You are of more value than many sparrows
“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; For the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, And he has become my salvation.”
Isaiah 12: 2 (ESV)
How easy it is to read a verse of scripture and immediately receive a rush of encouragement and hope, until we come to the hard bit that is – trying to put it into practice.
During the last eighteen months or so, I have become very attached to the birds that visit my garden, some more so than others of course, but I gently remind myself that God created the pigeons too! There is, however, one little male sparrow who I have become particularly fond of because after a lot of patience on my part, and a great deal of courage on his, he trusts me enough to eat directly from my hand.
My little feathered friend comes when he particularly needs some physical food and I have learnt to meet him at his own level, where he feels most comfortable. I kneel down just inside my patio door and stretch out my arm as far as I can, with some suet titbits resting at the end of my fingers and he bravely comes and takes them. He now trusts me enough to not retreat to a nearby bush to consume his lunch but only moves about a foot away, before coming back for more which I freely give him. I admire him for his bravery and I hope he has grown to love me and to be a little less fearful. We can go for weeks without meeting each other in this way but when we do so it gives me great joy and happiness to know he hasn’t forgotten me.
How does God feel, I wonder, when like my sparrow we do the same thing and come to Him, in this case for spiritual food, or help in some way? I like to think that He too is filled with great joy because we feel able to approach Him safely. We may feel a little fearful when doing so, and should we be feeling particularly low or discouraged, even causing us to be negative in our approach, I like to think that God understands all of this and still lovingly stretches his hand out towards us.
We know that He may not always answer our requests there and then, and my little sparrow has had to accept that I can’t always respond immediately to his demands, but God is always there for us, and as long as my feathered friend needs me, I hope to be there for him too.
Prayer
Thank you, loving Father, for meeting us at our own level. Please help us to approach you in trust so we may experience the great joy of doing so, and to not berate ourselves if we sometimes fail. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Study by Sharman Bowen
About the writer:
Sharman Bowen attends the Lewes congregation of Grace Communion International.
Local congregation:
Grace Communion in Lewes
The House of Friendship
208 High Street
Lewes
BN7 2NS
Meeting time:
Sunday 11:00am
Local congregational contact:
Hilary Buck
Email: lewes@gracecom.church
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Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church