Why Believers Have No Reason to Follow Chicken Little

You are likely familiar with the story of Chicken Little (or Henny Penny). A little chicken has an acorn fall on his head and starts to believe that the sky is falling. On his way to tell the king he incites fear in all of his other fowl friends, they join his quest to warn the king. Eventually they meet up with Foxy Loxy. He pretends to be on their team but uses their fear to get them into his lair were he eats every last one of them.

There are many Chicken Little’s in our world, and just as many Foxy Loxy’s that use fear to fill their stomachs. Sadly, many believers fall prey to this fear-mongering. When we follow Chicken Little on his quest we betray our bad theology.

Now some will say, “Mike, the sky really is falling. Look at our world. We really are living in perilous times. Chicken Little’s got a point. He sees it with his own eyes and if I’m being honest I see it with mine as well. We had better do something about this before it is too late!”

To this I say, “So what if Chicken Little is correct?” Responding in fear only reveals a lack of trust in the One that is on the throne.

The King is Sovereign Over History

In Revelation 5 you see that Jesus Christ is the only one that is able to open the scroll. This means that He is the only one that is sovereign over history. He holds history in His hand. He is sovereign over everything. There is not one speck of dust that falls outside of His sovereign rule. There is not one square inch of creation that He cannot cry out “this is mine”.

Barack Obama (or any Republican in his place) does not move history. Kim Jong Un does not move history. No world leader moves history. Those that reject Christ, persecute Christians, and even the Antichrist himself does not move history. Those that mock us and those that overturn godly principles in our nation do not move history. They are not on the throne. They do not determine our course. Jesus Christ does. Our fears, our failures, and our inadequacy also does not move history or stall history. Jesus stands over every bit of it.

If Jesus is sovereign over history, and He is, fear is ridiculous. Chicken Little serves a king that needs to be told the sky is falling. We serve the King that rules history…even when the sky starts to fall. Therefore we don’t need to join his quest to tell the King. The King already knows and He is orchestrating it all for His glory. (See Colossians 1)

What then? Passivity?

Our response to a falling sky shouldn’t be fear. But it also shouldn’t be passivity. The believers in Thessalonica had a case of the Chicken Little’s. They believed that they end was going to happen any day (or even that Christ had already returned). Their response to such news was to sit back and idly let Jesus come and set all things right. To this Paul says, “WRONG!”

But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage on another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

The sky may be falling but the sovereign Lord of history means it for our good. There’s no need to go running to the King and telling Him that His universe is collapsing. He knows what is happening and He radically dedicated to your good and His glory. Trust Him.

And while you live out your life trusting Him, edify your fellow believers and share the gospel with those that are perishing. Not because we need them to keep the sky from falling but because Christ is in the business of rooting out of His world all sin and unbelief and replacing it with passionate worshippers. You want to be on that side of history. 

Some day the sky will fall (at least figuratively) but it will be at the King’s behest. Let’s live out our lives in obedience to the King and not follow Chicken Little when he tells us that the sky is falling. When he gives us his sobering news that the sky is falling and that he is going to tell the king, let’s stop him in his tracks. And let’s share how we know the King, and that He is very good and He is sovereign over history.

Yes, the sky is falling…and Jesus is very good.

Fear Without a Voice

A song I am really loving right now is “Stay” by Jimmy Needham.  My favorite lyric is “to the place where my fears have no voice at all”.  I think we all long for that day when our often shouting fears, doubts, etc. are stricken with perpetual laryngitis and the only voice we hear is the whisper of the Lord. 
Beautiful song, take a listen:



You can buy Needham's new album for only $9.99 or "Stay" for only .99

I Didn’t Need Twitchy

Justin Taylor has posted a very helpful two minute or so illustration from D.A. Carson about two Hebrew guys named Smith and Brown on the night of the Passover.  Watch it here (It starts at about the 2 minute mark and ends a little after 4):

When I first saw the title of this post I had imagined that Carson was discussing Smith who believed and put blood on the doorpost and Brown who was skeptical and didn’t put it on the doorpost.  I was going to use this as a launching pad for a very brief point—that there is also probably a third guy present, whom I was going to call Twitchy. 

Twitchy of course is just like Mr. Smith in Carson’s story.  So, I didn’t need him.  He puts blood on the door post but he doesn’t sleep very well that night.  He trusts the Lord enough to cover slaughter the lamb and spread the blood but he spends his night indoors quivering and saying, “Boy I sure hope this works”. 

Christian faith is like that sometimes.  At times we are strong in our faith like Mr. Brown.  We are trusting in Christ and we are graced with confidence and assurance.  At other times we find ourselves a little more like Mr. Smith saying, “Boy I sure hope this works”. 

Remember a weak faith can lay hold of a strong Christ. 

