We have been studying Deuteronomy, Chapter 22 and we come to verse 6:
(Deuteronomy 6:22) If you come across a bird’s nest beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young. 7 You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.
This just seems like natural common sense to me; and I had to wonder why it was given such detail and written down in the scriptures with the laws and statutes.
It seems to have the intention of teaching humanity compassion and pity. What is good for a little bird would surely apply to the care of humanity too. Are humans not greater in the eyes of God than animals? Yes; a man is much more valuable to God than a bird; yet God cares carefully over the birds. Will He not do the same for us; and should we not follow the same example in caring for one another?
I have always heard that if a man kicks his dog when no one is looking; he would also be harsh and cruel to another human when no one is looking.
Let’s ponder Luke 12: 6 a bit:
(Luke 12:6) Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
God constantly tends to the needs of mankind; even when it is unnoticed and unappreciated. He provides our daily bread; our food; both spiritually and physically. If you are hungry and you are hunting for food and you come upon a bird’s nest; just take the eggs! Let the Mother go.
Why?
Because the mother bird is already productive. She will go out and reproduce again and again. There will be more eggs; but if something happens to her; they will no longer be available.
The Creator of all things, Who made the cycle of life and put it all into motion is explaining to us how the universe works. Sometimes just reading the simplest scriptures is like having a scientific conversation with someone smarter than Einstein!
God knows how EVERYTHING works.
Here he is also forbidding cruelty. Every creature on earth deserves the proper respect. The birds are part of the providence of God to mankind. We must respect this fact and not take advantage of it.
Let’s think further and try to apply this to our world view. If God detests cruelty to little birds; how much more would he detest cruelty done to mankind, the ones made according to his own image?
Yet all we have to do is turn on the news to see the cruelty that mankind has done to their brothers. One present example would be the harm done to the immigrants who are being detained in Texas that have crossed the Mexican border looking for a new life. They came in faith and hope; but they found false promises. The people desiring to win an election by playing on the plight of human emotion made rash promises that they could not keep. They never once thought enough of the poor people who trusted them enough to take them at their word and act upon their rash promises. I think God would be very angry to see this.
Are those little children living in cages, being sent across the border to struggle on their own not worth so much more in value than a tiny little bird? If God has his eye on every sparrow; do you not know that God is watching this atrocity and judging the people who caused it?
It is the little things that amount to the big things in the end.
We must show compassion and be humane; or we are not truly children of God. The selfish, careless sins of mankind pile up on the earth and start to stink. The things that are going on all over the globe similar to this situation are nothing but stench in the nostrils of God. The smell will rise up to the Heavens and we will be corrected just as the corrections came to Sodom and Gomorrah.
When God said to show compassion for humanity, even to the point of not harming a little bird; He meant it.
What are we going to do about it?