Proverbs 27:8  As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place.

God again teaches us in this proverb by turning our thoughts toward his creatures.

We can learn much about God by observing the creatures of his creation.

God uses this technique of teaching throughout his word.

Open your minds eye and see a bird's nest. What do you see?

You see a place. You see the place of a bird.

When you see a nest you think of the bird that occupies that nest.  The nest and the bird are synonymous.

God has so equipped each bird to be able to make a nest suited exactly to the bird's needs.

The nest is made to fit a particular bird. It is sized for the bird that made the nest.

A small bird makes a small nest while a big bird makes a big nest.

There is no waste in the nest. It is a proper place for the bird.

Everything is within reach of the bird and the nest is big enough for any family that the bird will have.

Orioles build dainty nests that are purse shaped, and hang them from slender, forked twigs.

The giant oriole of Central America builds a huge swinging nest as long as six feet.

The tailor bird from Africa and India makes its nest in large leaves.

It sews the edges together with long strips of grass or fibers to make a container for itself and its eggs.

The cowbird is lazy and lays its eggs in other birds nests and lets the owner of the nest raise its young.

Cliff swallows are masons and plasterers. They build globe shaped nests out of clay and attach them to cliffs.

Grebes build floating nests on rafts of decaying vegetation that they moor to the stalks of weeds and cattails.

The burrowing owl digs a tunnel underground or in sandbanks.

There it builds its nest, lays eggs, and hatches its young.

High in the tops of tall trees, on craggy cliffs, or mountain ledges, the American eagle builds its massive, untidy nest.

The Chimney Swift's nest in made to attach to a wall or chimney with twigs and is actually glued together with the saliva from the bird's mouth.

Some birds in the South Sea Islands and the Malay Peninsula build their nests in caves entirely out of their saliva.

The Chinese make bird's-nest soup from these nests and regard it as a tasty treat.

Why do birds make nests?

How does the bird know how to make a nest and how does he know how big to make the nest?

How does he know where to make the nest?

God has so ordained or ordered birds to have within them a desire to have a nest,

a place of rest and comfort,

a place of safety,

a place to trust in,

a place to insure the next generation has a successful start

away from the unknowns and dangers of its world.

God has given the birds of the air a place in this world.

He has given them a purpose and they are to fulfill that purpose and their nest has a very important part in fulfilling that purpose.

This proverb asks us to picture a bird that wanders from her nest.

Note that this is a female bird. It is a "her"

We have already seen that a bird's place is at its nest.

This is where it ought to be.

If it wanders it is not completely fulfilling its purpose as ordained by its creator.

The nest is the place where the next generation of birds will come from. The nest is a place of fruit bearing for God!

Unless this duty is seriously carried out there will be no birds to fulfill the purpose that God intends for these creatures.

The bird has to spend time in the nest warming the eggs if they are to hatch.

When hatched the bird spends most of its time going and coming to see that the little birds are fed.

There is no time for wandering.

God requires full attention to the purpose that he has for each bird.

God illustrates this for us so that we see the importance of place in our lives.

A place is where we fulfill the purpose that God intends for us.

Without place we are wanderers. Without place we do not fulfill God's purpose.

To wander means to rove; to ramble here and there without any certain course or object in view.

It means there is no purpose when there is wandering.

God did not make man to wander. He made each of us to live with purpose.

Each of us has a place in his plan.

Where we live is not so important as who and what we live for.

We can live in the same place all of our lives, we can attend the same church all of our lives but even in that kind of stability we can be wanderers from the purpose that God has for us.

A man wandering from his place is like a rolling stone that gathers no moss.

Even a stone that is fixed in place provides a place for moss.

Lack of fixed principles and lack of service to God exposes the wanderer to continual temptation and danger as a bird who wanders from her nest.

Those that wander from their place are always wanting to be something different or somewhere different to what and where they are.

1 Corinthians 7:24,  cautions every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.

Every step of departure, without a bible reason is a departure from God.

As Charles Bridges says in his Commentary on Proverbs, "Never can we put our foot out of God's ways, but we shall tread the path back with a cross."

The individual profession, instead of collective unity, is a purely schismatic spirit, the essence of pride and selfishness.

Proverbs 14:8,  The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: but the folly of fools is deceit.

2 Timothy 4:3,4,  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

Jeremiah 14:10, Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.

Amos 8:12,  And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.

Establishment is of utmost importance in the Christian life.

1 Thessalonians 5:21,  Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.