Scarecrows & Strawberries

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Numbers 13:27–33 AV

And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

Numbers 21:2 AV

And Israel vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.

Numbers 14:1 AV

And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.

This was an upset bunch of people. Twelve spies, ten had an evil report and only two had a good report. And, the people of Israel believed the evil report and they wept all night long.

My subject this morning is Scarecrows and Strawberries.

I was reading one time where a man was walking down a country road and he saw a sight that he would never forget. In fact that it would please him to remember what he saw during his last hours and last moments on this earth.

He said that he saw a garden behind a house. He said it was lovely garden and in the middle of the garden there was a large scarecrow and he said that this scarecrow was not alone. His arms were stretched out and on one outstretched arm sat a blackbird, and the other outstretched arm sat another blackbird. So, the blackbirds looked composed and contented, they looked triumphant, they didn’t look nervous. Unmoved by the ferocious scarecrow. The man said that he wanted to keep that picture in his heart. Carlilye once said somebody need to devise a philosophy of scarecrows, he said it needs to be done because they are the great defenders of property. There were more scarecrows in the old days than now because there were more gardens or perhaps there was a time they did more good than they do now. There was a time when there were scarecrows in the best of gardens.

My grandfather in Riverside, FL always had a scarecrow in his field and garden, for he believed they worked, my uncle Jeff who was a professional farmer did not. Scarecrows are not things you get acquainted with as a child because they were uncongenial. Anytime there were sweet and delicious things growing in a garden there was a scarecrow and as you would expect their arms were inevitably outstretched, he had on ill fitting clothes, there would be a hat that would always droop forward, as the parable of the virgins it is also with the birds. There are two kinds wise and foolish. The scarecrow would scare away the foolish birds but the wise birds seemed to know that the scarecrow was just an empty show. He had no shotgun, no poison, he had no punch so it is always possible blackbirds sitting on the arms, and shoulders of the hat of the scarecrow.

My grandfather in Riverside, FL always had a scarecrow in his field and garden, for he believed they worked, my uncle Jeff who was a professional farmer did not. Scarecrows are not things you get acquainted with as a child because they were uncongenial. Anytime there were sweet and delicious things growing in a garden there was a scarecrow and as you would expect their arms were inevitably outstretched, he had on ill fitting clothes, there would be a hat that would always droop forward, as the parable of the virgins it is also with the birds. There are two kinds wise and foolish. The scarecrow would scare away the foolish birds but the wise birds seemed to know that the scarecrow was just an empty show. He had no shotgun, no poison, he had no punch so it is always possible blackbirds sitting on the arms, and shoulders of the hat of the

scarecrow. The scarecrows seemed to be the best advertisement for the garden were the most juicy and delicious things to be had just for the picking. They became to the wise birds and invitation to a feast. The wise birds seem to know that scarecrows were never placed in fallow fields only fruitful ones, so thoughtful birds regarded scarecrows as an invitation to a banquet. A farmer hanging his old coat over a broomstick was like a dinner bell to the wise birds, and sing their loveliest songs with anticipation with the banquet that was awaiting them. And as soon as the old farmer put his hat on the ole scarecrow, here would come the wise birds and they would swoop down on the delicacies to which the scarecrow called them.

The scarecrows seemed to be the best advertisement for the garden were the most juicy and delicious things to be had just for the picking. They became to the wise birds and invitation to a feast. The wise birds seem to know that scarecrows were never placed in fallow fields only fruitful ones, so thoughtful birds regarded scarecrows as an invitation to a banquet. A farmer hanging his old coat over a broomstick was like a dinner bell to the wise birds, and sing their loveliest songs with anticipation with the banquet that was awaiting them. And as soon as the old farmer put his hat on the ole scarecrow, here would come the wise birds and they would swoop down on the delicacies to which the scarecrow called them.

It was only the foolish bird that was frightened by the scarecrow. He pays the inevitable penalty for his foolishness. He misses the fruit.

There are many scarecrows that can found on the road of life.

Consider the man in the parable of the talents who took his one, meager talent and went and buried it.

It was because he was afraid. His view of God was skewed by right information, wrongly applied.

And therefore never put his talent to good use because of a scarecrow that frightened him away.

