“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Luke 13:34
Dear Jesus, of all the pictures you painted and metaphors you used, to help us understand your love for us… I have to admit… mother hen never made its way into my top five. It just doesn’t seem to carry the same weight or make the same impression as all of your “I Am” claims. Yet as I ponder this image, it is profoundly endearing… and more than appropriate.
That you chose such a metaphor says much about the depths of your affection and the intensity of your engagement in our lives. It also reveals how fragile, vulnerable and foolish we are as your “chicks.” It makes me want to know and worship you all the more. It makes me want to run to you this morning with full abandon and primed anticipation.
Jesus, I certainly praise you for your ongoing commitment to gather your family from every nation, but I’m especially thankful today for your commitment to gather me… because I’m “prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” Keep running after me. Keep running after ME, Jesus… when I drift naively and when I roam wantonly to places I have no business exploring. Protect me from various foxes and wolves that would have me for a snack. Don’t let me ever forget that spiritual warfare will continue, and intensify, until the Day you return.
Jesus, I also praise you that, like a mother hen, you gather us and place us under your wings… next to your heart. You’re such a compassionate, kind, tender Savior. How foolish I am to think otherwise… how foolish I am to think there’s any better place to be than under your “wings” in the safe haven of the gospel… in the refuge of your care… in vital communion with you.
Though a nursing mother may even forget her suckling child, you will never forget or forsake one of your “chicks.” Because the gospel is true and powerful, I am willing to be gathered every moment of this new day. So very Amen, I pray in your gracious and tenacious name.
