Look to the Birds: Lessons in a Pandemic
This morning as I stood in the kitchen with my daughter, making the morning coffee we both feel is so necessary to start any day, she called out in dismay, “Mom! There’s a bird in our fireplace!” As I looked up, I was startled to see a distressed bird flapping wildly behind the glass of our gas fireplace, trying to no avail to free itself from its confines. As I walked toward the panicked bird I began to pray aloud. “Jesus, this bird is yours and we need your help. We need you to calm his heart and show him the way out.” Within moments, the bird stilled, sat quietly on a log, looked up, and then made his way back to the vent and out to freedom. In the middle of a pandemic, with so many anxious, pained, and desperate calls being sent to heaven, Jesus heard my prayer for a little bird that had not escaped His notice. How much more then does he notice you? Your prayers reach His ears. (1 Peter 3:12) He bends down to listen to you. (Psalm 116:2)
In Matthew 10:29-31, Jesus tells us to have no fear and uses birds to make his point.
Are not two sparrows sold for one penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows.
What about this pandemic, though? Can this directive to “fear not” possibly apply to a time of crisis such as the one we currently face? After all, a lot of people are dying and the world feels chaotic. If you take a look at verses 16-28, you will see that Jesus was telling His disciples that as sheep among wolves they would be arrested, beaten, hated, and delivered up to death. Crisis was coming! But they weren’t to fear those who could kill only the body. They were to fear and reverence God alone, and He was their Father who numbered the very hairs of their head.
Are we facing real danger? We are. Is our Father in heaven able to care for us in the midst of it? He is. In this time when so many of us are feeling anxious, and understandably so, let’s remind ourselves what Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:25-26, where he again points to the birds.
Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
This morning my heavenly Father calmed, settled, and released a captive bird when I asked Him to. Jesus holds all creation together always (Col. 1:17), but today He let me watch and I was awed. Do you know people who are currently being held captive by sin, unbelief, addiction, or fear? Lift them up to your heavenly Father and ask Him to free them. Are you the captive? Call out to Jesus. He has come to set the captive free. (Luke 4:18) Are you anxious about how to provide for yourself and your family in these unprecedented times? Remember that God promises to meet your every need. (Phil. 4:19) In the middle of the chaos of a pandemic, Jesus heard my prayer and freed a little bird. He’s never too busy to take notice of you and your need. You, after all, are worth more than many birds.
“Jesus, how grateful we are for your tender care. Calm our anxious hearts as we call out to you. We look to you to meet our needs, free us from our fears, and deliver from captivity those we love who don’t yet realize that they need You to free them. In Your precious and holy name we pray.”