Covered

He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; 

his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. (Psalm 91:4) 

A fledgling was stuck in our driveway next to the drainpipe that would soon be gushing water from the steady rain that had begun late that Saturday afternoon.

Earlier that day I heard the mother and father squawking at their little one who had gotten itself into a less than ideal spot. Down in our driveway the poor little guy was not able to rise above the four-foot wall that had him trapped and I wasn’t sure what to do.

How long he had been stuck there? Was he injured?  What if a neighborhood cat stalked by and was looking for some easy pickings’?  Should I intervene? Pick up the poor thing, lift him over the wall and place him in the soft grass?  I stood there close to him trying to decide.   If I touched him would his parents disown him? (This is what my mom always told us.)  What if I wore gloves and then gathered him up?  Would he smell like the earth I’d been digging in instead of my own human scent and then he’d be welcomed back into the family?

The concern soon got the best of me. I was going to pick him up with my garden gloves, but then I got a check in my spirit. "Leave him alone," is what I thought I heard in my spirit.

God had been speaking to me recently about letting Him take control of my own “baby”(who is now a full grown adult!) – and I was struggling.  I wanted to intervene, to steer him in the right direction, to pick him up and put him in a place where the grass is soft and he would be safe.

As the rain got harder the mother flew down and nudged the little one to higher ground above the drainpipe.  She was sitting part way on him guarding against him being carried away.  The downpour continued and though the drainpipe was gushing water, the birds were safe.  I didn’t need to intervene after all!  The situation was under control.  Ok Lord I hear you. You’ve got everything under control.

God spoke to me a third time at church that Sunday through Pastor Bob’s sermon. Don’t you love how God is so faithful to continue to speak to us even though we are so slow to learn?  I felt like God said to me: "Just like the little bird the other day, you don’t need to do anything; I’ve got this covered- quit interfering."

Had I been interfering with God’s plan for my son, playing the Holy Spirit?

As I saw the little bird looking helpless it was hard for me to resist the urge to help him out of his mess.  There are times when I should help my children out, but there are other times, when even though the situation looks bad, if the Holy Spirit prompts me to stay back and don’t intervene, I need to obey.

Just as Pastor Bob preached, I need to remember that:

God has a plan for my child

I am not God

Don’t play the Holy Spirit

God has no grandchildren*

Each of us needs to decide on our own whether to accept God’s gift of sonship.   As much as we want that for our children (and God desires it even more), we cannot make that choice for them.  We need to daily release our children to God so that He can be the one who swoops down and covers them with His wings. God’s got it covered.

The little bird eventually flew up on the car, then all the way over the wall into the soft grass – safe.

Mom and baby

Fledgling

*http://mag.sermon.net/mc/main/main/20408948#.VWxxwVEuP9g.facebook