And how many foolish folks have been kept away from the best and the brightest in life by a scarecrow.

The best scarecrow story in the Bible comes from the text that I read to you at the beginning.

The garden in which it stood, inspired volumes of precious verse.

The promised land was a good land, it was a land that flowed with milk and honey.

It was a land of wheat, barley, vines, fig trees and pomegranates. And it’s stones were iron, and from it’s hills they digged, Brass. A land where people would lack nothing.

But when the advance guard of a dozen men went to spy out the land, ten of them saw nothing but scarecrows, they never saw the flowering meadows swarming with bees, they never saw the cows full of milk, they didn’t see the laughing valleys, they didn’t see the fruitful hills, they didn’t see the terraced vineyards, nor did they see the cedars of Lebanon.

They didn’t see the cattle half buried in seas of grass. All they saw, or all they thought they saw were GIANTS.

They said, “All the men are giants.” Now the question becomes what became of those giants. The people eventually entered the land and their experiences are recorded for us. But the truth of the matter is, giants in the land were scarce. They were few and far between. What happened was this, the spies crossed the border and they peasants told them hair-raising tales of the ferocity of the bandits and these big people stood 7 to 10 feet tall. And to the terrified peasants all that sounded like giants. And, to the contented, peace loving Jews who liked nothing new all of this was extremely frightening. The tall people were soon magnified into GIANTS. They felt themselves the ten spies that said everybody was a giant, they felt themselves to be grasshoppers in their sight. We are grasshoppers in our sight and in their sight and were so easily crushed.

So when they returned, and gave their report and told of a land that was populated with all these giants.

Here is what they said they brought up an evil report of the land which they searched of the children of Israel the land which we have gone to search it is a land that eats up the inhabitants thereof and all the people there was men of great stature the sons of Anak which come of the giants and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, so we were in their sight. In all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried. And the people wept all night.

That is the kind of HAVOC that a scarecrow an wreak.

But among the twelve spies there were TWO spies, TWO wise men, TWO men who were not frightened by what they saw. They were like the TWO blackbirds perched on each arm of the scarecrow we talked about. They tasted the fruit and came back with their hands full of this fruit and needed to carry it because the fruit was so luscious.

The land was a good land. They said, “We are well able to take the land.”

They threw dust in the air we are well able to take this land. Don’t be afraid. They are only scarecrows that you saw.

God is well able to give us the land, NOW. Let’s don’t even wait. Let’s go right now. Let’s march against those Canannites right now. The testimony of one wise man perching on the extended arm of a SCARECROW is of more value than many, many who are frightened by the taunts of the enemy.

The garden that John Bunyan tells about in Pilgrim’s Progress is found at the Palace Beautiful.

The most conspicuous feature of the garden was a scarecrow.

Just as Christian was approaching the lovely place he saw two men running towards him.

They were running for their lives. One was timorous. And the other was mistrust.

Christian said, what are you running for, you are running the wrong way. Timorous said we are Christians traveling to Zion and the further we get along this journey the more dangerous it gets. And by the way just ahead of us are some LIONS if we go any further they are going to tear us up. At first Christian was alarmed and he got to thinking about all the dangers he had already gone through. And all the help God had given him. And all the strength God had given him. And he thought they can’t be any worse than what I face before and he just made up his mind that I am going to press on and that is what he did. That is what I feel like doing. I feel like going on. I feel like traveling on. I feel like pressing on. I know there is stuff happening all around us in our world, in our nation and around the world. It’s going on right now. Jesus said, “When you see all these things come to pass, lift up your eyes for your redemption draweth nigh.”

Look UP, church. We don’t need to hide in a CAVE. I am ready to press on with the LORD and do his will in the earth. The best thing you can do is pray, and fast, love God and come to church, trust God and lift up your hands and worship him and magnify him.

And GLORIFY him. you can’t do anything better than that.

Christian said I am going to press on .

So, when he approached the gate the Palace he found that the Lions were chained.

How many things you thought were going to get you? And, you got close enough and brave enough to keep going and God helped you. And you got there and the thing you were so afraid of was chained and it couldn’t get to you anyway.

