God gives us six principles in the Bible that give us the promise of a long life if we do them. However, there are three commands that have two promises: “that it may GO WELL WITH YOU and that you may PROLONG YOUR DAYS.” I know we all want to be blessed with these two promises, don’t we?
You know the first two: to honor your parents (Deuteronomy 5:16 and Ephesians 6:3) and to keep God’s commandments (Deuteronomy l4:40). I wonder if you know the third one. Let’s check it out, shall we?
Deuteronomy 22:6, 7 (BSB):” If you come across a bird’s nest with chicks or eggs, either in a tree or on the ground along the road, and the mother is sitting on the chicks or eggs, you must not take the mother along with the young. You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it MAY BE WELL WITH YOU and that you may PROIONG YOUR DAYS.”
Of all the 613 commandments in the Old Testament, why would God give two powerful promises to this one? It seems so insignificant. What’s so important about an unknown bird in a nest? This Scriptures shows us that the little things and the seemingly insignificant things are as important to God as the big things. The majestic and the minute are equal to God. Not even a sparrow falls to the ground without Him knowing.
I was reading a commentary on these Scriptures and would love to share a few lines with you. James Wolfendale writes: “He who guards planets, guards bird’s nests.” I love that, don’t you? He continues: “Not enough to keep the law in great aspects which appeal to the public eye . . . but by attention to minute and hardly discernable features of character which indicate the real quality of the man.” What an important life principle to teach our children. God sees all the little things in our lives, and it is the little things that add up to our character.
Quoting again: “God is kind in little as well as great things. Love is one whether shown in redemption of the race, in numbering the hairs of our head, ordering our steps, or giving His beloved sleep . . . Man is to have dominion over fowls of the air, but dominion to be exercised in mercy. Power uncontrolled by kindness becomes despotism. . . . He who wantonly destroys a bird’s nest, may one day cruelly break up a child’s home. Little tyrannies of childhood explain the great despotisms of mature life.”
But to me the greatest and most powerful lesson is God’s concern for the mother bird. Even though God allowed the eggs or the chicks to be taken for food, He would not allow the destruction of the mother. Without the mother bird there would be no more eggs or chicks, therefore lack of food for the people. The mother bird must be protected for she continues the kingdom of bird life.
If God is so concerned about the mother bird, what about the mother in the home, the one who is nurturing the children God has given to her? She is mothering her children on behalf of God, not only for this life, but for eternity. These Scriptures are a powerful lesson regarding the care and protection of mothers in society. They must be defended. Men must rise up to guard them and save their lives in danger. They must never be seduced away from the home. They are God’s nest builders of the human race and without mothers all humanity would stop.
Another commentator, Thompson, agrees with me: “Perhaps reverence fore motherhood in general gave rise to this law.”
And because it is so close to the heart of God, He gives two promises to those who keep this law.
Be encouraged today,
Nancy Campbell