We have been having some nice warm weather this week, so decided it was time to remove all the protective plastic from the chicken coop and give our girls some fresh air! While we were working outside, we let the flock out to forage in our fenced-in backyard.
Before we got started, I checked the nesting box for eggs, and found a black hen sitting on the eggs, seemingly oblivious to the fact that I had opened the lid. I had found her that way several times this week, so once again, I unceremoniously picked her up and put her out to run around. Chickens get broody and want to raise some chicks, occasionally. (And why shouldn’t they? They are supposed to do that!)
But when I picked her up to put her out with the rest of them (for the umpteenth time this week), I noticed how light she was. That’s not a good sign. And sure enough, she walked around a few steps, then came right back to the water bowl and plopped down next to it. (This is a warning sign, for those who don’t have chickens. Chickens should be scratching and pecking, hunting for insects, eating grass. If they park next to the water, they aren’t feeling well.)
I will spare the details, but suffice it to say that she had been having trouble passing an egg, maybe for quite a long time, and by the time we noticed, the egg had already broken. Her abdomen was packed tight with what I believe was lash eggs (infection), and her bowel had been unable to function right. I had assumed she was broody, but she had really been using the dark, quiet box to shelter while she was suffering.
(We do have another black hen that looks very similar, who IS actually broody right now, so I am not sure which one I had been booting out of the box. They may have been taking turns.)
We tried the things we knew might help: A warm Epsom salt bath, and some extra calcium. But she refused all food, and just closed her eyes and rested in the water. It was obviously a comfort to her. I did a more complete exam once we got her cleaned up and dried off, and it became apparent that even surgery wouldn’t help at this point.
In our early days of raising chickens, we would have left no stone unturned in trying to save her life, but we have been through this before, and once certain things have happened, we know the chicken ultimately won’t make it. Experience has taught us that it’s much better for the chicken to put her down humanely than to allow her to suffer, just so we feel we have “done enough.”
Ah, but it breaks the heart!
This one was only two years old, and she was a sweet beauty. She was a heritage breed, a black Australorp, and her feathers had a slight iridescence to them in the sun. As I dried her off, she sank down and rested on my hand, pinning it against the table.
She had almost no muscle or fat on her breast. The center cartilage pressed into my hand, and I just let her rest there, cradling her, letting her know through touch that she was safe. I was wrestling with myself about what I knew had to be done. I spent some time just looking at her, appreciating her. She was beautiful.
We rested that way for a few minutes, and then I adjusted my hand. She opened her eyes, and slowly raised herself off of my hand, conscious that I was uncomfortable. She moved off to the side so that the sharp part of her little chest didn’t pin me down anymore, and then sank back and closed her eyes.
Nothing had changed, but I was suddenly struck by the connection I felt with this chicken, whom I had never gotten around to naming. Even in her terrible pain, she was considerate of me. She didn’t want to hurt me. While I was going over the practical plans in my mind to end her life, she was careful of me. And with that realization, I felt blinded by love.
Now the struggle to get myself into the right frame of mind was even harder. Wasn’t there ANYTHING we could do? But I knew the answer to that, and what mattered most was her comfort. She was completely exhausted. Even now, while she was resting, her back end was continuing to spasm, trying to pass the mass inside her that could only come out through her side. I felt rage at the evil that did this, but then, the protective love inside me rose up and realized that I had to do what was best for her, and I had to do it right away, for her sake.
All this takes a lot longer to write and to read than it took in real life. When it was all over, after we buried her, I found two of her feathers on the ground. They were perfect. I brought them inside and taped them to the inside cover of my journal, so I would remember. And then I wrote down the story of how she sacrificed her comfort for me, even while she was dying. I never want to forget to be kind to others, even when I am suffering.
I began to think about evil, the problem of evil:
In the first place, God made this earth, and everything in it. Though God cursed it for man’s sake (Genesis 3:17), the earth and its creatures still obey God, and the earth moves according to His will. Only men and women are in open rebellion.
For example, God made gravity, and it always works. God created the laws that govern the behavior of water, and they still work. The water continues to do what God created it to do. God put the “instinct” in animals so they could find their way over vast distances and migrate. They do what they do because God made them understand, and they obey him. I could go on and on, but you can find a lot of specific examples of how the earth is controlled by God in the book of Job, especially chapters 38 – 39.
The earth suffers “for man’s sake.” Terrible things happen, but none of those things are what God wants. He tolerates suffering because He will not interfere with the decisions we make, even when it goes against His will. However, part of the gift of autonomy is that “we all sleep in the bed we make.” If God were to interfere, by blocking the terrible consequences of our disastrous actions, then He would take away our free will.
But when we see the result of sin, through the ugly fruit it bears, we are better able to understand its character, and to know that it is a tyrant that will torture us to death. Sin wounds us, and that open wound invites further infection the way exposed flesh entices a fly to lay eggs. Have you noticed that our unhealed pain is one of the main reasons why we continue to sin? That isn’t by accident. It is the nature of sin.
For example, say we commit adultery. We regret what we’ve done (or at least regret the pain it causes) and begin drinking or become addicted to something to stop the pain. While addicted, we continue to sin, in varied ways, dropping farther and farther away from God’s plan for our lives and coming closer and closer to death. Sin is like a rattlesnake bite; and whether we die fast or we die slowly, and the only antidote is the blood of the lamb.
