The Great Speckled Bird

The Great Speckled Bird
 
“Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour.” Jeremiah 12.9
 

This analogy is aimed specifically at God’s chosen people with an emphasis on the Southern kingdom of Judah. God had chosen Abraham and his descendants to be a special people in His plan of the ages. Calling him out of Ur of the Chaldees, God promised not only to bless this people group, but also to make their name great and to cause them to be a blessing to others. Along with that promise, God also drew a line in the sand for how others treated this special group. (Genesis 12.3)
 
Five times in Jeremiah 12, God refers to His “heritage” and “inheritance” (Same Hebrew word) indicating His personal possession – something close to His heart – a prized possession.
 
This specially chosen people, for most of their existence, repudiated their privileged position and roared against God in anger and defiance as a lion roars against its prey. (Jeremiah 12.8)
 
God had given to her a unique identity and placed her in the world with an opportunity to show praise. He had given them an identity distinctly for them and placed them in a sin-ridden world as a stand-out great speckled bird of prey – a bird which could be identified from a great distance due to her exclusive coloration. Along with her exceptional appearance, she was to stand out, apart from the rest of creation, because of her relationship with God.
 
The other “birds” are all “against” her – seeking her demise. She has not been separated from the world, but has taken to herself the ways of the world and has adapted herself to be like the world.
 
Her personal roarings against God have separated herself from God. Her once special appearance and protection from God have blended into a dismal conglomerate of indistinct relationships that are worldly while trying to maintain the appearance of having religion.
 
Because of her lack of separation from the world and to God, God has taken His hand off of her and have allowed the ravenous beasts to surround and attack – without God’s special protection on her.
 
Such were the days in which Jeremiah lived and prophesied. Abraham’s seed was continuously harassed and preyed upon. They were neither accepted by the world nor were they separated to God. Having accepted and adopted all that the ways of the world; they had no platform upon which they could stand. They were vulnerable as the beasts of the world preyed upon them.
 
During the days and years following the Crucifixion of Christ, God has called to Himself a special people – the bride of Christ – the Church – to be a peculiarly separated, highly noticeable people to bear the truth of salvation. (I Peter 2.9) Those who follow Christ are not to be conformed to the world (Romans 12.2) but are to be observably different. (I Thessalonians 5.22) We are to use the things of the world, but not abuse their use. (I Corinthians 7.31)
 
So, where are you in the grand scheme of things? Are you a follower of Christ living under the umbrella of protection? Or, are you a speckled bird having the language of heaven but living with no power of protection from the One who saved your soul?