“No eye is on the sparrow?”

I stood by my wife’s bedside in the ICU last night, feeling more helpless than at any time I can remember.  She was in surgery for most of the day, while I sat on a chair twiddling my thumbs!  I can’t heal her, I can’t even hug her right now.  Before they chased me out, I bent over her still frame, pressed my cheek against her’s and asked our Abba to keep us at peace, to heal and restore.  I thought of the hymn that says, "Under His wings, I am safely abiding, though the night deepens, and tempests are wild."  My mind wrestled with that thought.  I love it, but I do not feel very safe today!

Joan Didion wrote The Year of Magical Thinking in which she tells the horrific story of the grief she experienced when both her beloved husband and her daughter died quite unexpectedly. The title comes from her attempts to keep them "alive," by refusing to face the truth.  Denial offers us a temporary refuge. The last line in the book breaks my heart - "No eye is on the sparrow." She concludes that our attempts to make sense of life with faith, that believing in God's care, are just choices we make to avoid sliding into despair; nice, but untrue, nothing but magical thinking.

I have to say, “Ms. Didion, you are simply wrong.”  Yes, there are some Christians who indulge in magical thinking and call it faith.  Some persist in the foolishness of thinking that by saying prayers like magic incantations they will a pass from the sorrows of life from God.  Some fool themselves in thinking that they are too good to suffer.  The fact is that sin brought mortality to this earth and we all will die. Time passes quickly, at least in the way we measure it here on this earth. But what Ms. Didion does not grasp is that God is greater than our life experience and even time itself.  I trust Him implicitly and explicitly with the unfathomable sorrows through which I am walking.

The Lord never promises that any of us get to waltz our way to Heaven! Fiery trials mature our faith.  What He does promises is that He will never leave, never forsake us.  He promises us immortality through Christ Jesus, defeating even the ultimate enemy – death.  I am safely abiding, at rest, if I let God be God in my life, by surrendering my delusions of control.  If we only view life from this side of eternity we will join Solomon’s lament: “I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind." (Ecclesiastes 2:16-20, NIV)

True saints who are full of genuine faith reach out to take hold of the eternal rule of God and their lives become links that allow eternity to flow into time. Heaven in their hearts give life the meaning and purpose that the Bible promises. Such saints choose to rest even in the middle of the storm. They are not angry at the Lord for permitting their pain. Instead they pray He will break their stubborn will and make them useful for His Kingdom, right here, right now. Such surrender does not lead to resignation or apathy! It empowers them to go bravely into each new day, defying death and Hell. They are, at once, angry enough to resist the Devil and his attempts to wreck the works of God, and joyful enough to avoid cynicism.

Take a look at Paul's affirmation of God's purpose, even as he was growing through a time of terrible difficulty as a result of his ministry.
"All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort.
He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others.
When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us....
We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it.
In fact, we expected to die.

But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead." (2 Corinthians 1:2-4, 8-9, NLT)

Those are words to live by! They are not 'magical thinking.' They are Truth that allows us to face days, good and bad, head on; take strength from the Lord Jesus Christ, and make a Kingdom difference. Let's stop asking God for easy, stop whining about how hard life is, and thank Him for giving us the privilege of making His glorious goodness known by putting "this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." (2 Corinthians 4:7, NIV)

Oh, yes, His eye is on the sparrow!

________

As Long As You Are Glorified

Shall I take from Your hand Your blessings

Yet not welcome any pain?

Shall I thank You for days of sunshine,

Yet grumble in days of rain?

Shall I love You in times of plenty,

Then leave You in days of drought?

Shall I trust when I reap a harvest,

But when winter winds blow then doubt?

Are You good only when I prosper

And true only when I'm filled?

Are You King only when I'm carefree

And God only when I'm well?

You are good when I'm poor and needy

You are true when I'm parched and dry!

You still reign in the deepest valley

You're still God in the darkest night!

Oh let Your will be done in me

In Your love I will abide.

Oh I long for nothing else as long

As You are glorified.

So quiet my restless heart.

Quiet my restless heart.

Quiet my restless heart in You.

CCLI Song # 5171644

Mark Altrogge

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