Why did our beautiful little hen become so sick? Did we do something to bring it on? Did we neglect her? Believe me, I have gone over those questions again and again in my mind. The answer is we don’t know of anything we did, or that she did, that caused it.
But she is a symbol for so many other similar situations. How many mothers have grieved for a baby who died? What about childhood cancer? Birth defects? Drive-by shootings? Random accidents? I can go on and on, listing things that we don’t have answers for, but that cause us dreadful pain.
Why??? Why does it happen? And why does God allow it?
I have asked those questions, in anger, of the Lord. For I know that it is in God’s power to fix it all. But just hold on a second, and consider the implications of that.
When we pray for healing, what we mostly mean is for things to remain the same, and for God to fix our pain. We want him to cure the cancer, while we continue to smoke. We want the autoimmune disease to be healed, while we continue to eat the poisonous foods. But why would God heal the snake bite if we are determined to continue playing with the cobra? If you step back and look at it, healing someone while they continue to poison themselves only prolongs the agony!
In psychology, they call this enabling. It’s help in the short term that stops the person from hitting “rock bottom.” It makes the problem go on and on and on. But if the person hits the bottom, they have to stop doing what they are doing, and only then can they begin to heal.
In the same way, Jesus didn’t die to help us avoid the consequences of sin so that we could keep sinning. He died to save us from sin, the thing that causes physical and spiritual death.
When God fixes it, he fixes it all the way. He doesn’t just save us in the present, to help us through what is happening on earth; He repairs us for eternity. In the perfect world that God is creating for us, there is no poison in the food, and there are no thorns. There is no pain and nothing that causes pain. We will have no sorrow, or crying, and there will be no more death. (Revelation 21:4) We won’t even remember this place or the things that we have suffered here. It won’t even cross our minds.
“For behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” Isaiah 65: 17
The whole earth cries out, the Bible says, waiting to be released from the curse of sin and death. (Romans 8:22) The animals know. The trees know. The insects know that they are under a curse and they long for release from that curse, and they understand that it is all because of man, and they are all watching us! The evil in this world is here because of us and it can be ended when we finally turn back to God and submit to his authority.
The Bible says:
“For all creation is eagerly waiting for that future day when God will reveal who His children really are.” (Romans 8:19) NLT
God waits, for now, because His mercy holds back the justice that is coming until all those who may possibly be saved will come to him. But when that time is fulfilled, then God WILL bring justice.
For God will bring every deed into judgment, along with every hidden thing, whether good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:14)
Why do terrible things happen, sometimes to those who seem so innocent?
God didn’t want those things to happen, even though he knew it would. We have brought it onto ourselves, as it is the natural consequences of our own actions. Children get cancer from poisoned food and medicine. Who put the poison in? Not God. He created the herbs to bring healing and provide for man. He didn’t spray the chemicals, package things in plastics and remove nutrients from our food to save money. Men did that.
God stands ready to help every one of us through the pain of this life, even though, because of Adam’s rebellion, He doesn’t have any obligation to do so. He has always loved us more that we can understand, even before we knew Him, but he wants to save us from our sin. And we must be saved from it if we are to have a relationship with Him. But we have to accept his authority as our Lord and Savior first; then, we will be empowered to stop sinning. We cannot do it ourselves. We need God.
“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time: Casting all of your care on Him, for he cares for you.” (I Peter 5: 6-7)
So when I find evidence of sin in the world (like a sweet hen that is suffering through no fault of her own), and I am angered by it, I am feeling what God feels. He made each one of us, and designed all the creatures in this world, insects and all. He is watching over his creation, all of it. He hates to see the suffering here on earth more than we do!
“He heals the brokenhearted, binding up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3)
Life is precious. All life is precious. God has declared it so. He feels pain when we feel pain because He loves us, and it is His Spirit and His breath that gives us life.
“There is no truer statement than this: God will not do wrong. The Almighty cannot twist justice. . . .If God were to take back his spirit and withdraw his breath, all life would cease, and humanity would turn again to dust.” (Job 34:12, 14)
“Why don’t people say to God, ‘I have sinned, but I will sin no more?’ Or ‘I don’t know what evil I have done; tell me, and I will stop at once?’ Must God tailor his justice to your demands? But you have rejected Him!” (Job 34:31-33a)
There is a way to stop all the senseless suffering on this earth. God cares for his children, protecting them the way a mother eagle protects her children while they are learning to fly (Deuteronomy 32:11-12), putting us in the shadow of his wings until the storms pass by (Psalm 57:1), He draws us with gentle bands of love and heals us, though we do not know it is God that does it (Hosea 11:3-4). We can trust His care, for who is more powerful than God? And who is more qualified to bring justice?
Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written,
Romans 12:19-21
“Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.
Therefore“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
If he is thirsty, give him a drink;
For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
If you haven’t done so, I urge you to accept the Lordship of Christ, Our Savior, and enter into eternal life! And when the joy of His presence enters your heart, then share the Truth with everyone you can, as the Holy Spirit provides opportunity. Join with others who love God and bear fruit in their lives, for when we move in unity, we find comfort and empowerment, and Jesus promises He is right there with us (Matthew 18:20).
Take care of each other. I don’t have to tell you that it’s rough out there. Show love, not only to those you already love, but even your enemies. Jesus gave us that command, along with the strength to do it! Who does that except a child of God? We follow in the steps of the Prince of Peace, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father!
And take comfort in knowing that this is not the end; it is only the beginning!
The Fullers Four 