Let me like the birds
look upward for all,
knowing my Father
will heed every call.

Knowing He sees
and He knows and He cares
keeps me in peace,
dispels dark despair –
that fear that comes in
when my eyes turn to me
but flees when I know
that Jesus loves me

For He Who has made
and watches each bird
surely has answered.
Yes! He has heard!

Part One explores the Biblical basis for Stanzas  One and Two.

STANZA ONE
Let me like the birds
look upward for all,
knowing my Father
will heed every call-

I can be like the sparrow. Many years ago, a cherished friend gave me the beautiful tray pictured above. It stands on my kitchen countertop, a prominent and constant reminder to trust God because, as Jesus said, I am “worth more than many sparrows.”  (Matthew 10:31).  This well-known verse was part of what Jesus said to His disciples when He sent them out on their own, knowing they would face persecution. Earlier, in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6 and 7) Jesus had already taught them not to worry, saying that God feeds the birds even though they do not store up food into barns (Matthew 6:25-27). At that time, Jesus also said:

²⁸ “And why worry a0bout your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, ²⁹ yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. ³⁰ And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

³¹ “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’  (Matthew 6:28-31, NLT)

Jesus then gave all His disciples – the original twelve and us as well– a promise that makes it easier to trust God. “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.” (Matthew 6:33, emphasis added).

A worrying sparrow? A worrying sparrow would sit on a branch all day, fretting and fearful, and would soon die from thirst and hunger. God gave sparrows the instinct to look to Him by pecking the ground. That is instinctive behavior for sparrows. They look to Him by doing something.

In addition to instincts, God  gives His beloved human beings a mind and heart that can understand and apply His Words. That is how we look to Him. In Matthew 6:33 Jesus clearly states a principle for living – put God first in your life, obey Him in everything, and He will supply all that you need.

Consider Psalm 145:13-16:

“Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all He has made. ¹⁴ The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.
¹⁵ The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. ¹⁶ You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. (NIV, 1984, emphasis added).

Be comforted by more promises as you meditate on Psalm 145: 17-20.

¹⁷ The Lord is righteous in all His ways and faithful in all He does.
¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth.
¹⁹ He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them.²⁰ The Lord watches over all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy. (NIV, emphasis added).

God wants us to have confidence — to be perfectly convinced and actively aware–that He will hear every call. And He wants us to be busy each day doing good, just like Jesus did, everywhere He went. Consider this verse: “Trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) in the Lord and do good; so shall you dwell in the land and feed surely on His faithfulness, and truly you shall be fed. (Psalm 37:3, AMPC). That word “so” makes this sentence an if/then teaching. If you follow the first part of the verse, by doing those things, then you will have the second part. Selah!

STANZA TWO
Knowing He sees
and He knows and He cares
keeps me in peace,
dispels dark despair –
that fear that comes in
when my eyes turn to me
but flees when I know
That Jesus loves me.

I can keep my mind fixed on Him. It is this active aspect of trust, this keeping our minds confidently fixed on God, that brings peace. Consider Isaiah 26:3-4:

³ You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You.⁴ So trust in the Lord (commit yourself to Him, lean on Him, hope confidently in Him) forever; for the Lord God is an everlasting Rock [the Rock of Ages]. (AMPC, emphasis added).

Photo by Holly Landkammer on Unsplash

And how do we develop confidence in God so that we can trust Him? By obeying His Word and thereby giving Him the opportunity to show Himself strong on our behalf (2 Chronicles 16:9). Obedience is how we get to know His character. A little boy is delighted when his father tosses him in the air because he has felt his father’s strong, capable arms before. And that little boy knows his father adores him.

If we are not obeying God like we know we should, we are not walking with God and we are not giving Him chances to demonstrate His matchless character to us. Besides that, it is hard to trust Him because our spirit knows we are not right with Him. Deep inside we feel unsettled.  We are walking in darkness. Read 1 John 1:5-7.

“This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. ⁶ So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. ⁷ But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.”

But if we are walking in the light–in all the understanding of God that we have–our conscience is clear, and we feel closer to Him. It is then easier to believe He will provide for us if we, for example, pay tithes or stop associating with unbelieving friends who influence us to sin. Obeying God gives us light, or understanding (Proverbs 4:18) and helps us trust Him.

Trust in God also drives out discouragement and fear. “God is light: in Him there is no darkness at all”. (1 John 1:5b, NIV).  Darkness always gives way to light. The two cannot coexist. Light always wins. God’s Word is light (Psalm 119:105, John 8:12).

When we keep our minds on God and meditate on a Scripture passage, we have truth inside our minds. We have God’s light guiding our spirit and soul. His Word then works to guide our next few steps and His Word gives guidance further on, along the path He desires us to walk. His Word is a light for our path.  We learn this in Psalm 119:105: “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.” (NLT)

With God’s help, I can make fear flee.  One of the enemy’s main weapons is fear. It is useful to remember, as several have said, that fear is False Evidence Appearing Real. It may feel like something evil is controlling our emotions or finances or health, but Satan has no authority over the believer.  In Luke 10:19, Jesus told His disciples “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (NKJV, emphasis added).

Lions roar primarily to establish territory and to communicate with other lions. So, when a problem roars, so to speak, in your life you can resist that problem, knowing that God has given you, not the enemy, authority.

How to resist the enemy? Be humble before God, resist the devil, and move forward with faith. In both passages that teach this process (James 4:6-10 and 1 Peter 5:1-10), humbling ourselves before God is the first step in resisting the devil and causing him to flee.

Read 1 Peter 5:1-10. In Verse 5 Peter tells all his hearers to act with humility toward each other “because, ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’” Peter then says, because of that, we are to humble ourselves before God and give all our cares to Him. Next, Peter warns:

 “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. ⁹ Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.” (I Peter 5:8-9, NLT)

When I first begin to feel fear or anxiety, I stop and exercise my authority over the enemy. I say something like, “Satan, James 4:6-7 says that if I submit myself to God and humble myself before Him and resist you, you must flee from me. So, in the mighty name of Jesus, I command you to flee!” Next, I follow Verse 8. I come near to God by sincerely repenting and turning from any sin I am aware of, trusting that God will lift me up.

Then, immediately, I fill my mind and mouth with praise and thanksgiving and promises of God’s faithfulness and love.  As I continue to keep my mind on God and the truths of His wonderful Word, having obeyed and humbled myself before God and resisted the devil and his thoughts, God comes near and keeps me in His peace (Philippians 4:4-7).

That knowing. When I know that Jesus loves me – when I consciously keep my mind on how much He loves me– my eyes are on Him, not whatever problems lie ahead or behind. Like a horse with blinders, I focus on Jesus, not problems, and God’s peace guards my heart (Philippians 4:4-7).  As Joyce Meyer so powerfully says “What you focus on grows.”  If I follow God’s directives to focus on good things, my peace grows. Selah!

Psalm 28:1 says, “The wicked run away when no one is chasing them, but the godly are as bold as lions.” When the enemy attacks with lies—when he tries to make me feel something is chasing me–I can be as bold as a lion if I am in right-standing with God, if I am walking in obedience.

Having many of God’s truths about His great love and provision hidden in my heart makes it easier to keep fear out of my life. If you have doubts about God’s love for you personally, google “Bible verses about God’s love” and meditate constantly on those verses until they are written in your heart and bubble up into your conscious thoughts when you need them.

In Part Two, we will look at the Biblical basis for Stanza Three:

For He Who has made
and watches each bird
surely has answered.
Yes! He has heard!