Fear, faith and worry

I’m fascinated by the little insights I see in scripture to things we could never know unless God told us. One of them is in Luke 12. This whole chapter is about fear, faith and worry. Jesus is teaching his disciples and us that our fears and worries really aren’t necessary. Of course we know it already, but Jesus has to tell us, once more, that God’s in charge, relax.

Then, in the middle of this chapter he reveals something we could never know or think about unless he told us. It’s something so odd we would never think of it. Here it is,

Luk 12:6-7 "Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.”

Did you see it? Heavenly trivia. I know you have heard jokes about this, but it suddenly struck me that Jesus just revealed to his disciples, and yes to us, trivia that should make us stop and ask, “WHAT?” Yes, the very hairs of my head are all numbered! I’ve heard all the jokes about this statement, I’ve told some of them, but here is the amazing thing….God is so interested in each one of us that he even counts the hair on our heads! That boggles my mind! Why? What’s the purpose? Why did Jesus tell us this? It’s clear that one thing is true…God is intimately interested in you and me. We haven’t escaped his notice, he hasn’t forgotten about us. He’s counting hairs on each head…that’s how interested he is in us. Now the why isn’t important, here’s what is important- God know everything there is to know about us, he cares and he’s able to take care of us. This very small trivia thing declares that God is omniscient. He knows literally everything and he cares about his creation. He cares about you. And he cares about me.

So, what do I take away from this heavenly trivia? God cares so much about you and me that somewhere in heaven, I’m guessing now, there’s a book with my name in it and one of the entries is how many hairs I have on my head. No one else cares about that, except me in my vanity, but God does. If this is true, and since Jesus gave us this brief glimpse into heavenly trivia (and I think he was smiling as he said it) I know it is true, what else does God care about? Does he care about what I need? My family? My work? My health? Does he care about the rest of me or is he just interested in the trivia stuff? No, I think clearly we can say he cares about every part of us, everything to do with us, all we fear and worry about…even to how many hairs are on our heads.

If he cares about that can’t he, won’t he take care of the rest? So in this amazing discussion about fear, faith and worry Jesus throws out information that should make you laugh with amazement that God cares so much about you. But he does. He cares about everything to do with us, so don’t worry. Don’t be afraid. The God who knows how many hairs you have on your pretty little head can take care of all the rest as well. The right response for us? Faith, trust, and a smile of amazement at such a wonderful God.