Take a Look at the Birds

The headline on the front of today's newspaper read "State Economy May Not Recover till 2014". I'm reading that and I'm thinking, really....

It was just a few months ago that the sky was falling down, remember that? But the sky didn't really fall down after all. It's still up there. Now, I'm aware of the economy's current condition, and I know that we are not in the "glory days" of booming economic growth right now. It's obvious that there are still people struggling financially. But so many times I think that we get caught up in the doomsday talk and we begin to worry.

Worry is nothing more than saying, "God can't or won't take care of me through this circumstance. So, we worry. We worry and try to come up with our own game plan. We try to control things that ultimately God is in charge of. Jesus said to not do that. He told us to look at the birds to remind ourselves of His sovereignty and provision.

During the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave several illustrations as to why we should not worry, and one of the examples He chose to use was that of birds. Speaking outdoors near the Sea of Galilee, maybe Jesus even gestured toward a few birds flying by: "Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are?" (Matthew 6:26).

Birds don't have the promises that we have. Birds aren't promised eternal life. Birds are not created in the image of God. Yet do birds ever look worried to you? Have you ever seen a stressed out bird wondering where they will find their next meal or if they'll have a job in the morning? Every morning, like clockwork, they are up at the break of dawn, singing away. Jesus was saying, 'You see, the birds are fine. You can be fine. If God takes care of birds, won't He take care of you?"

That doesn't mean the birds don't go out and get their food. Some eat vegetation. Others eat seeds. Some eat fish. The rest hang out at McDonalds and wait for you to drop your fries. Then there are those thieving birds, the sea gulls, which hang out at the beaches and wait for you to go into the water so they can fly off with your lunch. Birds take care of business, but they don't worry about it. As one poet wrote,

Said the robin to the sparrow, 'I would really like to know
why those anxious human beings rush around and worry so."
Said the sparrow to the robin, 'Friend, I think that it must be
that they have no Heavenly Father such as cares for you and me."

If God takes care of the birds, will He not take care of you as well?