By Rhonda Stinson
If you keep up to date on reading these blogs then you might remember the post I wrote called, “Life Is Precious.” In it, I mentioned the baby chicks that hatched in my incubator. Well, those tiny little fluff balls are now quite large! They all have names based upon either personality or appearance. Hercules got his name because he’s a gorgeous, yet monstrous rooster, a power-house. The Three Amigos are the three that I bought before hatching my own. Big Red, Raven, and Pepper are inseparable.
My dog killed one of the chickens on July 4th. The following week another chick, Chicken Doodle, ended up wounded. She was in the enclosure and wouldn’t stand up. I picked her up, and she was ripped from her stomach to her wing. It was a horrible open wound. I called my dad to come look at her. We brainstormed a while trying to figure out what happened.
It didn’t look like the type of wound made by a predator. Finally, we decided that she attempted to fly out of the enclosure and got caught in the barbed wire. I had put a strand of wire around the top of the poultry fencing as a line of defense against predators. The wire that was meant to protect them ended up being a snare.
Does it seem as if God has too many rules and regulations? Do His commandments make you feel like a prisoner caged behind a barbed wire fence?
God wants you to be as free as a bird. He wants to give you wings to fly. He has put boundaries in place so that you have security from predators. It is easy to look at God’s commands as barbed wire keeping you from experiencing all the wonders in the world, but actually, they are the complete opposite.
For example, throughout the Old Testament God instructed the Israelites not to intermarry with people from other nations. Why? God knew that these foreign women would persuade Israelite men to worship their gods (idols).
“And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same” (Exodus 34:16).
In today’s society, we see an increase in relationships which go against God’s design for the family. God has laid out specific instructions in His Word about marriage. And if you are not married, God has specific instructions on how to lead a godly life being single. There are consequences to acting in disobedience.
If you peek into a family where a child is undisciplined by the parents, you will see problems. Putting rules in place is like putting a protective hedge around them. They can freely do those things which are beneficial and prosperous while at the same time feeling loved and protected. A child without discipline will be confused. They might feel unloved because they aren’t given boundaries. They might do crazy things in order to get the attention they need.
Spending time in God’s Word and in prayer helps us understand exactly who He is and, in turn, discover more about ourselves. We will understand more clearly why God has rules for living. His desire is to give us an abundant life, not a limited life. When we begin to walk in His ways, we will experience more freedom than ever before.
“Chicken Doodle” is on the mend. She is able to walk with a limp and can even flap her wings again. She jumped out of the cage on her own last week and was able to jump in the cage and up onto the perch today! God doesn’t desire to see us wounded from disobedience. He will remain with us and treat us with TLC (tender loving care) the moment we repent and turn to Him for healing.
“For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord” (Jeremiah 30:17a).
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