I was awakened by the sounds of a rooster crowing in my back
yard. What? There haven't been any chickens here in years! All kinda other fowl, as you know,
but none of the tame variety. I went out to water the flowers on my porch and there he was, this
beautiful black and white speckled rooster, full of tail feathers and a high red comb, but not
strutting like the roosters I've known in the past. This bird had been traumatized. He was
skittish and peckish acting, on his own, clearly a runaway...we didn't know of any neighbors
who had chickens, and I quipped that he'd been dropped off by some sorry-no-good bird-man
who just didn't want the responsibility anymore. Anyone who lives in the country has seen dogs
and cats abandoned in just such a way. Terrible!!
He disappeared for a while, and later that afternoon we found him hidden in the low hanging
branches of our Norway spruce. It had gotten in the low-90's that day, hot and humid, and as
we watched him, it occurred to me that he hadn't been fed or given water all day. He'd been too
scared to go beyond the boundaries of our driveway or the back porch. I threw out some salad
scraps, grabbed a bowl and filled it with water, and took it out to the center of the area he'd
been tentatively meandering.
He eased up to the water, dipped his beak in it, and he tilted his head back to let the liquid slide
down his throat. And then he did it again, and again, and again. We watched him drink like that
for 10 or 15 minutes, clearly parched, clearly relieved to have his thirst quenched by the life-
giving water. My heart melted! When was the last time I was that thirsty?
My mind immediately went to Home Alone, when Kevin asks the Wet Bandits, "You guys give
up, or are you thirsty for more?" Seems like we are always thirsty for more. Not for nothing the
Rolling Stones sang "can't get no satisfaction." We are always wanting more. More time. More
money. More success, more recognition, more love, more attention, more food, more water.
More NCIS with Leroy Jethro Gibbs... In a land of milk and honey, we are always thirsty for
more.
Solomon wrote,
3 What do people get for all their hard work under the sun? 4 Generations come and generations
go, but the earth never changes. 5 The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise
again. 6 The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in
circles. 7 Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the
rivers and flows out again to the sea. 8 Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter
how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.
(Ecclesiastes 1:3-8 NLT)
The story was old when Solomon told it! The Israelites had no sooner left Egypt that they came
to the Desert of Shur. "For three days, they traveled in the desert without finding water. When
they came to the oasis of Marah, they could not drink the water because it was bitter." (Exodus
15:22-23). The people complained and God showed Moses a piece of wood which he threw into
the water, and it became good to drink.
A few weeks later, and the people were longing for the good ol' days of Egypt-you know,
when they were enslaved and Pharoah fed them leeks and cucumbers while their overseers
whipped them as they made bricks of straw and mud-and God gave them manna and quail,
fresh every morning and twice on Saturday. When they came to the Desert of Zin and again
faced no water, they confronted-translation: complained bitterly against-Moses with their
thirst, and God brought water out of the rock.
Several centuries later, Jesus is in Galilee for the Feast of the Tabernacles, the annual
remembrance of God's deliverance of His people from bondage in Egypt. John records that "On
the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "Let anyone who is
thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living
water will flow from within them." (John 7:37-38)
As I watched the poor bedraggled rooster drink deeply from the water, I realized my thirst is
unquenchable because I am thirsty for things that do not satisfy. How easy it is to get busy with
the machinations of life... earning a living, going about your business, doing the things we do
that fill our time and our mind. In an era of unprecedented busyness and anxiety, we are
drinking from wells that are bitter water. They cannot satisfy. Solomon's description of the
hamster wheel of life rings truer than ever.
Jesus told the Woman at the well, "Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst."
How do we drink, practically, from the well that is Jesus?
David found three things that brought satisfaction: Seeking Him, Praising Him, and Meditating
on Him. Listen to the psalm of David when he was in the Desert of Judah:
O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you.
My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you
in this parched and weary land where there is no water.
2 I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory.
3 Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you!
4 I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer.
5 You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy.
6 I lie awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night.
7 Because you are my helper, I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings.
8 I cling to you; your strong right hand holds me securely.
9 But those plotting to destroy me will come to ruin. They will go down into the depths of the
earth.
10 They will die by the sword and become the food of jackals.
11 But the king will rejoice in God. All who swear to tell the truth will praise him, while liars
will be silenced.
How are you seeking Him in the midst of the busyness of life?
Are you praising Him, seeing His power and glory at work in you?
Do you meditate on Him, dedicating precious time to the pursuit of knowing Jesus better.
When I do these things, I find that my discontent, my longing for better days, my thirst for
temporary pleasures is eclipsed by the joy of knowing and being fully known by my Creator
and Savior. As the deer pants for the water, Lord, my soul thirsts for You.
Have you had enough? Or are your thirsty for more. "Come drink," Jesus says, "My well never
runs dry."
Father,
In a dry and parched land, remind me to drink deeply of You. You told us to occupy til You
come... and so we do the work You've called us to do. We function in the world's economy,
knowing that Your economy is better. Remind us to sow to things eternal, so that we reap a
reward that does not fade or tarnish, or get eaten by the moths of discontent and dissatisfaction.
Father, I will seek you in Your word and in the character and nature of Jesus as He dwells in me
through Your Spirit. I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, and You do all
things well. I will glorify your Name, and meditate on You day and night. Oh Lord, make it so.
I surrender to You; satisfy the deep longing in my soul so I thirst no more.
In Jesus's name, Amen
