The Hawk

"These all wait for You,
         That You may give them their food in due season.
 ²⁸ What You give them they gather in;
         You open Your hand, they are filled with good."  Psalm 104:27-28

Two days ago, we witnessed the remains of something exciting in our yard, and I'm still delighting over God's mysterious ways.

It's winter here in Wisconsin.  Very much winter, with cold and snow, and as such, my thoughts turn to spring, as we begin planning for next years gardens and plans for the yard.  One of the things that has really been on my mind is exactly how to thwart all the wildlife that spends time in our yard.  We easily had a dozen different rabbits spend time eating my garden last summer.  We also have dozens of squirrels, who see bare dirt and use it to bury whatever they can find in it.  Then we discovered that we have raccoons in the area- which explains some of my half-eaten tomatoes later in the summer.  How to foil these animals?  Some have been trapped and moved away, some have been dispatched, but there are still so many!  My plan is to return to a method of gardening that I know works, and use fencing to keep the critters out.  I know my plan, and yet, I still find myself dwelling on those rabbits who like to eat everything I plant.

God is just so cool.  He knows of my desire to garden and grow vegetables for my family and for others, and He has decided to help me out a bit.  Because what we found in our yard the other morning were some hawk tracks and the remains of a good-sized rabbit.  It was just crazy to find, but it completely delighted me- so much so that I'm still delighting in it. 

Matthew chapter 6 talks about worrying, and I guess I was worrying about my garden.  We're really missing the garden produce that I usually preserve and put up for winter time.   And I also think every once in a while about all the money I spent on seeds and plants last year only to have them go to feed the bunnies- and not my family.  So I guess I was worrying a little about spending money on more seeds, only to have it go to waste.  But God knows the plans I want to come to fruition in my backyard.


“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?"  Matthew 6:25-27 

God took care of one of those very birds of the air by showing him a fat, juicy rabbit in my backyard.  And if God will provide food for the hawk, with the flesh of my enemy, God can help me keep the critters in general from decimating my garden next year.  It's just so exciting to think about.  I saw those remains, and my first thought was that my enemy has been devoured.   Not only did it give me great encouragement garden-wise for next year, but it gave me a great spiritual boost as well.  It made me think that indeed, the enemy has been devoured.  Satan may think he has power here on earth, but the fact is, he still has to bow to the power of Jesus Christ.  The enemy has already been defeated, and I think that was one of the things that God was telling me with that hawk.  That I don't need to fear the enemy at all, I don't need to worry about what the enemy has waiting around the corner, because God's already got the hawks all lined up in my future to swoop down and take that enemy and devour it and his plans to devour something of mine. 

Every day I seem to find myself saying over and over that God is just so good!  And it may be repetitive, but it really is so true.  God is so awesome, and every day it seems He finds some way or another to show this to me, and that makes Him even more awesome!  When I think about His goodness, it just warms me up from head to toe- despite the freezy cold that has crept upon our neck of the woods.  I am just so thankful for His goodness each and every day, and today I am reminded yet again how wonderful He is as I look at my children playing together so wonderfully, enjoying their Christmas break together.