Obviously we’d all rather be Mr. Brown.  But the Mr. Smith’s of the world will stand amazed when the death angel passes over and the sons of God that took refuge in the mighty King stand with the Conquering Lion. 

Redemption for a Badnewsaphobe

If you look up an indexed list of phobias (which every sane person does daily, right?!?)…there you will notice what seems to me a strange phobia: euphobia.  Euphobia is the fear of hearing good news.  Strangely absent from the list is a fear of hearing bad news.  Apparently, fearing bad news is perfectly acceptable. 

That’s good for me that this particular phobia did not make the list, because I’m a badnewsaphobe.  Unfortunately for me though, it does make God’s list of junk that’s not fitting for those living in redemption instead of rebellion.  And that stings. 

My badnewsaphobia is crippling.  It’s probably why I seldom put myself out there as a writer—and it’s taken a good amount of encouragement from my wife to pursue anything of significance as a writer.  I could bore you with paragraphs explaining all of the areas of my life that have been crippled by my badnewsaphobia.  Being stupidly afraid of bad news is life altering. 

It is also idolatry.

    For the righteous will never be moved;
        he will be remembered forever.
    He is not afraid of bad news;
        his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD.
                                                   (Psalm 112:6-7 ESV)

A heart that is afraid of bad news is one that is not firm and is not trusting in the LORD.  That, sadly, describes me. 

What Does Redemption Look Like for a Badnewsaphobe?

I am convinced that Jesus is stronger than my imperfections.  I am also convinced that He graciously leads me to texts like this one not because He wants to point and laugh, show my insufficiencies, and leave me in my own hands to fix it.  The LORD is graciously exposing my badnewsaphobia for the purpose of redeeming me.  So, what does redemption in this area look like?

My response to potential bad news is passivity and escape.  Any time there is something that could potentially end with bad news I run the other way.  As Paul Tripp would say, that is my thorny response. 

If I want to live in redemption in this area it means that I have to see a clearer picture of the Father and His provision in Jesus.  According to Psalm 112 a firm heart comes from “trusting in the (covenant keeping) LORD”.  In the life of the believer God makes bad news good.  He makes the bitter to be sweet.  Though things are difficult, painful, heart-wrenching, and at times life-shattering to vessels of clay the Lord knows our frame, He remembers that we are but dust, and He graciously works together all things for our good.  No news is ultimately bad when, through Jesus, the LORD is your friend. 

Therefore, I will respond by believing this promise.  I will repent of trusting in my own futile and shameful ways of trying to protect myself of bad news.  I will repent of thinking that my feet are secure by my own doing and instead I will put my hope and trust in the “LORD GOD who is an everlasting rock”. 

And I’m going to start doing things that could fall flat on their face.  I’m going to do things that may end in “bad news” but all the while I will trust that God makes all bad news good. 

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LORD, forgive me for trying to secure peace for myself.  It has never worked.  I have become crippled by my own self-righteous efforts of preserving myself from “bad news”.  I have made good news bad.  You make bad news good.  I am desperately in need of your grace.  Without grace I will go back to my shameful ways of self-preservation.  Conquer my badnewsaphobia with the good news of the gospel.  May I rest in Jesus.

Hoarding v. A Daily God

I’m growing, but I still have pack-rat tendencies. 

There are still a few objects that I have a really hard time getting rid of: screws, bolts, springs, various parts that I have no idea what they are or what they are for, old shirts, ratty jeans, and “important” papers that will probably in reality remain unnecessary until well after Jesus returns. 

I keep these things because, hey…you never know when you might need them.  Which has proven itself true maybe about three times in my life.  There was that one time that I was able to use a spring, then I needed some ratty jeans for a paint job, and I just so happened to still have an “important” paper.  But mostly, it just piles up and makes it to where sometimes I cannot find things that I actually need. 

Now, this is not a HUGE problem.  I do not need to go on that Hoarders show…at least not yet.  But at root I have the same heart issue.  And I am guessing you might too. 

Hoarding in Exodus

We see this same tendency manifest itself in Exodus 16.  The people of Israel are starving in the wilderness.  God provides manna.  But he is only going to provide it every morning.  They cannot keep it.  (except before the Sabbath—when there will not be any that morning). 

If you try to hoard manna you get a mouth full of worms and stank when you try to chomp into in the morning. 

But even though they are warned of the worm and stank deal, there are some people that try to keep the manna for tomorrow…because, hey can I really be sure that it will be there in the morning?  And so some of them kept some manna around just in case. 

You see the reason why God does this is because He wants the Israelites to know that He is a daily God.  “His mercies are new every morning”.  He also wants them to know that their relationship of faith and trust is also a daily necessity.  Our God is an everyday is God.

