Note: This morning we were out early for chaplain visits as well as conducting a funeral and then came home mid-afternoon a just a bit tired thus we are posting this later Friday.

Message summary: Let us choose today to withstand the tempter’s heat and come forth as gold, so that our faith is proven genuine and our testimony is far reaching to both those who believe and those who do not believe.

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“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:29-31).

This weekend Lancaster is hosting the Women's US Open, a big deal for our relatively small metro area with a population of just over 550,000. However I heard on the news they expect over 130,000 to attend the event over the four days of play. It also creates some major traffic delays in that part of the county but should be a real boon for the hospitality industry.

Yesterday they had an interesting play. Golfer, Isi Gabsa, teed off at the 12th hole, a par 3. The camera followed the shot high into the air and down and then kerplunk, right on top of a hapless bird peacefully minding his/her business on the green. A course worker walks out and picks up the presumably very dead bird and carries it off the course. Here's the story with an embedded video of the shot.

This brings to mind our daily text regarding the lowly sparrow, "Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father".

We can find great comfort in considering the great doctrine of providence which states that God is superintending over all of His creation in every way, at all times. He’s got each single hair on every head counted (present tense) and not a single bird falls without His knowledge or consent.

The Westminster Catechism states, “God’s works of providence are His most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all His creatures; ordering them, and all their actions, to His own glory.”

A reasonable extrapolation from our daily text based on the teachings of Scripture pertains not only to the death of a sparrow but also those entirely mysterious events in our own lives which we call tragedies. We must by faith assert that they do not happen "apart from the will of our Father".

Perhaps today you will proclaim the Scripture verbally and personalize this truth. Whatever is causing distress in your life proclaim, "This does not happen apart from the will of my Father". As we come to terms with this essential truth then we can begin to see what God is teaching us through our difficulty and we can grow in spiritual maturity from our experience.

I can think of no better example from the Bible than Job who went through the greatest loss recorded in biblical history; his family, his health, his wealth, and his standing in the community. Yet his faith and integrity remained intact. In place of resentment he made a resolve, “When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).

Let us choose today to withstand the tempter’s heat and come forth as gold, so that our faith is proven genuine and our testimony is far reaching to both those who believe and those who do not believe.

Be encouraged today, Hebrews 3:13

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Daily prayer: Father, if You see a sparrow that falls to the ground; if you know the daily number of hairs that are on my head; if every snowflake that falls from heaven is uniquely designed by You why do I doubt that You have Your watchful and caring eye upon me for I am created in Your image. Forgive me when I doubt You or feel forsaken. Instead I want to trust You and believe Your Words that assure me, “Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you.” “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” “Nothing can separate me from the love of God; not tribulation or distress or persecution, famine or nakedness or peril or sword. No in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us."  It is in Jesus' Name, Amen.

"His Eyes Is On The Sparrow"  Watch on YouTube  Keith and Kristyn Getty