Remember the Birds
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? Matthew 6:26
Spring is springing these days where I live, and the birds have started chirping their way through the air. It’s a lovely sound. Comforting. Hopeful.
I struggle with anxiety, and more so in the winter months than any other. So the birds are not only a delight to my ears but also a tangible reminder of Jesus’s words in Matthew 6:26 about why I should not be anxious.
Do you know how many birds there are in the world? Between 50 and 430 billion, according to National Geographic’s estimates. Of course, those two numbers have a massive difference, but let’s consider the low number of 50 billion.
Big numbers like this are hard to comprehend. So, let’s put it on another scale. Fifty billion seconds equals 1,600 years. Counting to a billion would take you around 95 years. Fifty more would put you back to the time of the Egyptian pyramids. If you were to stack a billion dollars on top of one another, you would reach the lower portion of the troposphere, one of the outer layers of the Earth’s atmosphere. Fifty billion steps would take you into a galaxy far, far away.
Jesus draws our attention to the birds in Matthew 6:26 with this number in mind to explain how much the Father cares for us. None of these multitude of birds worry about the future. They don’t even make plans for it. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them daily like so many pets. If God can do that for them, can he not also tend to you? Are you not of more value than they?
The next time you step outside, look for the birds. They’re out there flying around, making music, gathering sticks for nests, poking at the ground for worms. They’re doing just fine. They always will be. God loves them—all 50 billion or so of them.
And he loves you more. Fifty billion times more isn’t even close enough. You are loved with an infinite love purchased at a priceless amount for an eternity with him. You do not have a meager amount of care. You have millenniums worth. You have a galaxy-sized supply.
Here again - What a gift that we get to see in display everyday of His goodness and care. We are His beloved. I thought a lot about the birds this winter, you can see a red cardinal very obvious in a forest covered with snow, and yet, He cares for them, even in the cold.