He Supplies Our Needs

May you find your heart being set free of some of the corroding care that can so easily encumber us in today's demanding times.

Esther Gebhardt is Associate Coordinator for Shepherdess in the Southern Africa Union Conference.

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Recently I drove into the city to attend to business. After feed­ing the parking meter, I stepped into the street and then stopped short. There lay a dead sparrow. He had obviously been in the way of a passing car. As I stood looking at the little feathered body, the thought came to me, "Does God know about this sparrow that has fallen here in a Bloemfontein street?" I looked at the busy street scene and knew that a fallen sparrow was no scene-stopping event.

Two of my favorite Scripture passages read as follows: "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? ... 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. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows" (Matt. 6:26; 10:29-31, NIV).

I found the following prom­ises from Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, pages 95-97: "He who has given you life knows your need of food to sustain it. He who created the body is not un­mindful of your need of raiment . It is He who made the flowers and who gave to the sparrow its song, who says, `Consider the lilies,' Behold the birds!. . . On the lily's petals, God has written a message for you, written in language that your heart can read only as it unlearns the lessons of distrust and selfish­ness and corroding care . . He has filled the earth and air and sky with glimpses of beauty to tell you of His loving thought for you . . If He has lavished such infinite skill upon the things of nature, for your happiness and joy, can you doubt that He will give you every needed blessing