Five Sparrows, Luke 12:6-7

"Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your heard are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows."

     Two farthings is the equivalent of two pennies in our culture (that is, an incredibly low form of currency). Five sparrows were sold for two pennies. And the fifth sparrow was thrown in as a deal for purchasing the other four. But God cares about every single one of these sparrows. He feeds them, though they do not plant and reap a harvest, He keeps them warm though they do not make clothes for themselves. He houses them, though they don't live in complex cities, planned out by architects and built by professional builders. God watches over each one of these insignificant, almost value-less birds. And the point Jesus is making, is if God watches over these, how much more will He care for and watch over us?
     Not only does God care for us and clothe us, feed us and house us, but He cares so much for us that He has numbered even the hairs of our heads. And if He cares enough to sit around and count the hairs on our heads, something that, to us, seems a complete waste of time, how much more will He deal gently with our hearts and our issues of life?

     I have experienced a lot of heartbreak in my life, and therefore it is something that I try to avoid if at all possible. I try to guard my heart and keep myself from getting into situations where my heart will be broken. And for some reason, I get this idea in my head that God is out to break my heart, in order to humble me or break me or something of that nature. It is true that God will, at times, break us so that we remain usable, but I don't know that it's true that He is just sitting around waiting for an opportunity to break our hearts, enjoying seeing us in pain and suffering because it brings us closer to Him.
     No, God loves us and has taken the time to count the very hairs on our heads; how much more does He, with all diligence, act gently and lovingly with our fragile hearts? Would He, who loved you enough to pay for all of your sin by being brutally beaten and crucified, delight in your pain, and your agony, and your heartbreak? Yet still, my mind finds ways to convince myself that God really wants to keep me down, keep me in a place of despair, of sadness and grief.
     But God is not into torture. He loves us, and He delights in blessing us. Recently He has blown my mind with this fact, showing me something of my future. I couldn't even accept it or believe it, because I didn't believe that God would ever be that good to me. It wasn't only a blessing, but something above and beyond all I could ask or imagine. It was something that astounded me to the point where I was in total disbelief, and yet knowing it was true, I just had to sit in awe.
     Could God love me so much to pour out upon me such a rich blessing? And not only a rich and gracious blessing, but a blessing so much beyond what I could fathom that it just seemed utterly ridiculous and beyond any sort of warranted gift of any sort! It was almost as though it was to prove to me that He is gracious and loving, kind and generous, beyond our wildest imaginations. And so I stand in awe.

     This, THIS, is the God of the universe. This is our God who numbers our hairs and finds great worth in us, so much so that He died for our sins. He hung there, nailed to a cross, blood dripping down, suffocating, beaten and bruised, beared ripped out, face swollen, thirsting beyond all comprehension-- He did this for you, He did this for me, He did this for all of humanity for all of history. How can we doubt His love? How can we think that He would only give us the bare essentials and find it annoying of us to ask for more, as though we weren't thankful for what He'd already given, and then subject us to pain to break us in order that we become devoid of all desires other than the logical essentials? This is not God, this is a distorted view prompted by our own fallen world and Satan himself. Don't think God is like this, He is not. And Hallelujah, praise God, for His neverending mercy, love, and grace that are unchanging and unwaivering!