Elizabeth Cheney’s poem “Overheard in an Orchard”
Said a Robin to a Sparrow:
“I would really like to know why these anxious human beings rush about and worry so.”
Said the Sparrow to the Robin:
“Friend, I think that it must be, that they have no Heavenly Father, such as cares for you and me.”
…
These poor anxious humans! Rushing about worrying to and fro. They have forgotten about the Father who stands before them!
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 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 much more valuable than they?” -Matthew 6
I know I do not exhibit a trust like that one Jesus is talking about. I still worry. And any amount of worry is not good because it takes your eyes off of your El Shaddai- which translated is “Almighty Sufficient One.”
That is God. He is your ever-present El Shaddai, the Almighty Sufficient One who came to rescue you in the person of Jesus, and He gives you rest by the presence of His Spirit! Oh, the Father loves you!
“But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.” -Matthew 10
It’s time we confess and recognize Christ in front of the people all around us. It’s time we confess and recognize Jesus in our own hearts and minds.
When we do that we remember His love-mercy-grace-peace-rest-hope-power-truth, and on and on and on and on it goes.
We forget all the things that used to bother us.
We are not stressed out by those things anymore.
We don’t even notice those lesser things- the things that used to entangle us so- because our eyes are totally wrapped up in His gaze.
Wake up O, Sleeper! Open your eyes and see the Father who is for YOU, who is looking into YOU.
The Sparrow is wrong. Those anxious human beings certainly DO have a Heavenly Father. We just forget about Him.
Jesus is the Way to the Father, He said it Himself- the only Way. Fall in love with Jesus. Confess and repent of your sin and call upon the Name that is above every single Name, Jesus. You will be the Father’s beloved from that moment on. He will call you His child!
You can look at His face no longer as a god that is far away, as a deity that judges your deeds, as that dumb clockmaker that leaves us all alone. Nope. He's your Dad. Your Papa-God who loves you deeply and completely. Not some future you, not a past you. He just loves YOU.
Face it. No, no. Face Him. Your Father. He loves you now. Come and rest in His presence. Seek His face.
O, Lord, that we may know Your face. Holy Spirit, fall on us all. Help us to rest in the arms of the Father. Lord, help us to remember who You say that we are. Help us to see ourselves the way that You see us, no longer how we think about us- we want to see us the way that You do.
