Monday Moment: The Sparrow

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?
Yet not one of them will fall to the ground
apart from the will of your Father...
So don't be afraid;
you are worth more than many sparrows.
-Matthew 10: 29, 31

There are days I feel very small. Insignificant. You know too, right? Those moments when overwhelming hurts or ever-present troubles pile in front of you like Everest. When sorrows and fallen hopes bear down on you like clouds. When heavy prayers - instead of soaring upward - seem to fall to our feet like stones.

There are other days when my life feels like an exercise in futility. A flesh and blood example of chasing after the wind. A smart man I know says every person needs one of two things: to belong or to matter. Some days, we are sure we're neither: we don't belong and we don't matter. Not really. We get up. We work. We try to be happy or fight off the realization we're not. We go to bed. The next day, we do it all again. Sure, places and people and purchases break up the monotony... occasionally. But most days, we feel small. Insignificant. We're a lonely sparrow under a boundless sky.

I love the illustration Jesus gave His disciples in Matthew 10. While preparing the men to head out on their journeys, Jesus is coaching them on how to deal with trouble. How to handle rejection. And in the middle of it all, comes this: the sparrow story. Look, Jesus seems to say. You can run down to the market and buy two sparrows for a penny. To us, they're cheap eats. Chump change. They're nothing. But to your heavenly Father, they are priceless. Not one falls to the ground without His knowledge, planning, or care. So don't worry. Don't. Stop. Because if God pays this much attention to the sparrow, how much more is He paying to you? If God invests this much time and care in a sparrow, how much more does He invest in watching and caring for you?

Life gets away from us sometimes, doesn't it? And after it trails our feelings. Do I matter? Does He care? Is any of this worth it? we wonder. And to that, Jesus has already answered you: yes, yes, and yes. Your silent prayers are heard. Your desperate hopes are noted. And your life... the life you're living this very moment... isn't going unnoticed. He knows you. He sees you. He hears you.

He is, after all, the One who watches the boundless sky and counts each lonely sparrow. And you... well... you are worth all the sparrows in all the skies under His watchful eye.

“Let not your heart be troubled,” His tender word I hear, And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears; Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see; His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me. -Civilla D. Martin, 1905

Monday Moment is a little devotional to help kick-start your week. See you again next Monday!