Avian flu, locally known as fowl plague, hit our region. We kept flocks of chicken and few ducks with us, to meet our extra demand of protein for hard-working people, and as a hobby.
It’s our duty to keep them safe, as an obligated owner and protector. So, we made hand-woven cage from bamboos to transport them into a safe place since some part of the nearby hamlet witnessed dying chickens. We do not want them to simply perish.
The news spread like wild-fire; so we act faster. Putting them in the cage, we carry them on our very shoulder as we climbed the higher mountains where the avian flu, spreading with the lower breeze, was unable to harm them.
I can still remember carrying the very load of chicken as we try to keep them safe on the higher altitude. As according to the elders, this particular avian flu traveled with low altitude breeze for sometime in some part of the low lying area during the particular year. We did not leave them alone since we brought all our daily necessities with us, for some more time if needed.
With a muzzle loaded gun, we watched the flocks of chicken, in the hut built on top of the hill, to keep them safe from probable attacks of foxes and hungry vixen. When it’s time for feeding, we fed them with corns that we brought along. At the same time, we never kept them thirsty either.
These are the privileges enjoyed by our chickens as they have proper owner, here it’s us, as we cannot provide a safe place for all the chickens we saw roaming. Further, some unattended chickens are more likely to bring the flu along with them should we accommodated them in the middle of the epidemic.
When the news of the flu leaving our residential areas was heard, we once again loaded the flocks in the cage and brought back home to release in their original surroundings. They thrived well soon enough in the place they frequented with.
It was a great joy to see them renewed their life, free from the life threatening flu, which once swept the region. At the same time, it’d be a great loss on our part should we simply left them unattended to suffer from the prevailing threats of life.
It is noteworthy here that these flock of chickens cannot fly, but we walked them, carry them to a safe place, at least for a while; where they remain safe. We are proud owner, doing good things for them, in the least.
We cannot keep the spreading flu at bay, at least for a while, but we make arrangements for our valued avian friends as we are their Owner.
A Safe Place:
Many times in our life, especially in our sufferings, we asked God take away our pain. But God did not act at all, or we are unable to see His work, yet He kept us in a safer place (Read Psalms 91). In His abiding grace, I’m rested in His safe place, when I needed rest!
It, really, is a great privilege for me and you to enjoy, through the blood of Christ, dwelling in the secret place of the Most High; abiding under the shadow of the Almighty. I am more than grateful I’d accepted Him as the Owner of my Soul!
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in Him, I will trust. He will cover us under his feathers. He shall give charge the angels over us; to keep us in all our ways. He made us to fly in a safer place; communing and spending time with Him.
Being our owner, our God did what is good for us. In our selfishness, we wanted Him to take away our pain and sufferings but sometimes He chose to spend time with us, in the midst of our pain and helplessness. And when our strength’s restored at the required level, He brought us back to live a life we once led whether it might be tough in the very beginning.
Our sufferings and pains do not consumed us but could make our living hard at some level. The Lord will hide our spirit in His secret place and restore us in His time should we put our faith in Him; in stronger terms, per His purpose.
Dwelling in the Strong Tower:
“The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the Righteous run into it and are safe,” Proverbs 18:10 stated. In the blood of Christ, I can now dwell in the Strong Tower should I abide in Him.
I know that I’m no righteous to have the privileged of running towards Him before, but I can now run to Him, made righteous in the blood of Christ, and be safe! The Psalmist also wrote: For You have been a shelter for me, a strong tower from the enemy….. I will trust in the shelter of Your wings! (Psalms 61)
In my sufferings, there are times I almost lost hope; crushed in my thoughts as I saw no way out or I wanted an end to my pain, for my family’s sake. But He whispers to me, keeping me, as I ran towards the Strong Tower of Hope.
He even let me dwell to my heart’s content in His abiding grace. Like a helpless flocks of chicken to make them dwell on the top of the hill so that they are safe.
“Because you have made the Lord, the Most High, your dwelling place. No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling.” (Psalms 91:9,-10) The Lord is good and His words are abiding!
Abiding in Him:
In the John 14-17, Jesus asked His disciples to abide in Him, so that He will abide in them too. It is important that we wanted to dwell in His words.
By dwelling in His words, we connected with Him. In the process, we are dwelling on His teachings. By dwelling in His teachings, we are dwelling in the Strong Tower, which is and set up for us.
There will be times the world would not liked us, as we do not belong to the world, but by dwelling under the shadow of the Most High, He will keep us safe in His abiding grace.
The strong tower is the tower of comfort, hope, and safety even though we’re still living here on earth. It is not the withering away of earthly desires and sufferings but a shelter in times of need, for those who run to Him.
Our loving father, God, do not wants us to perished, in the storms of life, but have eternal life. The work of evil defeated; so we have hope that our sufferings won’t lasts forever. A new day’s on the horizon. (John 3:16)
In the midst of the storm, we can meet Him in the secret place of the Most High, as we are granted access in the blood of Christ; no more or extra offerings needed for accessibility since the Spirit abides in us.
When my problems took over, it is for me to see the goodness of God and what’s in store for me, although my heart tarried and memories could skipped a day or two. In my helplessness, the Lord saves!
In Your Wings:
Cover me in your feathers,
Fly me; above the storms of life.
In your secret place, rest me.
Let’s commune with thee.
Under the shadow of your wings,
I will abide in you.
Lead me to the Rock;
Higher than I ever could be.
Open my wings; let’s flap as an entity.
Shelter my weary body,
Until it gets restored.
I run unto you; keep me safe.
I need you everyday.
You, who have wings,
When in need, You made me fly.
Hide me from threatening plague
I’ll perish no more;
I’m glad you found me, Most High.
You are my refuge.
I really like the way you tied the chicken story into Psalm 91. What an amazing and true revelation!!! This blogpost really spoke to me. Thank you for sharing.
First, thank you reading. It applies to me well, so I wanted to share it that way, if you read my preceding post you will know how it really means to me.