Last night myself and my daughter watched Paul Ogrady’s documentary about animal orphans . Here, animals who have been abandoned in the wild are rescued and then nurtured back to life so that they can then be returned to their habitat.
There were interesting accounts about abandoned baby elephants and a group of lion siblings.
What however caught me and my daughters oeye was a group of penguins.
Amongst this group one of the penguins appeared to be walking around in circles. He was also being bullied by the other penguins. When the vet examined him closer it was clear that the penguin had lost its sight , either through trauma, disease or genetic malfunctioning.
The tragedy was that the vet did not think there was anything that could be done, apart from the penguin being put to sleep.
To return him to the pen would be cruel as he would continue to be pecked to death and he would never survive in the wild.
As my daughter and I watched and listened, we were saddened by the penguin’s plight and we spent some time discussing what the options could have been. We both had differing views.
As I woke the next day, the Lord showed me a couple of things from this and for us as humans. I write as an evangelist and soul winner.
The Holy Spirit would want us to understand the importance of the gift of sight and the importance of seeing.
There is a seeing and a seeing ie people can be physically blind, as well as spiritually blind.
Some levels of physical blindness , can be rectified by aids or adaptions such as glasses or even an operation , but the spiritual blindness is dependent on He who is the Light coming in and dispelling the darkness.
The Lord showed me the analogy of people walking around in darkness also searching for the light . He said they are like the little penguin going round and round, sensing, seeking but not finding it.
We have a role to play as Christian as leaders in directing people to the light who is Jesus. Jesus is the light of the world and he wants all of us to be partakers of the light and come out of darkness. God sent his son , Jesus to earth to go the way of the cross to bring back the light because when Adam and Eve sinned darkness came into the world.
As ambassadors for Christ we become little lights if you like, the light of the world and we need to let that light shine, rather than putting it under a bushel.
Light is important without it we would become depressed, diseased and deficient. Our quest as evangelists or as people of God is to help people to see.
Seeing is incremental and so it is with the process of the new birth.
When we are little babies, we see differently until the shapes become more clear and distinct and more latterly we can put a name to what we see.
As Christian men and women of God, not only are we to help people to see, but we need to ask the Lord to help us see clearer.
There was a time in the book of Job and Isaiah where these men of God spoke about the tragedy of people groping about in the darkness when light was available and trying to break through. We are our own worst enemies when we refuse to move forward to the light. We will be judged if we block and prevent others from coming to the light.
Job admonished that ‘affliction does not come out of the dust neither does trouble spring out of the ground, but because of sin nature, it is in man to do wickedness’ and we need a savior.
If we ask for light and revelation , He will give it.
The Bible says, our Lord saves the poor from the sword and from the hand of those mightier than he, we trust him in this.
The little penguin was being pecked to death because he couldn’t see or defend himself – he would bump into things and fall over. What a miserable situation it was. He was eventually put to sleep which was considered the greater kindness.
Thanks be to God, He has shone his light though Jesus Christ on our dark and dreary world and on our dark understanding. We are not men that sleep but we are alive to righteousness. If we want to see and much more clearer , we only need to ask and he will answer.
Sometimes there are spots in our feast and things that obscure our vision, but we ask our Father to be the healer of our eyes and so that our eyes may be better than we did yesterday.
Unlike the little penguin, we are not people who have been abandoned. We are not mother less or fatherless . We have a Savior who has prayed and who is pleading in glory for us this very day.
We are not orphans, we have been adopted in the beloved and our Father is tenderly caring for our wounds. We can come every day for a cuddle, for our wings and feathers to be smooth. He will dry our tears and heal our broken hearts.
PRAYER
Father we pray and know that affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground; Yet man is born unto trouble,as the sparks fly upward. We would seek unto you our eternal papa and Father and unto you we commit each and every cause. You do great things, things that are unsearchable and without number. You know each and everyone of our plights , those that stumble in the dark , including the plight of the little penguin.
Father, You are a faithful God and we trust you that everything has been turned around for our good. You are able to open blind eyes and to set captives free. You give seed to the sower and send waters to water the ground. You lift up those whose hands hang down. You set up on high those who have been low and exalt those who mourn. You are a God of the living but you can restore dead things.
We know if we seek you we will find you . If we seek you with a whole heart. Yours is a way that is the true way that leads to light and life everlasting and today we ask you to remove all the spots from our eyes and our feast. Let us see . Let us see you.
Linda J Clifford-Hayes
15/8/2020