Through the Bible With Birds and BeastsSample

When Creation Groans And Sparrows Fall

Every person and animal on earth belongs to God, including the ill or injured ones. That’s a perplexing thought, I know. Just as God knows about every sparrow that falls to the ground, He knows the health status of every one of His other creations. The more I’ve worked in wildlife rehabilitation, the more I’ve learned to put injured creatures in His hands.

We live in a world where the fullness of God’s Kingdom is both “now and not yet,” as some of my favorite Bible teachers put it. I don’t believe God’s will is sickness and disease for us or His creatures, yet those harsh realities are still part of this earthly realm we occupy until Christ comes again. Because of that, the line from the Lord’s Prayer where we ask that the Father’s will be done “on earth as it is in heaven” is still as vital for us to pray as when Jesus first instructed His disciples to do so.

Romans 8 tells us that while we wait for Jesus to return and restore this fallen world, all creation is indeed groaning toward that day. Part of the pain is that people, animals, and plants suffer sickness, death, and decay. Sometimes illnesses are healed—sometimes not. But always, in God’s view, there is hope for the future.

Meanwhile, Matthew 10’s revelation that not a sparrow can fall to the ground without our Father knowing it is reassuring, given the sheer number of sparrows that fall to the ground. Scientific estimates place the number of common house sparrows at 150 million in the United States alone, and they exist pretty much everywhere else in the world, too. Yet for all the vast multitude of sparrows, the Father knows exactly what each one is up to in life and death. If He keeps track of the sparrows that closely, then we can trust that He is keeping even closer track of us as His children!

Ultimately, if/when/why/how healings happen is in God’s hands. What’s in our hands is to help ill people or animals any way we can through prayer, practical assistance, or appropriate medical treatment. We likewise groan with all creation toward the day Revelation 21 describes—a day yet to come, when every tear will be wiped away. Death, sorrow, and pain will be gone forever. Now, that’s a day we all long for!