Canaries, Clams and the Fowlers Snare…

There is nothing so beautiful as bird song… And the prettiest bird song by far is canary song.

Being in a cage is not a problem for a canary. They sing, despite the cage. Why sing, when you live in such a dismal existence that totally lacks freedom? Simply, canaries do not view the cage as confinement, no it is quite the opposite. They see the bars as their security and protection and because of this perception, their little trills and rushes can be heard for miles! In fact, these little birds are as happy as clams at high tide. BTW, why do we say that… do clams even have a brain? Perhaps not, so emotion would totally escape them, but survival wouldn’t…. For the Christ Follower, God is our security, our protection and because of His great love for us, He provides boundaries that hedge us in safety. We would do well to learn some lessons from clams and canaries. Instead of pushing God’s boundaries and trying to escape “the cage”, better still to choose to sing and praise because He and His boundaries are our refuge and strong tower.

But they are alone… doesn’t being alone bother them. Again, no. Song birds are not social, they are territorial. The most dominant male will try to claim the entire inside of the cage for himself, no matter how big it is. If you have other males in with him, they will be constantly trying to challenge him… So, basically, you would get Birdie Wars or cage fighting Canary-style! Sooner or later, somebody will die, indirectly through starvation and harassment, or outright through fighting.

Russian canaries by far have the most beautiful trills in the world. However, obtaining a Russian canary is difficult in the states. I have never owned one, but one day I hope to.

I am convinced there are canaries in heaven. Who else would be leading the praises of God? In Revelations 22, heaven is described; it says, “and on this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve manner of fruits, yielding its fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations”. It would be fitting for a canary to be perched in the tree of life, singing praises and telling the nations of the goodness of God. Surely, all birds cannot be evil?

In Psalms 124: 7 our soul can be compared to a bird… “Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers.”

The likeness is of “weakness, folly, and the ease with which it is enticed into the snare. Fowlers have many methods of taking small birds, and Satan, has many methods of entrapping souls. Some are decoyed by evil companions, others are enticed by the love of dainties; hunger drives many into the trap, and fright impels numbers to fly into the net. Fowlers know their birds, and how to take them; but the birds see not the snare so as to avoid it, and they cannot break it so as to escape from it. Happy is the bird that hath a deliverer strong, and mighty, and ready in the moment of peril; happier still is the soul over which the Lord watches day and night to pluck its feet out of the net. What joy there is in this song, “our soul is escaped.” How the emancipated one sings and soars, and soars and sings again. Blessed be God many of us can make joyous music with these notes, “our soul is escaped.” Escaped from our natural slavery; escaped from the guilt, the degradation, the habit, the dominion of sin; escaped from the vain deceits and fascinations of Satan; escaped from all that can destroy; we do indeed experience delight. What a wonder of grace it is. The snare is broken, and we are escaped.” We have been tempted, but not taken; cast down, but not destroyed; perplexed, but not in despair; in deaths oft, but still alive, blessed be Jehovah!” (The Treasury of David)

Psalms 124 in verse.

Had not the Lord, my soul may cry,
Had not the Lord been on my side;
Had he not brought deliverance nigh,
Then must my helpless soul have died.

Had not the Lord been on my side,
My soul had been by Satan slain;
And Tophet, opening large and wide,
Would not have gaped for me in vain.

Lo, floods of wrath, and floods of hell,
In fierce impetuous torrents roll;
Had not the Lord defended well,
The waters had o’erwhelm’d my soul.

As when the fowler’s snare is broke,
The bird escapes on cheerful wings;
My soul, set free from Satan’s yoke,
With joy bursts forth, and mounts and sings.

She sings to the Lord her Saviour’s praise;
Sings forth his praise with joy and mirth;
To him her song in heaven she’ll raise,
To him that made both heaven and earth.