This Is What My Peaceful Doves Have Taught Me – Will I Heed The Lessons? Part 1 Of 2 Series

THIS IS WHAT MY PEACEFUL DOVES HAVE TAUGHT ME – WILL I HEED THE LESSONS? PART 1 OF 2

This was presented to a group but equally could be a sermon.

INTRODUCTION

God’s creation is so wonderful and the life forms so diverse that no one in a lifetime could ever touch on more than a tiny section of it. Yes, I used the term “God’s creation” and not some humanist concept like evolution.

I am amazed at the stupidity of humanists and atheists who want to excise God completely from the universe and set themselves up as the founts of all knowledge. They want me to believe that the entire mass and volume of the universe was contained in a singularity (as they call it) about the size of a grain of sand that exploded and is still surging outwards.

Can you imagine what extraordinary science would be involved in containing the entire mass of the universe in the size of a grain of sand, and when it exploded, what unbelievable heat and pressure would be generated that even if there was anything living, (which there could not have been of course), then it would have been instantly destroyed.

This is from the European Space Agency – [[“There are something like (10 to the 11th power to 10 to the 12th power) stars in our Galaxy, and there are perhaps something like 10 to the 12th power galaxies. With this simple calculation you get something like (10 to the 22nd power to 10 to the 24th power) stars in the Universe. This is only a rough number, as obviously not all galaxies are the same, just like on a beach the depth of sand will not be the same in different places.”]] This is one estimate. I have seen the number as high as 10 to the 27th power but what are a few billion stars when we talk these figures?

And all that originally contained in something the size of a grain of sand! What extraordinary lengths a person can go to so that he can dismiss the existence of God and lock his mind away in ignorance.

God’s creation is marvellous, so it is no wonder that biblical writers make common references to nature – the birds, animals, insects, etc. These creatures are used to teach lessons or are used in parables. Do you recall Solomon who wrote, “Go to the ant, you sluggard,” when making references to lazy people?

Jesus used animals and birds in his teaching and comments. Herod was a sly fox. The birds of the air were always troublesome. The hen was an example of caring and compassion.

Did the Lord tell us to be like doves and snakes (maybe we are used to the word “serpent”)? Well, not exactly, but to have the characteristics of doves and serpents. {{Matthew 10 v 16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.”}} “Shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves”. How do doves behave?

THE LEAD IN

Two years ago there was a dove on my clothesline, a small “peaceful dove”. Those in the United States call them zebra doves. They are very shy and if you approach they depart rapidly. From the patio I sprinkled a little bit of bird seed (the seed is for the king quails I have) over the railing, down about 4 metres onto the concrete. It took a little time, but the dove got used to that, though very frightened. It flew from the clothesline to the concrete path, and all the time glancing at me and back to the concrete. That continued for a couple of weeks, daily, and then its mate came as well, and before long there were 8 of them. Then 12.

Last year I decided to sit at the bottom of the back steps, and I was surprised that they came closer though extremely wary, and the slightest movement meant they flew off so fast. Slowly they got used to me and will now come to about 60 cm away (2 feet), even a bit closer. There are up to 40 of them now! The word seems to have gotten around. Every afternoon they gather on the clothesline, or in the trees, or on the concrete 14 metres away, and even on the railings outside the kitchen door.

Then I got thinking, the Lord used the dove in illustrations; could I do that? Here are some thoughts –

1. THEY SHOW LITTLE OR NO INITIATIVE, not willing to take the lead. No one wants to be first to come to the seed. They don’t like action. Some might say, shy, reticent, hesitant, cautious, wary, stuck in the mud. Like one tonne stones you hope to move along but they won’t budge! Some even say cowards. In politics, there is an expression, “hawks and doves”. The hawks are those who are itching for action and want to be aggressive, and the doves are those who don’t want to change anything to upset the status quo, even a little, and hang back. They won’t have any change. Scared to take action.