HIS EYE IS ON THE SPARROW (part b)

His Eye Is on the Sparrow

If he can make an iron axhead float, then what can He do for me? If He can make a donkey speak, then what can He do for me? If He can raise Himself from the dead, then what can He do for me? Many times in my life, I have wrestled with the knowledge of the greatness of God. If God is so great, then why would He care about me? He is so busy keeping His creation going. He is so busy keeping us from destroying ourselves. Yet, He still takes time to be concerned about our every need.

I raise my eyes toward the mountains.
Where will my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.
The Lord is my portion; therefore, I will put my hope in Him.
Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition
with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought,
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
(Psalm 121:1, 2; Lamentations 3:24, Philippians 4:6, 7)

I guess it must be exhaustion, but over the past two weeks I have been thinking about why God would be concerned about me. I have wondered what it is about me that makes God care about my every detail. I may not fully understand that about God, but I do know that I am glad for it.
In 2 Kings 6:1-7, we have an example given to us that demonstrates God’s concern for even the smallest of details. In this passage, we find the prophets of God under the leadership of Elisha. They have decided to move the place where they meet with Elisha to a larger place. They decided to move their assembly area right next to the Jordan River. While they were cutting down trees along the Jordan, one of the prophets lost the axhead he was using. The axhead fell into the Jordan. To most of us this may not sound like too big of a problem. We would simply just go down to the local hardware store and pick up a new one. At that time, an iron axhead was a costly tool, too expensive for the members of the prophetic company to purchase. Having lost it, the borrower faced the prospect of having to work off the value as a bondservant. This would have seriously cut into his calling as a prophet of God. God showed His concern for the welfare of His servant by having Elisha throw a stick into the place where the axhead sank and thus making the iron float.
If God is concerned about my welfare, then:

Why should I feel discouraged? Why should the shadows come?
Why should my heart feel lonely and long for heaven and
home when Jesus in my portion?
My constant Friend is He:His eye is on the sparrow,And I know He watches me.

In Awe of God,
Aaron Hodges

FILL MY CUP, LORD

Fill My Cup, Lord
A few weeks ago, I was introduced to the latest phenomenon. This phenomenon is the Free-Fill cup from Race Trac. Everyone should know by now how much I LOVE Dr. Pepper. Since the age when my parents allowed me to have carbonated drinks, I have been drinking Dr. Pepper. About 5 years ago, I had to change up a little bit and go to the Diet Dr. Pepper. Sugar has a way of catching up with you. In fact, if Malia would let me, I would have Dr. Pepper as my only drink ever. I know for all you health nuts, you are cringing at the thought. Knowing this about me, you can understand why the Race Trac free-fill cups have been a huge excitement for me. Free refills of Diet Dr. Pepper for two whole months! COOL! Do I long for Christ more than I long for Diet Dr. Pepper? Do I want to be filled up with the Holy Spirit? Do I seek to draw from Christ’s well that will never run dry?

There is a free-fill cup that won’t run dry after two months. This cup will never run dry. It is talked about by Jesus in John 4. You all are probably very familiar with this passage. This is the story of Jesus talking with a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. Jesus left Judea on His way to Galilee and had to pass through Samaria. By the time He got to Samaria, He was tired, so He stopped off at the well to rest. It was not by chance that He met the Samaritan woman. He knew that He would meet her and introduce her to the “living water”. This encounter happened around 12:00 noon in the heat of the day. She probably came at that time because she did not want to meet people. Later in the story we read that she had lived a bad life. She had been married to several men. Now she was living with a man who was not her husband. Perhaps no one would talk to her, but Jesus spoke to her. He asked the woman for a drink. It surprises us that she did not refuse Him. It surprised her that a Jew would ask this. She told Jesus that she did not expect His request. Jesus replied “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water (John 4:10).” This statement confused the Samaritan woman. She came to the well seeking to fill her physical need, and Jesus took her straight to her spiritual need. He told her that water from Jacob’s well would simply leave her thirsty again, but water from the “living well” would satisfy her completely forever. Jesus, through His power, can fill us until we are full, but first we must want to be filled. We must come to a point where we realize that we need Jesus and that we need filling. So often we try to fill ourselves with temporal things. These things will bring immediate satisfaction, but that will always leave us longing to be satisfied by something else. Jesus comes into our lives to completely fill our emptiness. Will we let Him?

Fill my cup, Lord, I lift it up, Lord!
Come and quench this thirsting of my soul;
Bread of Heaven feed me ‘till I want no more—
Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole!

Aaron Hodges