How Did That Little Bird Do That?

by | Oct 5, 2024 | Inspiration

Not too many days ago my wife and I, along with millions of others living in the Southeastern U.S., awoke to find evidence that during the night Hurricane Helene had left devastating and disruptive destruction and heartache in its path.  We would find out later in the day that all around our area of upstate S.C., huge oak trees had fallen – blocking roads, damaging homes, and bringing power poles and power lines crashing to the ground. 

Shortly after waking, my wife Lynne and I went into our glassed enclosed back porch to see what was going on around us.  The rain was pounding our house, and sustained winds of 30-45 miles an hour were challenging the root integrity of every tree around us. All of a sudden, against all the rain and wind, a small bird glided into our backyard and perched itself on one of our birdfeeders. To our amazement it perched there without moving as if it was a cool, clear, windless day in the fall. The first words out of my mouth were, “How did that little bird do that?”  How in the world did it fly against the wind and rain, let alone sit there unphased, without being blown to the other end of the county?

A week later, with electricity and internet restored, I found the answer. Perching birds, like the one we observed, fare best in storms because they have a special mechanism in their foot anatomy that causes their feet to hold tight to their perches even in high winds. Their feet are designed to have three toes forward and three toes back to grip onto branches. A tendon in their legs locks down tight when they land to help them hold on. They naturally rest with their talons closed and locked, and only release their feet when they use their muscles.1

As I have pondered the remarkable God-given ability of that little bird to withstand the winds and rains of Hurricane Helene, I began to reflect upon those individuals I’ve known and watched during my lifetime who have faced the winds and rains of various storms in life and have stood strong–not being blown about, not giving up, nor giving in. Whether it is Hurricane Finances, Hurricane Broken Relationships, Hurricane Bad Health, or Hurricane Death, they stand strong.  What is the “mechanism in their foot anatomy that enables them to hold tight to their perches even in high winds?”  The “mechanism” I’ve seen in them is active, wisely placed faith in God that triggers strength-giving outcomes. Let’s examine that sentence closer to help give clarity to what I mean.

  • “Active faith” – Faith is trusting in someone or something to produce a particular and desirable result for which there is no evidence in the present. The trust is so strong that as a result, a person lives as if it already is reality. Faith is not just giving intellectual assent.  Faith is actively living as if what we say is true, actually is true.
  • “wisely placed” – There are those who say that it doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you believe in something.  Reality shows otherwise – that even though faith can be placed in anyone or anything, that faith does not guarantee positive life-changing, lifesaving outcomes.
    • Faith must be placed wisely – in something or someone who can produce the “best possible results, by the best possible means, for the most possible people, for the longest possible time.”2 The quality of outcomes is dependent upon the ability of the object of one’s faith to produce those desired or promised outcomes. 
    • Unwise faith is grounded and rooted in subjective truth that is based on the whims and preferences of an individual.  As a result, that person’s faith is grounded in a moving target.  Wise faith is built upon a rock of truth that does not move – the Word and Wisdom of God. Only faith rooted in God and His truth produces the best possible results. That is because His truth is grounded in His character (i.e., good, kind, loving, wise, holy, righteous, just, merciful, and gracious), and also in His sovereign power that ensures His divine purposes, which always match His character, are fulfilled.
  • “triggers strength-giving outcomes” – For example, wisely-placed faith grounded upon and rooted in the God of truth and the truth of God will generate courage rather than fear, confidence rather than worry, genuine hope rather than hope-so, and salvation rather than condemnation.

If you want to weather the storms and hurricanes of life, live with the understanding that wise faith is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” and that “without faith it is impossible to please him [God], for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” (Hebrews 11:1,6)

1Summary of online articles by AI Overview, and All About Birds, What Do Small Birds Do in a Storm?
2Chip Ingram, God as He Longs for You to Know Him, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2004), p.128.