They say that God has His eye on the sparrow. I know that’s true–it says in the Bible–but that doesn’t mean sparrows never fall.
They do fall; they crash-land on the unforgiving ground. Wounds are received; bones are broken. They may never rise in the air again, never be able to fly as they used to.
They may never even breathe again.
But their Creator does have His eye on them–He sees! He cares. He binds up their injuries and helps them to fly again. When one dies, He knows.
He never told the sparrows they’d never hurt, or suffer, or be broken or crippled. Never said they’d always be able to skip through the sky. Never promised that they’d die peaceful deaths, where they lie down and “go to sleep.”
But He did say He’d be watching them, caring about them.
We’re like those sparrows.
Today’s mainstream Christianity likes to portray a life of ease and prosperity and happiness. But that’s not true Christianity. We are told several times in God’s Word that there will be suffering and persecution and resistance and struggling, etc. For example:
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Matthew 5:11 (KJV)
Notice it says “when,” not “if.” The word when implies that it will happen.
This persecution and suffering could be physical or spiritual. Or both.
Of course, we don’t like to think about that. We wish that our lives as Christians would be easy, and smooth sailing, and all that.
But it’s not.
We, like those sparrows, fall–literally or metaphorically. Wounds are received; hearts and so many other things are broken. We may never “fly” quite the same again.
We may never even breathe again (on this earth).
We’re never told that we’ll always stay “in the air,” never fall and get hurt, never meet a painful and/or unexpected end.
Jesus told His disciples that God keeps an eye on every sparrow and counts every hair on our heads, yet the fact remains that sparrows do fall. Tragedies do come to us. Innocent little children die under the wheels of cars driven by drunks. Someone we love is struck by cancer and dies in spite of our prayers.
“Sparrows Will Sometimes Fall” sermon by Richard Garrett
But we are promised by the God who keeps all–even “impossible”–promises that He sees us, cares about us, loves us.
When sparrows fall from lofty heights
“When Sparrows Fall” song, Heritage Singers
When wings aren’t strong enough for flight
When sparrows fall and dreams lay shattered
And all hope is out of sight
God saw the climb, He sees the crawl
He’ll pick you up when you may call
He cares for you, He sees it all
When sparrows fall
Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
Matthew 10:29, 31 (KJV)
Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
P.S. Reason for this post. . . I had read something (I can’t remember where) that talked about how sparrows do fall. Then today my cousin shared some verses, one of which was about God taking care of the birds (Matthew 6:26). And then my brain started spinning. 😁