Or at least He should be. 

A Daily God

But I must confess that often I do not have a daily experience of God’s grace.  My relationship with God is often more like a roller coaster, with extreme highs and lows.  I am convinced that our relationship with God is more like the Thunder River than the Screamin’ Eagle; a long, slow journey together through various dips, waterfalls, etc.  rather than a quick jaunt up and down huge inclines and declines. 

As I reflect on Exodus 16 I begin to wonder whether part of the reason why God doesn’t seem like a daily God is because I hoard.  Like the stupid servant in Luke 19 I bury talents, treasures, “manna”, in the hopes of being able to keep it…you know, just in case. 

God isn’t calling us to keep things for tomorrow, “just in case”.  God is calling us to live by faith everyday so that we can see the wonders of a relationship with a daily God.  Today I want to enjoy this day and not have a hoarding mentality that tries to protect tomorrow. 

For an amazing look at this Manna Principle I would suggest purchasing Ed Welch’s book Running Scared.

Snot Rockets Are Normal East of Eden

We’ve all had a booger moment.  Let me explain.

A booger moment is that moment when you realize that people weren’t laughing at your jokes they were laughing at the snot rocket projecting out of your nose.  Or it’s that moment when you realize that the students that you were preaching to were not uncharacteristically focused on the message because you had really good content.  No, they were focused because your pants were unzipped. 

I remember one particular occasion in High School when I was talking (that’s what the kids these days call flirting) to a girl that I liked as I was walking to my car.  It seemed to be going really well.  I was putting my super awesome moves on.  I was certain that I’d score a date at some point very soon.  As I was basking in my awesomeness I decided to check the mirror just so I could share my awesomeness with an agreeing face.  To my horror I had a lovely dangling booger hanging out my nose.  Not cool.  Suddenly I looked at the world much different.  I’d probably never talk to this girl again just out of the sheer horror that she might bring up the atrocious event that just occurred. 

Don’t pretend that you haven’t had a million moments like this.  This is why many of us have had that dream about being naked before History class.  There is something innate in humans to put up a facade and project an image that is better than reality.  Deep down we all know that it isn’t true and reality haunts us. 

This all stems from our first parents.  Up until Genesis 3:7 Adam and Eve were blissfully unaware of their nakedness.  Then sin entered in.  Their solution was the same solution that we have come up with in a million different ways—they decided to sew some fig leaf underpants.  They tried to hide their sin and shame.  They tried to pretend that they weren’t naked before the Lord. 

But it didn’t work.  It never does.  You an I may be able to hide our nakedness before other people but we cannot hide it before God.  Who you are isn’t the image that you project before people.  Who you really are is who you are alone before Almighty God.  And these little experiences of being exposed with a booger hanging out your nose are just little reminders that fig-leaf underpants don’t work. 

The only thing that really covers our nakedness is the garments that the LORD provides.  Notice in Genesis 3:21 that God provides garments for the man and woman.  This is a foreshadowing of the garments of righteousness that will be provided by the Lord Jesus.  In fact Christ Himself is that garment.  The blood that was shed to provide clothing for Adam and Eve is a prefiguring of the blood that will be shed milleniums later outside Jerusalem to finally and fully cover the nakedness of God’s people.

The question for us today is this, am I covered by Jesus or am I simply sewing fig-leaf underpants for myself.  This is more than a “have you been saved” type of question.  Because once we are saved that begins the process of trading in our tattered and weak attempts at covering for the precious garments provided by Christ.  So where are you hiding?  And how will you go about giving that shame to Jesus so that He can cover it with more than a pathetic band-aid of human pride and hiding?

For more check out this past post: Fig Leaf Underpants.

The wording is mine the overall thought belongs to Ed Welch. I am currently reading his book Running Scared. In one of the chapters he talks about God being the King and God being Father. This got me to thinking:

Our Father is the King.
The King is our Father.

Each statement says something different. "Our Father is the King" is a reminder that the gentle, loving, caring Father that is full of love is also full of power--he's the king. "The King is our Father" is a reminder that the all powerful, all knowing, sovereign head also has deep love and affections for his children.

Misunderstanding either of these statements leads to many problems. To deny that our Father is the King will potentially lead us to all sorts of wrong thinking and feeling. It can lead us to fear because our Father is not big enough to take care of it. It can lead us to loose living because we have the assumption that we have our doting Father wrapped around our fingers. It can lead us to bondage and helplessness in the face of deep sin. These are only a few.

To deny that the King is our Father can also lead us to wrong thinking and feeling. We can begin to view God as a cold dictator. We know that he is big and powerful but we wonder whether he really cares for us. It can create a distance and a performance based relationship--after all what can you do to please a King?

Which side do you err on? And what are the results?