A Little Birdie Told Me

I woke up to the calls and warbles of so many birds this morning...that made me smile with warm thoughts of Spring!  So, I was thinking..."I want to share something about birds, Lord"....let's talk about that today.  My first thought was the verse that talks about God knowing the plight of even one sparrow, but God led me to a different verse....He seems to be on a theme with me.  Did you know the phrase "a little birdie told me" is Biblical?  This is not so much cute as it is a passage of understanding and wisdom.  I will try to unpack some of these verses because they might seem a little odd to you like they did to me, but after reading some commentaries, there is a lot of wisdom in these verses for us right now.

Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning! Ecc. 10:16

Some translations say child, some say childish or slave/servant.  The gist is that if a king is not able to use discernment to put the necessary work and good of his people before his own pleasures, he will not be a good king and his land will suffer.  That is why it mentions that the princes eat/feast in the morning....they put that above everything else.  The reason why slave or servant can be inserted here is that when a king does not exercise wisdom and discernment of his own, he can come under slavery to his advisers who can take advantage of his power for their own pleasure.

Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness! Ecc. 10:17

Son of nobles does not necessarily mean nobility, but has been raised to work hard and understand priorities...puts work before pleasure and values food as nourishment for the strength to accomplish the work.

By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through. Ecc. 10:18  

This is pretty self-explanatory, but "house" and "building" can also refer to kingdom.

A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things. Ecc. 10:19

This is basically the motto of those "childish" kings....it is not inserted here as truth for Christians to live by, but rather to understand what these leaders are driven by.

Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell of the matter.  Ecc.10:20

This is the super interesting part to me and what I think God is still impressing on me....our response is not to curse in words or even in thought.  Will a little birdie actually tell on us to the king?, No, but GOD knows our hearts and our motives....they have wings that fly straight to Him.  We elect a man or woman and want him/her to change everything that is bad with our nation....when we don't see anything getting better, we become angry and complain.  Complaining is a concept that spreads exponentially....it creates environments of distrust and negativity where, even if some good work is being done, it will probably not be recognized as such.  Somewhere we neglect that a human is nothing without God's power and authority resting on them.  We need to go to God with our requests for change and revival....whoever we elect has no power outside of God bestowing or granting the power.