Go to the Hen……..Consider her ways and be wise

The hen is another amazing creature of God with some sterling qualities for us to learn from.

Proverbs 6:6-8(KJV) – “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:

Luke 13:34 “….how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings”

1.       She lays enough eggs before sitting on them: That is GOOD PLANNING.

§  Lk 14:28 - "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won't you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?

2.       She reduces movement when she starts sitting on the eggs: That is DISCIPLINE.

§  2Timothy 2:12- “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier”

3.       She physically loses weight while sitting on her eggs owing to decreased feeding: That is SACRIFICE and SELF DENIAL.

§  1Cor 15:58- “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord”

§  Hebrews 6:10- “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.”

4.       She is able to on eggs from another hen even guinea fowls: That is TOLERANCE and GENEROUSITY.

§  John 10:16 – “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd”

5.       She stays on her eggs for 21 days, patiently waiting and even if they don’t hatch she will still lay eggs again: That is FAITH, HOPE and COURAGE.

§  Hebrews 10:38- “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man drawback, my soul shall have no pleasure in him”

§  Joshua 1: 7 (KJV) – “Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest”

6.       She is able to detect unfertilized eggs and rolls them out:  That is SENSITIVITY and DISCERNING.

§  2Cor 2:11(ISV) – “so that we may not be outsmarted by Satan. After all, we are not unaware of his intentions”

7.       She will abandon the rotten eggs and starts caring for the hatched chicks even if it is only one: That is WISDOM, CONSCIOUSNESS and being REALISTIC.

§  Isaiah 43:18-19 (NKJV)- “Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert”

8.        No one can harass her chick:  That is being PROTECTIVE and LOVING.

§  Isaiah 49:25b- “for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children”

9.       She gathers all her chicks together under her wings: That is UNITY of PURPOSE.

§  2 Cor 5:18-19- “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation”

10.   She doesn’t abandon her chicks before they mature: MENTORING

§  Proverbs 22:6- “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it”