I Saw A Flock of Sparrows Today

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. You are worth more than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:29-31, NIV). I saw a flock of sparrows today. They were in the middle of the road, scurrying about, each vying for a share in whatever food they had eyed. I slowed down, giving each an opportunity to fly away, before I drove my earth destroyer SUV through their dining facility. Sparrows—of their species, they are probably the most numerous—not to mention the most insignificant. “Yet,” Jesus said, “not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of [our heavenly] Father.”

I confess to you that most of the time I simply do not understand the ways of God. I have a list of questions to ask Him when I finally get to heaven. I added another question to that list this week. This week—it began with worship on Sunday morning. I preached on my favorite subject—the soon return of our Lord. Monday—it was a mountain top experience, having had the opportunity to minister to one of the airmen on base. Wednesday was pretty uneventful. But then came Thursday. I received an urgent call that no chaplain would ever want to receive. A military member’s five year old son had been critically injured in a freak accident and was being airlifted to the nearest children’s hospital. Long story short—it was not good. The doctors offered little hope. Five years old, and his little life was quickly coming to an end. The parents were in anguish and I was not faring much better. Why did this have happen? What good could God possibly bring out of this? After all, aren’t there plenty of old people God could call home? Even I would have been willing to go in his place. Why this child, who had just celebrated his fifth birthday the day before? This was certainly a faith-shaking event for everyone it affected.

On Friday, I woke up, still questioning God’s wisdom. “I can’t take this,” I thought to myself. Maybe I should just turn in my cross, go live in a monastery and wait for Jesus to return. Surely that would shield me from any further dealings with pain and suffering. Meditating on such verses as Romans 8:18, “The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to be revealed to us,” or 2 Corinthians 4:17, “For momentary, light affliction is producing in us an eternal weight of glory,” did not seem to offer much comfort. I talked to my chaplain supervisor for over an hour. That conversation helped process some of the pain, but it did not help me make any sense out of this tragedy. The why questions continued—until I saw that flock of sparrows—“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.” This is the Word of the Lord!

We are not exempt from pain and suffering in this life. Tragedy and death knows no age. Yet, we must remember, God is sovereign. Not even the insignificant sparrow falls to the ground apart from His perfect knowledge—and somehow, life goes on. Somehow, this sovereign God begins to work these kinds of tragedies into His overall plan. Indeed, the suffering and pain of our present reality will pale when the glory of eternity is finally revealed. How can this be? Because the God we serve—Who controls even the sparrows departure—controls the events and circumstances of our lives. He knows and understands our pain. He feels our suffering. And He promises us no pain is without purpose. He is in control. Nothing catches Him by surprise. The Holy Trinity has never met in emergency session. He has it all under control. We just have trust Him, even when we cannot see our way clearly enough to make sense out of life. We must trust Him and His infinite wisdom. I saw a flock of sparrows today.