Bird's Eye View

“Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.” (Pr 1:17 AV)

 This proverb is written to the wicked.  It is a statement reflecting the futility of fraud.  Or, putting it another way, if crime is your profession, you will have to work really hard at it because most are not fooled.  All one has to look at is the fraudulent emails we get and the vast majority know they are fraud.  Solomon is extolling honest work over labor of deception for profit and sustainability.  What I heard from the Spirit this morning is this proverb from the perspective of the bird.  Most birds are not fooled by traps.  Their eyesight is far too great not to notice something is off.  That is, if they are looking for it.  If we are to avoid falling into sin we have to be looking for the trap.  If we are constantly aware of the dangers around us, then it would be vain for the world, the devil, and the flesh to lay a trap.  It all depends on how we are looking.

I have done enough spring turkey hunting and have seen enough fall geese sets to know this statement above is absolutely true.  To harvest a turkey takes a lot of effort and hard work.  To start with, the hunter has to get up, get dressed and loaded up, locate a bird, and get set up at least an hour before sunrise.  This means, depending on how far you have to go to get to your woods, getting up sometime between two and three in the morning.  Sunrise is around five-thirty, so that gives you about two hours to get dressed, drive to your woods, walk around and locate a bird with an owl call, set up your decoys, and settle in for about an hour before you start calling.  The older the bird, the more it can tell the difference between a real hen and a hunter.  So long before the season starts, the hunter is listening to tapes of real hens and learning how to call.  He practices with all sorts of calls because one call may not work on a certain day or time while another will.  He becomes a master caller on all types of calls.  At the first gobble, the game begins.  Your job is to reverse what comes naturally to the male turkey.  He is used to strutting in an open area and gobbling the hens in.  You have to entice him to break that instinct and come looking for you.  Not an easy task.  The success rate for turkey hunters is rather low.  Even more so than deer.  Why?  Because of the above proverb.  Above all else, that bird wants to live.  That is his highest priority.  His watchful eye is intently scanning the situation for anything that seems off.  An eyeblink from a hunter can spook him.  Trust me.  I have seen it happen.

If we are the potential victim, then it is up to us to intently scan and examine everything around us.  We are either a sucker or a survivor.  One or the other.  If we are looking for traps, we will find them.  If we know the enemy wants nothing more than to put a shot across the bow or take us out entirely, then we will be looking for it.  Too many of us go through life without a care in the world.  We wait until the enemy strikes and then try to overcome the circumstances.  It would be much wiser not to suffer the consequences to begin with.  This is what a bird does.  It assumes life is full of hazards and looks for them.  We must do the same.  Jesus said, “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” (Lu 21:36 AV)  Sound advice!