Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from Mt 6:26 and following. Indeed, birds are the smallest creatures of nature and God takes care of them; so his major creation that is the human, he also nourishes it, and very important is the word of Christ as given food. Jesus does not prevent sowing for food but that it should not be done with the anxiety of the next day. And to recall that God by the arm of Jesus operated the multiplication of the loaves for 5,000 men. For faith in Providence, in fact, does not dispense with the difficult struggle for a dignified life, but frees from anxiety for things and fear of tomorrow. Let’s open our eyes as Jesus invites us to do. Let us observe in Creation the innumerable little witnesses of the touching solicitude and goodness of the heavenly Father: flowers, birds… For birds have little value and yet God takes care of what concerns them. How much more will God care for His own who have such a great value in His eyes?
Behold, Jesus tells us that this question and the others are for those who do not know God! He is not saying that they are bad, but that they cannot become a priority. Nor does he say that one should not take care of these things because the birds of the sky he is talking about do not just open the beak so that the food falls into it! Not worrying doesn’t mean being carefree. The apostle Paul will remind us: “If someone does not want to work, let him not eat.” We are so easily worried about the next day! And yet, we are much better protected from its vicissitudes than our ancestors, and even our grandparents or great-grandparents. If our social security is not a panacea and if there are still areas that it is unable to cover, what progress has been made! This does not prevent many worries, as stubborn as ivy on our trees. Our short sight, the domination of money … wreak serious havoc on human history.
And suddenly, on the slope where we began to slide, this word of Jesus sounds like a bugle: “Do not worry.” An order he repeats. It is true that worry is like pegged to our being. By his insistence, Jesus wants us to get out of these dark tunnels and make us emerge into his Kingdom of light where all this is given in addition, not as a small complement, but as benefits infinitely better than anything we can imagine. “You are worth much more than birds,” christ said. So, let us hear it well: “Seek first the Kingdom of God and what God asks. He will give you everything else in addition.” This is directed against the worries of material life, the necessary consequence of the incompatibility between the service of God and that of Mammon. The anxious pursuit of our subsistence as the possession of wealth prevents us from being whole to our only legitimate Master. His service implies absolute trust as well as complete detachment. This idea is also found in Luke 12:16 and following.
For the anxieties that pull thought in the opposite direction, are the effect of a heart divided between heaven and earth, troubled by doubt on the day of trial. The remedy for this evil is the trust in God that Jesus wants to inspire in his disciples. That is why he presents them with various considerations as high as they are powerful. Since life because the soul as the principle of life, as in Mt 25:10,39; Mt 16:25; Mt 2:20, is more than the food that sustains it; the body more than the garment that covers it; whoever has given and preserves the most, will he not give the least? Paul employs such reasoning as Rom 8:32, which could also apply here.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
Worldly concerns:
· Carnal spirit
Ex 16:3 The children of Israel said to them: What have we not died by the hand of Jehovah in the land of Egypt, when we were sitting by the jars of meat, when we were eating bread to satiety? for you led us into this wilderness to starve this whole multitude to death. Nb 11.4 The collection of people who were in the midst of Israel was seized with lust; and even the children of Israel began to weep again and said: Who will give us meat to eat? Ps 78:18 They tempted God in their hearts, asking for food according to their desire. John 6:26 Jesus answered them: Truly, truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you have seen miracles, but because you have eaten loaves of bread and have been satiated. Rom 7:23 but I see in my members another law, which fights against the law of my understanding, and which makes me captive to the law of sin, which is in my members. Gal 5:13 Brethren, you have been called to freedom, only do not make this freedom a pretext to live according to the flesh; but make yourselves, through charity, servants of one another.
· Value of Life in the Eyes of Christ
Mt 6:25 That is why I say to you: Do not worry for your life about what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will be clothed in. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Mt 10:31 So fear not: you are worth more than many passerines. Mt 16:26 And what would be the point of a man gaining everyone, if he lost his soul? or, what would a man give in exchange for his soul?
· Pre-eminence of Man over other creatures
Gen 1:28 God blesses them, and God says to them: Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subjugate it; and dominate over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every animal that moves on the earth. Ps 8:7 You gave him dominion over the works of your hands, You put everything under his feet, Ps 82:6 I said: You are gods, You are all sons of the Most High. Mt 6:26 Look at the birds of heaven: they do not sow or harvest, and they do not collect anything in granaries; and your Heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth much more than them? Mt 12:12 How much is a man worth no more than a sheep! It is therefore permissible to do good on the Sabbath.
· God takes care of the Birds
Dt 22:6 If you encounter in your way a bird’s nest, on a tree or on the earth, with cubs or eggs, and the mother lying on the young or on the eggs, thou shalt not take the mother and the young, Mt 6:26 Look at the birds of heaven: they do not sow or harvest, and they do not collect anything in attics; and your Heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth much more than them? Lk 12.6 Don’t we sell five passerines for two cents? However, none of them are forgotten before God.
· Man, subject to human limitations
-Closed path Jb 3:23 To man who does not know where to go, And may God circle on all sides?
-Feet locked in shackles Jb 13:27 Why put my feet in the vines, Watch all my movements, Draw a limit to my steps, Jb 19:8 He has closed all exit to me, and I cannot pass; He spread darkness on my paths.
-Limited time Ps 90.10 The days of our years amount to seventy years, And, for the most robust, to eighty years; And the pride they derive from it is only pain and misery, for it passes quickly, and we fly away. Ec 8:8 Man is not master of his breath to be able to hold it back, and he has no power on the day of death; there is no deliverance in this battle, and wickedness cannot save the wicked.
-Limits of life Ps 139:5 You surround me from behind and in front, And you put your hand on me. Lm 3.7 He surrounded me with a wall, so that I would not go out; He gave me heavy chains.
-Unable to change a single hair Mt 5.36 Do not swear by your head either, because you can not make white or black a single hair.
-Unable to increase the size Mt 6.27 Who of you, by his worries, can add a cubit to the duration of his life?
From all the above, we note that God’s admirable care in nature shows well this God is our Father! Indeed, the birds of the sky, in their light and graceful flight, the birds seem to swim in the azure of the sky. Your Father feeds them. “The same one who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him for all of us, … will he not also give us, freely, all things with him?” (Romans 8:32). We can therefore blame him for all our worries, while the world does not know God as Father and does not depend on him; for his part, he has only the things of this world and works only for matter. We have to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and everything else will be given to us on top, so that we do not have to worry about the things of life, so that we will be diverted to the world. “Your Heavenly Father knows that you need … these things.” “Every day is enough his sorrow.” We must not add to today’s pain that of tomorrow, because we may not see another day and, if we succeed, we will find there what God has prepared. He who prepares the food for the little ones of the crow, he gives everyone the food in his temple. Now man is worth more than them, by his reason, by his soul, by the faculty he has to know God, to trust in him. The uselessness, the impotence of worries, on the contrary, only annoy the forces of the soul. So, no one can, by worrying, add a cubit to his age, an hour to the time of his life, object of his worries. God has determined the measure, no one can add anything to it. Let’s trust Him and He will take care of us. Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to react to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow “the parable of the Master’s return.”
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.