Parents,
Most of you have a picture in your mind right now of Chicken Little running around shouting, “The sky is falling!” Our generation remembers this children’s story, but do you remember how it ends? Before we get there, let’s think about that phrase and how in many ways it has been a deception that has tried to mark our generation. Think about marriage, finances, family relationships, jobs, bad news, health, parenting, politics, life, etc. Our response in these life situations has to stop lining up with a lie found in a children’s story and start lining up with the truths found in God’s word! The phrase “the sky is falling,” is a lie! However, if there is no discovery of truth, then the lie becomes our new reality and we run around spewing out words that lead others to believe it too. Remember the story…
Chicken Little likes to walk in the woods. She likes to look at the trees. She likes to smell the flowers. She likes to listen to the birds singing.
One day while she is walking, an acorn falls from a tree, and hits the top of her little head.
“My, oh, my, the sky is falling! I must run and tell the lion about it,” says Chicken Little and begins to run.
She runs and runs. By and by, she meets the hen.
“Where are you going?” asks the hen.
“Oh, Henny Penny, the sky is falling and I am going to the lion to tell him about it.”
“How do you know it?” asks Henny Penny.
“It hit me on the head, so I know it must be so!” says Chicken Little.
“Let me go with you!” says Henny Penny. “Run, run!”
So the two run and run until they meet Ducky Lucky.
“The sky is falling,” says Henny Penny. “We are going to the lion to tell him about it.”
“How do you know that?” asks Ducky Lucky.
“It hit Chicken Little on the head,” says Henny Penny.
“May I come with you?” asks Ducky Lucky.
“Come!” says Henny Penny.
So all three of them run on and on until they meet Foxey Loxey.
“Where are you going?” asks Foxey Loxey.
“The sky is falling and we are going to the lion to tell him about it,” says Ducky Lucky.
“Do you know where he lives?” asks the fox.
“I don’t,” says Chicken Little.
“I don’t,” says Henny Penny.
“I don’t,” says Ducky Lucky.
“I do,” says Foxey Loxey. “Come with me and I can show you the way.”
He walks on and on until he comes to his den.
“Come right in,” says Foxey Loxey.
They all go in, but they never, never come out again.
Yeah, I didn’t remember it ending that way either. But it totally makes sense that believing a lie can and will lead to consequences. It wasn’t enough to just believe the lie, but they were so deceived and confused that they didn’t even know where they were going anymore. Isn’t that just like the enemy? He wants us to believe his lies so that we will wander around lost, confused, fearful – and all along getting others to believe it, too… especially our kids.
There is a powerful question the fox asks. “Do you know where he lives?” I asked myself the question, why was Chicken Little going to find the lion to tell him anyway? As I read some thoughts about this story, I realized that the lion represents the King. Chicken Little was at least trying to go to the one she thought could do something about it – but here’s the problem… she didn’t know where the lion, the King, lived. So here’s the fox, or as Peter writes in 1 Peter 5:8, “The enemy is walking around like a lion waiting for someone to devour.” And so it happens: fear leads to being deceived and life is swallowed up.
What if Chicken Little’s response to the fox’s question was, “I know exactly where He lives because I go there often!” Chicken Little and her friends would have gotten to hear the King say, “What is the truth?” Then, in that moment, in the Presence of the King – faith, hope, and love would have led them to discover the very truth that the sky was indeed not falling.
I remember when we first got the phone call almost 10 years ago from our doctor that our daughter, Paige, had cancer. In that moment, Lana and I had a choice to listen to the voice of the enemy and let her funeral begin to play out in our minds, or go to our King that we call Daddy and find ourselves in His Presence. The enemy was never in control of any part of that day, but he never wanted us to believe the truth that God was! Little did we know, at that moment, Paige’s appendix had actually ruptured just two weeks prior. We would find all of that out a few days later, after many tests at the Children’s hospital. The miracle had already happened, but we didn’t know that. All we needed in that moment was God’s Presence, and that reality reminded us of the ultimate truth that He is good and worthy to be praised.
Life happens and when it does, we all have a choice… will we believe the lie, “the sky is falling,” or will we know that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever? Will we choose that we know whom we have believed in and know that He is more than able to guard anything we choose to trust Him with? You see – the key to encountering God that day was that we knew Him because we were pursuing Him through His word, through praise, and through prayer. The word says, “Draw close to Him and He will draw close to you.” I can and will always be able to testify that promise is true. God so pursued us in those moments, and all of us will be marked by that day – not by the bad news we received – but by the One who loved us and drew near.
You may be reading this, and the pain of your past is surfacing right now because your pursuit of God didn’t end that way. Maybe someone close to you did get a bad report and they did pass away. My encouragement to you is still the same. “God is great and greatly to be praised.”
I can say that because I have been in the hospital when Lana’s dad and mom both passed away. But we can both testify, though those days and the memory of those days can still be difficult, we will not be shaken because we trust our God, our Daddy! He is faithful and that is the truth.
You see parents, not only is the enemy trying to keep us from trusting that God is good, but he is wanting our lives to have a direct impact on our children trusting God. Psalms 78:6-7 proclaims “that the generation to come might know the faithfulness of God; thehe children who would be born, that they may arise and declare them to their children, that they may set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but choose to keep His commandments.”
God, you are faithful, and we choose to believe that you are the truth! We know we don’t have the power to keep the enemy from being a deceiver, but we do have the power to reject his lies and agree with your words of truth. So instead of living in fear that “the sky is falling,” we are choosing to live completely aware of Your presence that will lead us to respond in any situation with faith, and to help lead our kids to do the same as we declare together that You are good and we trust YOU.
Some questions to ask yourself:
How is the enemy trying to deceive me? Have I asked God what the truth is about my situation? Is my life an open door to the throne room of Heaven for my kids? Meaning, do they see you trusting God and responding in faith as you make your decisions? Ultimately, do you know that God is for you and not against you – and that He is your very present help in days of trouble?
You are loved by God, and He loves being your Dad!
Thankful to be His son,
Tommy Spencer
