Hunting for Ourselves

For the last several days we have had an immature Red Tail hawk hanging around the neighborhood. Being a birdwatcher, I have been fascinated by this bird of prey and puzzled by his behavior. He tends to just sit in the trees around the yard and call with this loud, high-pitched kind of whistle. I’m not sure what the point is, but I have wondered: is he trying to get the attention one of his parents to feed him? Many times young birds of prey resist leaving the nest and hunting for themselves. It’s so much easier to allow mom and dad to do the hunting!
Sometimes we can do the same thing about our quiet time with God. Similar to this immature hawk, it’s much easier to allow our pastor or a Christian education teacher to teach us from the Bible then to feed ourselves on the scripture. Maybe we just snack through the week on short devotions, or with the fast food of two or three verses from Psalms. Rather than sitting down to a meal prepared for us by our heavenly Father with His love letter to us (and maybe a commentary to supplement) we find it so much easier to allow someone else to feed us. But we miss out on the wonder and joy of discovering precious truffles of truth, carrots of conviction, or pastas of promises! Don’t allow your soul food to become just a snack or fast food. As Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Allow Him through His Word to serve you the richest of fare! Be willing to hunt for yourself.