Washington Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

By Doug Bing, Washington Conference president

Is a rooster crowing somewhere in your life?

Growing up on the outskirts of a small country town, it was common to hear roosters crowing in the morning. Frankly, they would crow all throughout the day as well. However, none of them were next door. They were usually heard from a distance and were just an accepted part of the day. Plus, at that time, I could sleep through anything.

As a young adult, however, I grew to really dislike roosters. While serving as a student missionary in a community without housing regulations, there were chickens and roosters wandering everywhere it seemed. They would also start their daily calls at times when no normal person wants to be jarred from deep sleep with the loud crowing of a rooster that seems like it is right outside your window.

Like most things in our world, scientists have studied why do roosters crow. All manner of tests have been run on roosters to see what makes them decide to crow when they do. Most of us have always thought that roosters crow when it becomes light. However, most roosters will start two hours before daylight in the morning. Thus, they very annoying sounds that consistently woke me up overseas.

Roosters have been observed going to a high spot and crow. It seems they have an internal clock that even when the scientist tried to trick them with turning on lights at different times that they really couldn’t trick them. One thing, however, the scientists have all concluded is that the rooster crows to establish his territory. No matter what time he crows or how often he crows he is establishing his territory with all that will listen.

The most famous Biblical reference about a rooster is the rooster that crowed when Peter denied Christ during his trial.

Mark 14:72 states: “immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: Before the rooster crows twice you will disown my three times.”

The rooster was just doing what rooster do. He was establishing his territory. From a spiritual perspective, however, it seems that a different territory was also established. The devil had established a strong hold in Peter’s life and it all came out when he was facing the trial of being accused of being a follower of Jesus. The devil likes to crow just like a rooster when he thinks he has established territory.

But Peter also had a chance to reverse course.

Jesus prophesied that the rooster would crow twice before Peter had denied him three times. Peter could have taken the warning and stopped his denials of Jesus!

So the question I asked myself and is one you can ask yourself: is there a rooster crowing in your life? Is there a warning being given that the territory of your life is being given to the evil one? Peter recognized immediately what had happened and we know that Jesus and Peter made things right between them and Peter went on to give everything he had in ministry for Jesus.

So if there is a rooster making noise in your spiritual life, stop, seek God’s help to reverse course, and make things right with your Savior and Maker. Then go and fully follow God wherever He leads.