Daily Devotion – March 21, 2020 – Pastor Brian Hansen
Matthew 6:26-27, 33-34
26 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? 27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?
33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
Today I made the trip in the late morning that I often make on Saturdays to the local grocery store to purchase whatever we had added to our shopping list during the course of the week. What I discovered at the store (which I haven’t been to since last Saturday) were signs posted in different departments letting folks know that in order to be good neighbors the store was limiting the number of items shoppers were allowed to buy of certain things.
No doubt the store managers have experienced people coming in panic buying and trying to store up an abundance of food items during this time of fear and uncertainty. The limiting of food items I suspect is a direct response to the impulse that can take hold of us that leads us to worry about the future. It can become very easy to give into fears of uncertainty and worry and I think our natural tendency is often to worry that we won’t have enough.
I’m very thankful to our local grocery store for some of the excellent practices that they are putting in place to safeguard us from our fears of scarcity. I appreciate that in their business practice they are being mindful of our more vulnerable community members (opening the stores for the first hours to those who are older) and that they are trying to help us all to be better neighbors to each other by limiting our impulses to hoard resources.
During these days of uncertainty, I take great comfort in the promises we hear today in Matthew’s Gospel. If God cares for even the smallest of creation, will we not also be cared for by God? I appreciate that this passage invites us to think about all of God’s creation and to consider that God uses each of us to care for one another. May you find comfort in the promises of God’s faithfulness and may the God who cares for the birds of the air watch over and keep your hearts and minds.
Prayer: God of all creation, help us to be mindful of those in deepest need. Safe guard us from our fears and our tendencies to look only to our own needs and help us to care for each other in all we do. AMEN
