Hand Outstretched

Matthew 10:29-31 - Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

I spent yesterday with my good friend Sandy. She loves birds and studies them. She’s quite the expert. She’s also an “expert” in Bible scripture...and studies this also. And she is guided by the Holy Spirit of God. It’s always a delight to be with her. 

So as we do when we get together, we have coffee and “perch” ourselves in prominent places at her patio doors watching for the chickadees! She has trained them to eat out of her hand! (I’m going to work on that myself this spring.

Conversation, of course, always veers toward the things of God. It’s just a natural progression. I wish I could take credit for all that I’m going to write but I can’t. That’s okay. Similar things have crossed my mind with different topics and analogies. Some are my own thought. You’ll have to sort out which. Ha ha. 

As we sat at her sliding patio doors watching and waiting for chickadees. I brought up how trusting they are after having trained them to perch on her hand..and visitors’. I added after waiting that long to gain their trust, how could any person possibly even consider doing harm to them? 

Then in Sandy’s fashion, she said it’s like how God treats us. He waits patiently for us to seek and come to Him. Once we’ve gained trust, we find there is nothing to fear about this amazing God. Just like we stood with hands outstretched with nuts and dried mealworms for those chickadees, God does the same, offering us the bread of life! And I’ll tell you, when that bread is received, it is so filled with life...the bread that sustains...the bread of life come from heaven to earth, from Spirit to spirit. HALLELUJAH!

I know the conversation went further. But this is the point I want to make:
We need not fear God. He loves us all too much. His desire for us is to acknowledge Him, trust in Him and also become acquainted with Him through His Word. Jesus is the bread of life. He only wants good for us. Now the good is probably not what we would consider. His good is greater! It comes with greater rewards. It comes with excellent eternal consequences...life. 

The world’s view of good is what the world places the highest reward on right now. It says we are good people on our own merits. Success, wealth, fame, things, sports, entertainment. I’m not saying any of this is bad, but it’s how important these are in our lives. Does God come first?

Just as God’s most important thought is toward us, the most important thing should be our relationship with and thought about God. Plain and very simple. Jesus says this: ...whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 10:32-33)
These verses come right after the opening scriptures. He values us. He values our life and our relationship toward Him. Can we honestly say we are not ashamed of Him? Do people know where we stand with Him? Do people act differently around us? I sure hope so. If someone wants to talk about the Lord, bring it on.

One more thing. I just thought about the prodigal son who left his father and went to live his own, useless life. When he was about as low in life as he could be he chose, in total humility, to return 
home to see if his father would forgive him and take him back. His father had never stop watching for his return. See what scripture has to say next: 
And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. (Luke 15:20) THIS is our Father’s heart for us. Always willing to receive us, whether it be from a long stretch of time away or even just a time of busyness in a day...or from a time in a wilderness; when one returns one’s trust returns and one looks back and realizes the Lord had never left...that His hand had remained outstretched! 

He guides us to Himself by the power of His Spirit. If we heed His call and turn to Him and Him alone and trust in Him, He will be our God, our Father in Heaven. He cares for us more than sparrows. His hand is always outstretched for us.

Psalm 136:1,12,23,25 - Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. With a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, for His mercy endures forever... Who remembered us in our lowly state, for His mercy endures forever... Who gives food to all flesh, for His mercy endures forever.