Not All Movement Is Obedience (Proverbs 27:8)
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Proverbs 27:8
Like a bird that strays from its nest
is a man who strays from his home.
This isn’t FRIDAY MOOD but it is Friday, and I’m feeling that MOOD — man y’all don’t even know. It’s good to be back home. And I mean that literally. I just got back from two long weeks in Louisville for a new job, and let me tell you, it felt like two months. I didn’t realize how much I missed my people, my space…even my car! I hadn’t driven in weeks — you learn quickly how much of a gift that is when your only ride is your feet.
I even sent my family a selfie; I was so excited. Guys can we please normalize that? Just sending random selfies to each other over text? I have really been trying to start that trend with my sisters and it's not really working hahahah DARNIT…all a brother wants is a selfie from his sisters with a goofy face but all I get is an ‘aww’ ‘love you’ NO! I want to see your face! Peyton, Jones! AH! They don’t listen to this but man can you just send a brother a selfie back!
Anyways, didn’t mean to go there but I’m feeling so great today! I’m very grateful to be home. And that’s why this verse hit me: like a bird that strays from its nest is a man who strays from his home. From his home.
Birds instinctively know their nest is where they’re safest. And the same is true for us. God gives us particular places — callings, communities, churches, relationships — that are meant to root and protect us. But when we wander off without clear purpose or calling, when we chase something just because we’re bored or restless or discontent, we end up exposed. Spiritually, emotionally, even physically.
I think of Jonah. Jonah fled his calling — and found himself in the belly of a whale. Dinah in Genesis 34 wandered from her family — and found danger she never expected.
That restlessness? I’ve felt it. In a way I got a little taste of it the past few weeks and I certainly was exposed to it in my heart a few months ago. I remember I was on the phone with a man who has planted over 70 churches. I told him I wanted to plant a church in Nashville and that I wanted to begin some kind of process of moving in that direction. He paused, and instead of laying out a plan which is what I hoped he’d do, instead he gently helped me see that I haven’t really been rooted at any one church for a considerable amount of time. And he was right. I had a pattern of chasing new opportunities, of being quick to move but slow to plant. I called it zeal. But really…it was discontent playing dress up as vision. The Lord has made it clear He wants me to dig some deeper roots in North Carolina.
But that’s what this proverb warns us about. Not change per se — but rootlessness. Not stepping into a new season per se — but running from the one you’re in because it’s hard or ordinary or undesirable or unseen. And I think a lot of us are tempted to be that bird, flitting from place to place, from job to job, church to church, podcast to podcast, always moving, never settling. It’s kind of like ‘new age NIL’ in college sports. There’s no loyalty or depth. We just want the new thing!
But here’s the thing: fruit doesn’t grow without roots.
And faithfulness often looks like staying put when everything in you wants to leave. It looks like asking, not ‘What’s next?’ but ‘What’s here?’
Jesus Himself didn’t wander. He was sent, yes… but never driven by impulse or discontent. Even when the cross loomed, He stayed faithful to His calling — for our sake. So that we, in all our wandering, might find our true home in Him.
Maybe you’re like me. Maybe you’ve been restless lately. Maybe you are in need of rest today.
So let me ask:
Where have you been feeling that restlessness / that discontentment rise up? Job, career, relationship?
If you’re moving in any way…are you moving out of obedience—or out of boredom, fear, or pride?
What would it look like to dig deep roots right where you are?
Those are worth sitting with today. So before you go out today and leave the hypothetical nest — remember God’s not just calling you to a place. He’s calling you to Himself. And in Him, you’ll find the home all of our hearts have been restless for.
Let’s pray.
