Maybe you’ve had a thought similar to this one: I know God loves me, but is he looking out for me?
I said maybe up there, but I think most of those who would call themselves Christian have had thoughts like that one. We have them because on one level is baked into who we are. We don’t have to be trained up to wonder if someone is going to look out for us. Even infants, Lord willing, are brought into this world crying because they need something from someone. Babies a born searching for someone to look out for them, so it follows that we—as we get older start to really experience what this world has to offer—must wonder if someone or something out there is looking out for us.
The objections come quickly and often. If God really was looking out for me, if he really cared for me, why did this happen? You and I have to work through this. We have to work through this not just once, but over and over again throughout our lives. Even when it comes down to the day-to-day things of our loves, does this God who created all there is—including us—really make it his business to care for us? I think this is a particular struggle because of the way in which we talk about the love of God. The truth that God loves us is a given in the Bible, but then terrible things happen, so we’re left to consider whether or not this loving God cares about what we’re going through.
Yes, he died for me, but what does that have to do with today?
Jesus is amazing for a lot of reasons, and one of those is the fact that he doesn’t scold us for those honest, heartfelt questions we often ask. Look for yourself. Talk a walk through the New Testament and try to find a place in there where someone had a honest question for Jesus about how things work in this world and see if Jesus ever gets angry at them because of their sincere wonder. What you will find is that far from getting angry with anyone with those types of questions, Jesus lovingly tells them the truth. He lays the truth out there and then it’s up to the question-asker to decide whether or not he or she is going to accept it.
We can see this play out in Matthew 10.
There Jesus called together his twelve disciples and “gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness” (Mt 10:1, NIV). He sent them out to proclaim in both word and deed that the “kingdom of heaven has come near” (Mt 10:7, NIV). As a result of their proclamation, Jesus told them, “If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!” (Mt 10:25b, NIV) He told them this because he knows what will happen to those who go around saying that a new kingdom has arrived. In short, some who here this message will be out for blood.
And Jesus, showing the care he has for his disciples, doesn’t leave them without a foundation to stand on. He says, “What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” (Mt 10:27-31, NIV)
This is the God who looks out for his people, declaring that same truth.
Sparrows were cheap. You could buy two of them for a penny back in the day. And yet… not one of those sparrows—who are only worth half a penny—will fall to the ground out of the sight of God. That sort of thing does not happen. Do sparrows fall to the ground? Yes. But do they fall to the ground apart from God? No. And the same goes for Jesus’s disciples back then and his disciples today.
You are of more value than many sparrows. Even the hairs on your head are all numbered! You and I will fall to the ground, but we will never fall to the ground apart from our Father. We will never fall apart from him because he cares for us—he is actively looking out for us.
So fear not. Even though trouble has come and will come in the future. He cares for you more than you could ever imagine.