July 12

Under His Wings

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling." Matthew 23:37

I heard a story the other day that really moved me. A farmer's barn burned to the ground. When the farmer was walking through the rubble, he came upon a charred hen with her wings outstretched. He thought it an odd position for a bird to die in, almost as if she had surrendered to the flames. It was then that he saw her wing move. When he lifted the charred wing, he saw four baby chicks still alive underneath that wing, saved by their mother's sacrifice. A mother's love led to her sacrificial death so she could save her babies. Jesus' love did the same for the entire world of mankind. Even though Israel rejected him and would not allow him to love and nurture them, he stretched out his arms and died for them in the same way that this mother hen had died for her chicks. The mother hen could have saved herself from the flames at the expense of her children, and so, too, Jesus could have run from the cross at the expense of the world. How thankful I am that he did not do that! It saddens me to think that my sins put Jesus on that cross, but how grateful I am that it was his love for me that kept him there that I might have life!

Father, thank you for giving us your Son. Thank you for making him the wonderful savior that he is. We know that it was your example of sacrifice and love that he followed and we thank you for that. We praise you, Lord Jesus, for your act of love for all mankind. How hard it must have been to feel rejection from the ones you came to save! Thank you for stretching forth your arms in death that we might live. Amen