LOOK AT THE BIRDS OF THE AIR

Keith Tyson March 26, 2020

A couple mornings, and several thousand new COVID-19 infections ago, I was walking through my backyard and noted the happy singing of a number of robins, cardinals, and redwing blackbirds (at least they were the ones I could identify). I audibly confronted them with “You have no idea what is going on in the world, do you?” The correct answer is they most likely do not. They’re aware of one thing – SPRING IS HERE! The cold (even though we never really had much cold weather) of winter is fading away and they will soon be scrambling less for food and enjoying the warmth of Spring.

Truthfully, I don’t really know what birds think, otherwise I could reasonably be considered “bird-brained”, but the scripture that immediately came to mind was a reminder of why birds sing so joyfully: “Look at the birds of the air . . .” With those words from Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount, the Holy Spirit reminded me that I was the clueless one. If the birds don’t worry neither should I. Here is more of what he said:  “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” Matthew 6:25-27 (NIV)

Here is my point, and what we need to constantly have in mind: no Christ Follower should allow anxiety to consume them. Yes, we can be concerned about a voraciously contagious virus that is sweeping the globe, killing thousands, endangering the more vulnerable members of the population, and making so many hundreds of thousands miserably ill. But, we serve an all-powerful God whose eye is on the sparrow and we know he watches over us too. So in the midst of this pandemic that has caused the world to come to a screeching halt, and has brought so much disruption of every kind, let’s remember whose we are and whom we serve. And as we do, let’s be contagious in our own way by spreading the Good News of the One who causes the birds to sing for joy.