Watching the Animals

READ: PSALM 104:10-28; MATTHEW 6:19-34; 10:29-31 There is a lot of nature outside my window. I hear birds singing their morning songs and talking to each other all day long. Occasionally I see rabbits and even a few deer. I hear coyotes howl at night, and I’ve seen turkeys strut across the yard. All of these animals have a home out there. They know how to survive in the forest and get what they need to make it through each day. And God is the One who made all of them. He gave them the ability to make a home in the wild and survive. When I think about all the animals and what God has given them, I know that He will take care of me. After all, Jesus said, “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?” (Matthew 6:25-26). Humans are God’s most precious creation. We are the ones He came to seek and to save (Luke 19:10). It was for our sins that Jesus died on the cross. And just as He rose from the grave, He promises to raise us when He returns. We are the ones He loves. God cares so much for us, even more than He does for all the animals in the wild (Matthew 10:29-31). When I am afraid or wonder about what to do with my life, I can remember that. I can know that God will help me and show me what to do. He takes care of all the animals, and He will do even more for me. • Bethany Acker • What kinds of animals can you see where you live? Consider taking some time this week to pause and watch them and be reminded of how God is taking care of them and you. • Because our world has been broken by sin, sometimes animals hurt each other and compete for what they need to survive, and humans do too. But one day, Jesus promises to return and make all things new. Then “the wolf will live with the lamb…and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy” (Isaiah 11:6-9). How can the hope of the new creation Jesus is bringing free us to trust Him, and to love others the way He calls us to, instead of hurting other people for fear that we won’t have enough? (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 5:13-14) “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?” Matthew 6:26 (NIV)