Outside my home I have a hanging plant. Don’t ask me what
it is, because I don’t remember, but save for one week, I faithfully go out
every other day and water it. It isn’t out where it can get rain and even if it
were, we have been living with drought-like conditions for weeks now. It would
dry up and die if I did not tend to it continually.
Recently, I discovered a nest and four bird’s eggs in it.
I have been very careful to not get it wet when I water, but I have not seen
the mother at any time and I am beginning to believe she has abandoned the nest
and her four potential babies. They are no longer under her care and because of
that will die.
Our lives are like that. Our souls and our bodies need care.
In John 15, Jesus said He is the vine and His Father is the vine grower. We are
the branches and that apart from Him we can do nothing, but if we abide in Him we
will bear fruit. God tends to us. Matthew 6:25-34 tells us that if God cares
for His creation, He cares even more for us. “Look at the birds of the air;
they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly Father
feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?...Therefore do not worry,
saying, ‘What will we eat? Or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’…indeed
your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for
the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to
you as well.”
We are God’s handiwork and He will never fail to care for
us. Even in our darkest times, God is with us, upholding us, nurturing,
comforting, and yes, sometimes correcting, but that is always done in love to
produce, in the end, Christ-like qualities in us. God’s love for us compels Him
to keep us from all that would separate us from Him, even to the point of death
on a cross.
We will never be abandoned like that nest of eggs. In
Psalm 27:10, David said, “If my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will
take me up.” In Hebrews 13:5b, God says, “I will never leave you or forsake
you.” These are sure promises in which we can hope. He will never founder in His
ability to carry and sustain us. We will never be bereft of His presence in our
hearts. We can take comfort in that knowing He has us in the palm of His hand where
no one can snatch us away. (John 10:28).
Regardless of circumstances or emotions, God is caring for
us. Every breath we take, we take because He wills it. Every mountain, every
valley, in all places and at all times, God’s care is constant. Psalm 139 says
that there is nowhere we can go that God cannot keep hold of us. Let that
thought go with you each day and be assured you are cared for. God is watching
over you, even now.
