Just Sparrows

Some time ago, our local daily newspaper started publishing a number of pages about famous movie and television personalities. There are long articles and many pictures of the "beautiful people", as they are sometimes referred to. You can read about all the things that they have accomplished, who they married or not, and so on. We are led to believe that we should admire and perhaps envy these people. It is enough to make us ordinary people wonder what we are missing.

One Tuesday, I was leading the worship service at our local Long Term Care Centre, and just outside the French doors which lead to a grassy yard, there is a hanging bird feeder. As I was preaching, one of the ladies spoke up, pointed to the window, and mentioned all the sparrows at the feeder. Some were feeding, while others were trying to get onto the perches, fluttering around waiting their turn.

When we have a bird feeder, we like to see the bright-coloured birds, the cardinals, blue jays, purple finches, yellow finches, doves, or an odd indigo bunting perhaps in the spring. But mostly we see sparrows, and they seem to be everywhere.

The psalmist makes note of the sparrows when he tells us how anxious he is to go to the temple:

Psalm 84:1-3 – How lovely is your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young — even Your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. (NKJV)

It appears that he is envious of those sparrows. Although they are a drab brown colour and they don't sing, yet those birds were building their nests in the temple. They were able to come and go there, whereas the ordinary people of the time could go only occasionally, and even then, there were areas where they were not allowed to enter. Yet the sparrows just flew in and out at will.

Jesus talked about sparrows and how important they are to God:

Matthew 10:29 – Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will. (NKJV)

Even though they are just cheap, ordinary birds, they are all under God's care.

As I continued to lead the service, I looked at the people in the room — all of us just plain, ordinary people; nothing spectacular about us. There were no movie stars, no great achievers — just us ordinary folk together worshipping God, singing praises to His name and having a time of Christian fellowship together. It is so good to realize that we, too, are all in God's care.

Prayer: Our Father in heaven, it is so good to know that You care for us, and that in whatever situation we find ourselves, You will look after us. It is also so good to know that all through the ages, You have compassion for your creation — all of it. We ask that You will continue to bless us — all of us. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.