The Palace Beautiful was the CHURCH. Later on we read of the Little Palace Beautiful which was a smaller church. This was the LARGER church. I will tell you what the devil will do He will put all kinds of scarecrows around the church. He will put scarecrows around the church to frighten people away who don’t know God.

He will put scarecrows around the church to frighten people away who are timorous and they don’t pray and they never seek after God.

He will put scarecrows around the church to try and frighten God’s people.

But God did not give us a spirit of fear. He said, I did not give you a spirit of fear. He gave us love, he gave us power and he gave us a sound mind.

It is unbelievable how many people have been frightened away from church because of some scarecrow that the devil saw to it was standing up out there, they didn’t see the blackbirds lighting on it. All they could see is the scarecrow. And, that slouchy hat that he had.

I am talking about fears that are preposterous, that you ought to be able to cast out of your spirit. I am talking that you ought to say be gone in Jesus’ Name.

I am talking about ridiculous stories that the enemy perpetrates.

Some folks make up things or they are deceived because cause things are like what they imagine them to be. I am glad I don’t have to believe the report of the ten spies.

I decided to go look for myself and I have found out it is a good land that the Lord our God has given us.

There is always going to be problems but it is still a good land that the Lord our God has given us.

I wouldn’t trade it for this whole wide world.

I wouldn’t trade if for anything you could name.

One of these days its going to all be WORTH IT ALL.

Faith is like a bird that loves to PERCH on SCARECROWS.

Faith knows there are a certain amount of RISKS.

But she also knows that only by taking these RISKS can she enjoy to the fullest the fruits of the kingdom.

You can’t be afraid and isolate yourself in a cave.

When Y2K was out. 88 Reasons.

I had rather put my TRUST in Jesus.

I don’t want to have a bunch of people around me that are always cringing and become so negative that they can’t get a hold of anything.

They can’t find a single scripture in the Bible that is full of faith and power.

We ought to be full of power and faith and blessing and abundance and dominion.

Some people they think because they see one drop of water that the sky is falling.

Faith knows that only by taking risks can we enjoy the fruit of the garden.

Faith knows that there are scarecrows wherever there are strawberries.

How many folks are there that don’t partake of the delicious strawberries in the garden of God because they are afraid.

Here Lord is that one talent you gave me.

Why didn’t you multiply your talent, or add to it.

Because I was afraid.

And I went and buried it.

How many buried talents are in this church because somehow told you something that isn’t even true and made AFRAID.

That reminds me of Mr. Despondency and his daughter Miss Much Afraid and all through their pilgrimage they are victimized by FEAR.

If one drop of rain fell they thought a FlOOD was coming.

Just like that story of the SKY is FALLING.

What happened to all the characters that were AFRAID in Bunyan’s Allegory.

When they came to the end of their journey that all their fears were groundless.

And they begged their friends and those that were following them. To never offer hospitality to such dark thoughts that had troubled them all their JOURNEY.

There was one character called Mr. Feeble Mind.

It wasn’t that he was crazy he was just weak in his mind he was afraid all the time.

He said, “My last request is when I cross the river, bury my MIND so nobody else can get a hold of it.

I don’t want anybody to have the trouble I have had.

Mr. Despondency said, “We found out that all our FEARS were GHOSTS, which we were never able to shake off until we came to this point in our journey.” They had lived so miserably, so much of their lives because of their fears. Most peoples fears the biggest percentage of them never come to pass.

It’s a whole better to TRUST God.

So Mr. Despondency entered the river in TRIUMPH and his daughter little Miss Much Afraid who was so afraid all the time she entered the RIVER, she entered into the river singing.

So, when this guy said, that he saw the black birds sitting on the scarecrow. I hope I can remember the scarecrow when I get ready cross the river. Because it would make me a whole lot less afraid. When I remember that so many things in life are just that.

The Grim Reaper that is called DEATH. Is after all a SCARECROW as far as a Christian is concerned. That is why we can say to the most fearful thing in the world, “O, Death where is thy sting and O, Grave where is thy Victory.”

There was a whole generation that the Bible said that entered not in the Promised Land that flowed with milk and honey because of their unbelief and most of that unbelief was caused by too many scarecrows that they were afraid of.