Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns , and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? (Matthew 6:26).
A bird on a naked overhead electric wire is one of the things that fascinates me. “Why are birds not electrocuted?” I asked Google. Not surprising, I wasn’t the only one. Many have enquired of this. The results were numerous and had to sift through what my unscientific mind can handle.
If there are birds on electric wire that aren’t getting shocked, it means that the bird is not a good conductor of electricity. This means that birds don’t allow the electricity to flow from the wire into their own body.Birds are able to sit on electrical power lines because the electrical current essentially ignores the bird’s presence and continues to travel through the wire instead of through the bird’s body. A bird’s body is not a good conductor of electricity
This is the simplest electrical explanation to me. And even that, it is the last statement I found helpful. “A bird’s body is not a good conductor of electricity.” So scientifically, or let me say, electrically, a bird doesn’t get electrocuted because its body doesn’t allow electric current to travel through it. However, there is an exception to this explanation: “While birds on power lines are essentially safe and aren’t in true danger, they will not be so lucky if they happen to touch the wire and certain other objects at the same time. If the second object is an electrical grounding wire or a second wire carrying another voltage the voltage difference causes a current flow through the bird between the two wires.” ² This exception is however rare.
As I ponder this, I was forced, as a Christian, to think through this theologically. Did God, out of his foreknowledge, structure the anatomy of bird’s to handle electricity in the future? Indeed the answer must be a resounding yes if God is Sovereign and Omniscient.
Look At The Birds of The Air
In Scripture, animals are sometimes used for moral and spiritual lessons. “Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.” says Solomon to the lazy fellow (Proverbs 6:6). Jesus instructing his disciples on doing ministry in a hostile world, taught them to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”(Mathhew 10:16). Indeed the whole of the natural world, teaches spiritual lessons especially the existence of God (Psalm 19:1-4; Roman 1:20).
When our Lord said “Look at the birds of the air” he called his audience’s attention to learn lessons from birds. The intended lesson as we read further is dispelling anxiety by faith and trust in God’s providential care. Elsewhere, on the same subject of faith and trust in God, Jesus pointed again to birds—Sparrows.
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows (Matthew 10:29-31).
The Providence of God
If God cares for birds, how much more will he not care for you created in his image. And that is what Christ was driving at in the sermon on the mount. “Are you not of more value than they [birds]? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” God has promised to care for us and we must have faith and trust in him. He knows the future and has prepared it ahead for us. Later on, with hindsight, Joseph tells his brothers their actions were to cause him harm, but God had a different agenda; preserving posterity (Genesis 50:20).
The doctrine of God’s Providence teaches that
God the great Creator of all things doth uphold,direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by His most wise and holy providence, according to His infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of His own will, to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy (Westminster Confession of Faith, 5.1).
In our anxiety, not knowing what lies ahead, we can get perturbed. But if we know God is in total control over tomorrow, we can rest in his Providence. We can say with Paul, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together h for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28).
Notes
1. George Lawrence J.D., “Why Don’t Birds Get Electrocuted on Electric Wires?”, https://sciencing.com/dont-birds-electrocuted-electric-wires-5180022.html, accessed 1/05/2020
2.George Lawrence J.D., “Why Don’t Birds Get Electrocuted on Electric Wires?”
Grace and Truth 