Lifetime Daily DevotionsSample

I Know He Watches Me. So I Sing.

"Are not two sparrows sold for a cent?

And yet not one of them will fall to the ground

apart from your Father."

Matthew 10:29 (NAS)

 

I once had a sparrow light on my shoulder for a moment while I was working in the garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance than I should have been by any military ornament I could have worn.  ~Henry David Thoreau

 

I feed the neighborhood birds--well, mostly the neighborhood sparrows. One scout will find the cache and hurry back and tell all his friends about it or "tweet" the news to everyone. They empty the feeder in short order. But that those insignificant little creatures eat a lot doesn't bother me. I figure if they are special to the Lord, they should be special to me! Occasionally a titmouse or a finch or a cardinal will crowd onto the feeder, but they are spooked by so many of the little brown sparrows flitting around, just excited to be alive! Pres made a statement the other day that stayed with me. He was looking at his feeder and the crowd of sparrows eating out that day and said, "A sparrow will never lack for friends."

The rest of the scripture above goes on with the Lord gently scolding us for not believing that He is going to take care of us. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Therefore do not fear; you are of more value than many sparrows (Matthew 10:31).



Ethel Waters, a well-known performer some years ago, made the song "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" popular as she shared the song at the Billy Graham crusades. The tune became a part of our lives as we would hum it or sing it or whistle it walking down the street. The final chorus reminds us: "I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free. His eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches me."

Do I know that? Can I fathom that the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, immutable, sovereign God sees me? That His eye is on me? That He cares for me? Surely I can grasp my importance to Him to some extent when I think about the sparrows that flock to my feeder and He tells me that not one of them fall to the ground without His knowing about it! If His eye is on me, does that mean that I'm immune to the disasters of this alien world? No. The sparrow falls and God sees it. He is sad. In His perfect world that would never happen. Just as I would never fall in His perfect world. But I do fall, He sees it. And His compassion envelops me. Compassion. What a wonderful part of our God's nature. He grieves with us. He feels our pain. He knows our sorrow. He loves us and cannot separate our hurt from His love for us.     

 

Think about that simple statement: His eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches me. Perhaps you're thinking about all of the suffering in your world, all of the hunger and pain and abuse in the wide world. You may ask, "If He is watching, then why doesn't He do something about it?" We are living in enemy territory and are fair game for the evil ruler of this world. But not a single child of His knows pain without His being acutely aware of that pain. When the sparrow falls, He knows it. When I fall, He knows it.

So I sing.

Not because my world is made up of roses and bluebirds.

I sing because I know that He loves me and

His eye is constantly watching over me.

He tells me that His eye is on the sparrow

and I know He watches me.