XXII As a Hen Gathereth Her Chickens
Not long before our dear Lord Jesus was crucified, He was walking one day in the streets of Jerusalem.
He had been telling the Scribes and Pharisees that they were trusting in their own goodness, but were far-off from the Kingdom of God.
His loving heart was filled with pity for those who would not come to Him to be saved.
Do you not remember how He had said, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest!”
He longed to have the poor, sorrowful people find joy and rest in Him. Had He not said at the very beginning of His teaching that He had come to bind up the brokenhearted?
So on this day as He passed along through the streets, He noticed a hen with her chickens round her. Perhaps He paused to watch them as they ran hither and thither. Perhaps He heard the hen give a sudden warning cry, and watched the little chickens respond to it by running with outstretched wings to the shelter of her feathers, beneath which they nestled serene and safe from all alarms.
And then the tenderness of the heart of Jesus comes out so beautifully!
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!” He exclaims, “How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”
Do you not know how, sometimes, a mother holds out her arms to a child who has been naughty, but perhaps the child turns away and will not come back to the loving embrace?
Have you not seen how sad that mother’s face has looked? “But ye would not!” goes to her heart.
And that is something like Jesus felt when sinners would not come to Him to be forgiven.
It was only a very little while after He had said those words about the hen and the chickens, and about “Ye would not,” that He wept over Jerusalem as He came down from the Mount of Olives and came in sight of the beautiful city, and thought of all the sorrow that was coming upon it.
And as He wept He said, “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes.”
I think these sorrowful words of our dear Lord should sink into our hearts, and we should look up into His face now in the glory, and tell Him we will not grieve Him by our want of love!
Let us run from Satan, our great enemy, to His sheltering arms!
Like those little chicks, at sight of danger, let us fly to Him; and He will receive us, and comfort us, and protect us.
God Himself says in the 91st Psalm: “He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust.”
And we shall find, whether we are young or old, that whenever we put out trust in Jesus, He will surely come to our help!
Do not let Him have to say of us, as He said of those Jews in Jerusalem, “But ye would not!” But let us believe His love, and joyfully answer the dear Lord who loved us so—
“I will trust in the covert of Thy wings!”
I heard the Voice of Jesus say,
“Come unto Me and rest;
Lay down, thou weary one, lay down
Thy head upon My breast!”
I came to Jesus as I was,
Weary, and worn and sad;
I found in Him a resting-place,
And He has made me glad.
I heard the Voice of Jesus say,
“Behold I freely give
The living water, thirsty one,
Stoop down, and drink, and live!”
I came to Jesus, and I drank
Of that life-giving stream;
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived
And now I live in Him.