SCARECROWS

 I used to love the stories of the scarecrow, Worzel Gummidge. Recently childhood memories have been awakened as Susan and John have been exploring again with the old rascal the glories of the countryside.

But the purpose of the scarecrow was to scare the crows. Abraham once was given the task much scarier than that of scaring the crows. His enemies were vultures  and he dared not forsake this task for a moment. I have never  forgotten the story. You can find it in Genesis 15.

God agreed to make a covenant with Abraham and gave him instructions as to how to prepare the animals ready to be sacrificed. But this was not all he had to do, for the offering was not to be made until evening, and Abraham’s task was to protect the carcasses through the heat of the day, and not just from crows, but from vultures, great birds of prey.

When living in Ghana we learned to appreciate the vultures who cleared away the carrion around us, but I have recently had need to remember the lesson the preacher was seeking to impress on us.

‘You cannot stop the birds flying round your head but you can keep them from nesting in your hair.’

I felt that I was being attacked by wrong thoughts. I knew that they were wrong, ugly thoughts that were attacking me but try as I could they continued to flap around my head  and I seemed to be unable to be rid of them. But suddenly and unexpectedly all these ugly thoughts, together with the accompanying depression, was gone.

‘Thanks be unto God who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord.’