READING: Matthew 9:27-34, Mark 6:1-6, Matthew 13:53-58, Matthew 9:35-38, Mark 6:7-13, Matthew 10:1-42, Luke 9:1-6
God cares about and is sovereign over even the smallest things in our lives. He who governs the lives of seemingly insignificant sparrows—considered to be the cheapest of birds in the first century—so cares for us that He knows the number of all the hairs on our head. Even the tiniest things are not outside His sovereign care and control. Indeed, these illustrations Jesus used in today’s reading remind us of “the unrestricted attention of God to even the smallest things of life.”*
As much as God cares for sparrows He created, He values us as worth more than many of them (Matt 10:31). I am struck by the reality that God loves each of us this way. We can trust His care at all times, including when we face opposition (and even persecution in many parts of the world). We have no reason to be afraid as long as we know God and His love.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Are you allowing fear to capture you today?
DAILY PRAYER: “Father, I praise You that You know us intimately. Help me to be a faithful disciple today.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Luke 9:7-9, Mark 6:14-29, Matthew 14:1-21, Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, John 6:1-15, Mark 6:45-52, Matthew 14:22-33, John 6:16-21, Mark 6:53-56, Matthew 14:34-36
*Hagner, D. A. (1993). Matthew 1–13 (Vol. 33A, p. 286). Word, Incorporated.