Thursday, August 11, 2011

Ravens, Then and Now

1 Kings 17:4
You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there.

When Grey’s Anatomy turned gray and too relational (instead of medical), we’re just glad to have found House M.D.  Admittedly inspired by Sherlock Holmes, the lead character’s genius wit and funny sarcasm in diagnosing the undiagnosable is just addictive. The last episode we caught was House (Hugh Laurie) finding his six-months-missing-in-action team member Thirteen (Olivia Wilde) coming out of prison. She was fenced in for drugs but her true guilt was for euthanizing her very sick brother.  What is charming in this episode is to surprisingly see the  soft, sympathetic side of House. At the last scene, he assured her of doing the same mercy-killing when Huntington’s hold knocks at her door. But of course it wouldn’t be House without a follow up kick script: “I´d do it now if you want to. I have a baseball bat in the back.” :>

Like House, ravens are better known for its villainous side. They are black and greedy and mean. Moses’ law regarded them unclean and in Proverbs, they are the eye-pickers called to punish rebellious children. They eat the young of other birds and expel their own from their nest. So brute and beastly! And yet in today’s verse, we see them being used by God to twice-a-day feed a major prophet. Picture this: uncaring birds bringing care? omnivorous birds delivering bread and meat? Here’s the highlight: In famine!  So unimaginably impossible! Care to guess why House all of a sudden turned soft in season 7? It was because he found love in Cuddy. Job 38:41says God hears the cry of young ravens and provides for them. Jesus reiterated their value in God’s sight in Luke 12. God loves them and as part of His creation, called them good. They were centerstaged as the first creatures to fly around the newly-washed earth in Noah’s time. And now, He’s performing another miracle through them.  Amazing grace!

Thieving birds. Father of omens. Messengers of death. These names show how ancient people poorly regard ravens. So like how we call some people ‘black sheep’, ‘son of a …’, or ‘dirty tramp’. Our parents call them bad company, teachers expect none from their papers, movies kill them all in the end. And if you’re one of them, you’d soon come to own and believe it was your destiny to fail. But God sees us otherwise. He saw us good when He formed us in our mother’s womb. He watches our going out and lying down. He hears our silent cries and feels our deepest pains. And when all others marked us hopeless, God calls us to serve His purposes, to show men of His grace. Jesus came for us, sinners. His final act on earth was to a thief on a cross. He invited him to eternal life and he received it. Same gift we’re being offered. Take it and soar anew. And when you see other ravens still picking on others’ eyes, don’t label them with names you too once had. Grace is what they need. And soon, His grace they will give:>

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Ravens, Then and Now

1 Kings 17:4
You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there.

When Grey’s Anatomy turned gray and too relational (instead of medical), we’re just glad to have found House M.D.  Admittedly inspired by Sherlock Holmes, the lead character’s genius wit and funny sarcasm in diagnosing the undiagnosable is just addictive. The last episode we caught was House (Hugh Laurie) finding his six-months-missing-in-action team member Thirteen (Olivia Wilde) coming out of prison. She was fenced in for drugs but her true guilt was for euthanizing her very sick brother.  What is charming in this episode is to surprisingly see the  soft, sympathetic side of House. At the last scene, he assured her of doing the same mercy-killing when Huntington’s hold knocks at her door. But of course it wouldn’t be House without a follow up kick script: “I´d do it now if you want to. I have a baseball bat in the back.” :>

Like House, ravens are better known for its villainous side. They are black and greedy and mean. Moses’ law regarded them unclean and in Proverbs, they are the eye-pickers called to punish rebellious children. They eat the young of other birds and expel their own from their nest. So brute and beastly! And yet in today’s verse, we see them being used by God to twice-a-day feed a major prophet. Picture this: uncaring birds bringing care? omnivorous birds delivering bread and meat? Here’s the highlight: In famine!  So unimaginably impossible! Care to guess why House all of a sudden turned soft in season 7? It was because he found love in Cuddy. Job 38:41says God hears the cry of young ravens and provides for them. Jesus reiterated their value in God’s sight in Luke 12. God loves them and as part of His creation, called them good. They were centerstaged as the first creatures to fly around the newly-washed earth in Noah’s time. And now, He’s performing another miracle through them.  Amazing grace!

Thieving birds. Father of omens. Messengers of death. These names show how ancient people poorly regard ravens. So like how we call some people ‘black sheep’, ‘son of a …’, or ‘dirty tramp’. Our parents call them bad company, teachers expect none from their papers, movies kill them all in the end. And if you’re one of them, you’d soon come to own and believe it was your destiny to fail. But God sees us otherwise. He saw us good when He formed us in our mother’s womb. He watches our going out and lying down. He hears our silent cries and feels our deepest pains. And when all others marked us hopeless, God calls us to serve His purposes, to show men of His grace. Jesus came for us, sinners. His final act on earth was to a thief on a cross. He invited him to eternal life and he received it. Same gift we’re being offered. Take it and soar anew. And when you see other ravens still picking on others’ eyes, don’t label them with names you too once had. Grace is what they need. And soon, His grace they will give:>