His Eye Is On The Sparrow

Proverbs 1:33 – But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil. (KJV)

Once when the 747 aircraft on which I was a passenger was making its final approach to a busy airport, from my window seat I was idly watching the car traffic on a busy two-lane highway below. For some time I marvelled at the orderliness of the traffic flow, until I observed a car suddenly swerve out into the oncoming lane in an effort to pass a line of slower moving cars ahead. From my vantage point, I could see a car approaching closely in that lane, which the passing driver apparently could not see, and a head-on collision seemed certain. However, at the last possible second, the passing car made it partly back into its proper lane, forcing several cars in that lane to brake and swerve violently, and, by taking partly to the shoulder, the oncoming car managed to get around it. I can only imagine the horn-blowing that followed!

The thought occurred to me that God must look down on us from His vantage point, and, in His infinite love and compassion, sorrow over us when we do foolish things, and grieve that the perfect world that He created for us had, through our own waywardness, become so frantic.

Within an hour of landing, I was driving home myself on that same busy highway, and had to rely on my own driving skill and judgement, and on the driving skill and judgement of the motorists sharing the highway with me, to bring me home in safety. That particular stretch of highway was particularly busy and accident-prone, and the possibility of my being involved in a crash was always in the back of my mind. In a flawed world, I realized that even though I "hearkened unto God," I could have no Divine promise that some evil (an accident) would not befall me. But, "hearkening unto God," and resting on the assurance that "all things work together to them that love God" (Romans 8:28), I could be joyously free from the fear of that evil! The words of that old familiar hymn we sang in Vacation Bible School ran through my mind:

I sing because I'm happy;
I sing because I'm free.
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

Prayer: Lord, if we attempt to rely on our own resources to deal with the perils of life, remind us that our hope and security lies only in you. Amen.

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