Birds, Blueberries, and Prayer

God will often use small, seemingly insignificant things in my life to teach me important spiritual truths, or to remind me to apply truths that He has taught me in the past.  Who would have thought that He would use birds and blueberries to teach me about prayer?  Let me explain.

At our previous home, my wife and I built a large netted cage over our 3 blueberry bushes in our back yard, to keep the birds from eating the blueberries.  Unfortunately, one season birds began finding a way to get into the cage.  I found and fixed a few holes, but the birds continued to find a way in.  I prayed and asked God to help me find their entry point.  But the birds continued to get in.

My wife then asked me, “But did you pray out loud?”  And I realized that I had only prayed silently.  God was using my wife to remind me of what He had taught us about audibly lifting our needs in prayer to Him:

(Jeremiah 33:3 NASB) 'Call [H7121] to Me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.' 

(Psalm 50:15 NASB) And call upon [H7121] Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me." 

(Psalm 18:6 NASB) In my distress I called upon [H7121] the LORD, And cried to my God for help; He heard my voice out of His temple, And my cry for help before Him came into His ears. 

H7121 (kaw-raw’, Hebrew) -- to call out to (i.e. by name).  It comes from a root word that incorporates the idea of accosting a person.  (Strong’s Hebrew Lexicon)  (My application:  In other words, not a feeble utterance, but a heartfelt and earnest plea.)

So, I prayed out loud, and I found a few more holes and mended them.  The next day, another bird!  This time, I entered the cage and prayed out loud again, and then I remembered another truth that God had taught us about stopping and listening for His answer:

(Psalm 37:7a ESV) Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; 

(My application: Being still and waiting patiently before the Lord is so important.  We can’t hear Him if we are distracted by the busyness, temptations, and demands of the world.)

(Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 ESV) Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.  

(My application: This seems to me to be a clear statement about how and why we should pray.  We should not monopolize the prayer time with our own words, but also provide time to listen to God speak to us.)

So, I waited and listened for God to answer.  Then a thought came to me:  “Lay down on the ground in the cage.”  It seemed like a random thought at first, and I almost dismissed it.  But the thought persisted, and I realized that it was a nudge from the Holy Spirit, so I laid down on the ground and looked up at the cage netting.  From that angle, as I looked at the back wall of the cage against the background of the sky, I saw for the first time the holes that the birds were using to get in!  I mended these holes, and the birds did not return.

The lessons on prayer from the birds and the blueberry bushes?

O God, thank You that You never give up on me.  When I am not applying spiritual truths to my life, You are kind to use things from everyday life to gently and persistently guide me to the proper application of those truths.  Thank You for using birds in our blueberry cage to remind me to pray out loud, and wait and listen for Your answer.  May this pattern of audibly praying and then listening for Your answer become my way of life, as I learn to walk closer to You each day!

Today, I encourage you to "Reflect on This."