Today we will be reading from Luke 11:53-12:12:

⁵³ When he went outside, the scribes and the Pharisees became hostile to him and began to interrogate him about many things, ⁵⁴ lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.

12 Meanwhile, when the crowd had gathered by the thousands, so that they trampled on one another, he began to speak first to his disciples, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy. ² Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered and nothing secret that will not become known. ³ Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.

⁴ “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body and after that can do nothing more. ⁵ But I will show you whom to fear: fear the one who, after killing, has authority to cast into hell.  Yes, I tell you, fear that one! ⁶ Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. ⁷ But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

⁸ “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, ⁹ but whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God. ¹⁰ And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. ¹¹ When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you will answer or what you are to say, ¹² for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say.”

Today we see a passage that is the foundation of one of the songs that so many of us love so much, “His Eye is on the Sparrow.” This is a beautiful song that speaks to how we know that God watches the sparrow and cares for it, so we know that He watches us and that we can sing, we can hope, and we can have joy. Because His eye is on the sparrow, and He watches us. 

It is a beautiful song, a song of peace and of joy, but let’s take a minute to talk about what is happening here.  We see a sparrow, and we think, oh, that’s a beautiful bird; how sweet is it that God watches such a lovely creature? What an awesome God we have. 

Here’s what they heard in the Bible.  Sparrows are worthless. They are of literally no value. They are on the bottom of the list of important, valued animals.  

This isn’t God watching the lovely and important sparrow, so He cares for us; this is God watching even the worthless sparrow.  So He watches, sees, and cares for everything.  There are no unimportant things to God. 

To the people of that day, the sparrow had no value. Yet God still watches it.  Even the sparrow, even the SPARROW, has value and worth to God. 

So, if the worthless sparrow has value to God, how much more value do you have?  How much more worth do you have?  How much more do you matter?  God even cares for the sparrow. 

So, I KNOW He watches me.  

Today, you matter to God. He loves you. He cares for you.  You are His.  You matter to Him.  He watches the sparrow.  He cares for you, today. Don’t worry, don’t doubt, don’t fear.  Trust.  He watches you.  

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