"Look at the birds"???
How does God get your attention? In a world where there are markets fully comprised of getting our attention. How does God break into the clamor to have a word? I’m a very visual person; my attention goes where my eyes go. So God often gets my attention through something I see, it’s like a little tap on the shoulder or a gentle elbow to the ribs, “Hey, did you see the beautiful contrast of the crimson cardinal on the stark white snow?” For the last several months I can’t seem to help myself when I see a bird on our back deck I just have to stop and observe it for a moment, so small and seemingly helpless yet so full of joy. In a recent Bible Study I was doing the question was asked, “What has God been drawing your attention to lately?” Hmm, Birds??
Jesus used birds to get the attention of the entire crowd during one of his best hillside sermons. He says this simple sentence in Matthew 6:26, “Look at the birds.”
Jesus has just told them, “Do not worry about everyday life” (Matt.6:25) and to fully illustrate his point He’s asking them to take a look at the birds. “They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you far more valuable to Him than they are?” The reason I see a carefree joyful disposition when I as Jesus said "look at the birds", is because they are free of worry. They trust God to provide for them. They can’t possibly trust in themselves for provision because they don’t plant anything, beyond that they also don’t reap anything, and even if they did they have no way of storing it up. They are free because they trust. They know they are cared for. Jesus wants us to have their confidence and freedom and so He asks us a leading question, "aren’t you even more important to your Heavenly Father?" Jesus’s application is, “Don’t worry about having enough…your heavenly Father already knows all your needs,” Matt.6: 31-32. Did you catch that? God knows every need we are going to have this year and He’s already gone before us to meet it. We don’t need to live in a state of worry, it won’t add anything to our lives and it definitely won’t gain us any more. Instead we should be like the birds trusting all our needs will be met and live in the freedom of being confident of God’s love for us.
One of the things I’ve enjoyed most about the birds besides their freedom is their song. I realized birds while small and seemingly insignificant are the only animals God has given the gift of song to. They have a voice. A voice that is pleasant and soothing and beautiful. We too have been given a voice. A voice to call out to God, a voice to share the inner workings of our minds and hearts with others, a voice to communicate love, and a voice to express the simplest and most complex thoughts. What a gift! It reminds me of Psalms 8:4, “what is man that you are mindful of him?” When I take into consideration the vastness of the world God is sustaining, what am I that He would hear my voice and meet my needs? I only have to "look at the birds" to answer that question; I am valuable to Him and so are you!
2016/01/21 at 8:32 pm