Wheat field Banner

Gleanings From The Word

Tag: nature

  • Busy Beaver – another helper

    Busy Beaver – another helper

    Beaver

    One summer in my late teens, I worked for an oilfield service  company. I was a grunt laborer and traveled into the field doing whatever necessary and unpleasant work needed to be done.



    For a while, we had a beaver problem. Beavers are one way God uses His animals to mold and shape His creation. Their system of dam building can transform an area incredibly over time.



    This particular beaver had decided to dam a culvert on a small creek, causing the road to flood. I’d get out of the truck, don hip waders, and pull the dam apart. In a day or two, the busy beaver would have it rebuilt. Various crews tore the dam down on multiple occasions.


     


    The company I worked for even brought someone in to dynamite the dam and the beaver’s lodge. Even that didn’t work. The determined rodent started to rebuild. In the end, they called a trapper in and removed the beaver from the area.



    Sometimes, we can be like that very determined rodent. We slave away at things, only to have them fail. Then we do it all over again and wonder why it doesn’t work.



    Author Rita Brown once said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”It’s a profound quote often falsely attributed to Albert Einstein and others.



    We try to live and serve under our own direction and power rather than relying on the leading of the Spirit. It’s a form of insanity.



    Only God’s plans are infallible. Only God’s ways will lead us to the right place. We need the Spirit.



    We were given the Spirit as a helper.



    And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever. John 14:16



    …the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. John 14:26



    Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26-27


    But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Acts 1:8


    All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. 1 Corinthians 12:11


    As believers, we have choices. We can work feverishly but in futility. Or we can trust the Spirit to lead and trust the Lord to produce fruit.


    I pray we are all a little less like that beaver and a lot more like Jesus.


    Hallelu Yah (Praise God)


    Be blessed, 


    Kevin



    Gleanings From The Word – Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life. 


    __________________________________________ 


    Please like and share this post with your friends and those in your circle of influence. Feel free to comment.



    Did you know that we have an email version?


    Subscribe today 



    ___________________________________________ 


    All contents, “Gleanings From The Word” and “Experience an Extraordinary God in Ordinary Life,” are © 2001, 2025 K.F. “Kevin” Corbin, Gleanings From The Word. 



    Unless otherwise noted, “Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”


    Small Steps, Big Kingdom: What Beavers Teach Us About How God Grows His Church
  • For the Birds – God’s provision

    For the Birds – God’s provision

    male white-crowned sparrow

    Our yard is aflutter with birds. The rear of the property is fenced, keeping out most predators. The seed feeders and hummingbird feeders (in season) stay busy with various birds. The trees and brush provide plenty of nesting sites.

    We see chickadees, dark-eyed juncos, nuthatches, robins, Northern Flickers,  sapsuckers, doves, half a dozen species of sparrow, varied thrushes, common redpolls, and many more species regularly. There are also many LBJ’s (little brown jobs, small birds that I don’t get a close enough look at to identify). 

    We can watch bald eagles, hawks, ravens, and crows soar above us.  Geese and ducks often fly noisily overhead. The other day a flock of sandhill cranes flew overhead whooping away as they traveled. At dawn and dusk we are serenaded by a wide range of song birds.

    We often sit in the yard and watch and listen. Many birds are so accustomed to us that they will come within a couple of feet of us. We are not seen as a threat unless we suddenly move in their direction.

    A passage of Scripture often comes to mind as I watch them. 

    “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious 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? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6:25-34 ESV

    Appropriate words for the times we are in. 

    Our security nets have eroded. The political world is in chaos, and our economies are in shambles. There are wars, rumors of wars, plagues, and natural disasters on what seems an unprecedented level.

    Yet the birds go about their daily lives, completely unaware of what makes us fearful. God looks after them and will watch over us as well. Things might be difficult for a season, but He has not abandoned us, nor will He.

    The LORD  is our source, our strength, our comfort, and He is our peace. We can rest in Him whether things get better or worse. No matter what the world throws at us, we can withstand it joyfully in Him.

    When it gets too much, take a minute to watch and listen to the birds and look to the Savior. If you live where birds are scarce, go online and watch some videos of them.

    Until next time, consider the birds and trust in Jesus.

    Be blessed

    Hallelu Yah / Praise God 

    Kevin

    Murder – death of Jesus for our sake
    General Revelation: Why No One Can Claim They Didn’t Know