Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that He may have mercy on them, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:6-11).

Last week I had a great time in Palm Desert CA with my brother and sister-in-law, Jim and Bev.  Got to spend an entire day at the wonderful Living Desert there.  I have a camera that takes both stills and video, and when I was told where a hummingbird nest was, I found myself spending a half hour or so shooting in both formats.  When we have the capacity to put up video here, I’ll download some fun clips.

Our family lived in Southern California several years ago, and last week’s encounter with a nesting hummingbird reminded me of the enjoyment we found in feeding the beautiful little creatures. We’d typically draw six different species of hummingbirds to our feeders: Anna’s, Allen’s, Costa’s, Rufous, Calliope, and Black-chinned.  And they were royal entertainment.

In order to be generous, we hung two feeders on the opposite sides of a long patio overhang.  That’s when we discovered the ungenerous nature of these delicate creatures: they don’t like to share if they can help it.  I guess it’s in the genes that when hummers discover a source of food, they stake their claim to it and then spend hours every day chasing away other birds—even, or maybe especially, “birds of a feather.”  Some tried to claim both feeders and raced back and forth each chasing off the “owner” of the other.  We would spend much leisure time watching these wars—often commenting that they would not have to take in so much nectar if they learned to live at peace with each other. [See a YouTube clip of such a fight here]

I was surprised one day when I was taking down a feeder to refill it.  One of the brazen little birds came and hovered up to within six inches of my nose, seeming to say “take your hands off my food, buster!”  I could have easily snuffed out its haughty little life but instead laughed at its audacity.

Then I realized how much this was like people getting into the face of God, angry at being deprived of that they consider theirs—not seeming to have a clue that without God they would have nothing.  That the bird didn’t understand that its temporary loss would ultimately be its gain is also like people and God.  Isn’t it a wonder also that God tolerates our pride and audacity?

Our heavenly Father often takes things away from us in order to give us more—or perhaps end a dependency that’s ultimately harmful for us.  Maybe it’s His way of moving us on to some other area of service.  One thing is sure: we can trust our loving Father to do what is right, even if we don’t understand the way He takes.  It is good to be reminded of this by reading again the words of the prophet Isaiah above.