A Swift Lesson From The Sermon

November 2010 – Grace & Truth Magazine

A “Swift” Lesson From The Sermon

“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” – Matthew 6:26 NIV

On leaving the gospel meeting on the first night of a Bible Conference at a small college in western Pennsylvania, my wife and I saw what appeared to be hundreds of bats swooping into the covered chimney of a building with three chimneys. Each night during the week, this fascinating scene drew a crowd that speculated on whether they were bats or birds, why they were going only into that particular chimney, and why they were all entering it from the same side.

On returning home, I described this scene to a bird-watcher friend. After a few questions, she said they were not bats. Bats would leave the chimney at night rather than enter it, because they are busy at night feeding on flying insects, like mosquitoes. Instead, they were a flock of swifts using this large chimney as a resting place on their migratory path to Central America.

Why were these swifts all entering that chimney? God has given them feet to cling to the bricks inside this chimney and comfortably sleep there all night. Why were they entering in line from one side? Because God also provides them with an instinct to avoid traffic jams on entering, and then to perch themselves in orderly rows from bottom up. Why not use all three chimneys? The cap on that chimney kept the swifts dry on the nights that it rained that week.

Think how much God cares for the swifts! Do you realize how much more He cares for you? "Look at the birds ... Are you not much more valuable than they?"

We hope this month's Feature articles change the way you look at God, yourself and those around you.

By Larry Ondrejack