The Provision of Protection
Protection of the vulnerable is built into God's design.
Recently, my husband was pulling out of our driveway and was immediately halted by a feathery ball running across the road. He quickly realized it wasn’t just one feathery creature but many! A family of turkeys had been foraging in our yard in the early morning hours and was retreating to the woods for the day. He was able to capture most of it on video so the kids and I could see the sweet family. There was a mother, a father, and six little ones. Over the past six years that we have lived here, I have seen dozens of turkeys come in and out of our yard, but never babies. It was such a treat!
My boys were awake and sitting at the dining room table with me when I opened the message and started watching the video. We all oohed and aahed over the adorable little creatures scurrying across the road. But towards the end of the video, something caught my attention. I don’t think the boys noticed it, or at least they didn’t mention it to me. While the mother and babies were venturing into the woods, the father turkey stood in the middle of the road and waited for his entire family to make it safely across before he went into the woods himself. It actually took my breath away for a moment.
Here, in the natural order of creation, I saw a glimpse of God’s goodness. He stamped it into the heart of man to protect and defend the vulnerable, but here I saw that even this male animal instinctively knew to protect his family. No one told him to stand in the middle of the road—he just did it. It reminded me of how my husband moves beside me when a car passes us on one of our nightly walks. He walks between me and the car because his instinct is to protect me from getting hurt.
It’s so beautiful and wonderful how God reveals a glimpse of his protective, loving nature in the way that he designed males to sacrificially protect others.