Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? Luke 12:6
My then five year old grandson had taken an immense liking to my bird book, Roger Burrows’ Birds of Atlantic Canada. Every time he would see a bird on the lawn or in a nearby tree, he would rush to get the bird book out to identify it. He had bookmarks all through the book at places where he found a bird that fascinated him. He wanted to know which bird sings the best, and I showed him the picture of the song sparrow, one of my favourites. It doesn’t look like much, just a tiny bit of brown and grey feathers with an inquisitive little face. This tiny member of the bird family often fills our neighbourhood with some of the most lovely music on the planet, and I hope it becomes one of Jonah’s favourite birds, too. I know it is very special to God, and not just for its lovely song. Every little sparrow that has ever flown, that has ever sung, is precious to Him. A friend in Australia posted to Facebook a picture of a similar type bird, noting how important each one is to God. In fact, God regards birds so highly that He made provision for some of them to stand in as an offering representative of Christ.
Leviticus 1:14-17 tells us that two pigeons or turtledoves from the poor man were acceptable as a burnt offering, the highest form of offering that an Israelite could make under the Levitical system. Such an offering could be a sweet savour to God, something in which He could take great delight. Such birds seem so insignificant and small, so unimportant to us that we all but ignore them. They serve us no purpose, other than to eat some of the insects that annoy us. There is not enough flesh on their frames to make them worth hunting, and if captured, they would not make good pets. But God loves them. He has made them, and He enjoys their songs, and He feeds them every day. He does this because He is love, and because those little birds are a reminder to Him of the sacrifice and obedience of His Son. Could we do the same?
As I watch a little sparrow perched on a spruce bough, its little head turned upright and the sweet music bursting from its tiny throat, I am glad that our God enjoys that music, too, and that this tiny bird holds a place in His heart. As we sometimes sing with the children, ‘If God so loves the little birds, I know He loves me too’. Untold numbers of sparrows in this world have lived their short lives and have died. And every one that died did so not for any fault of its own, but for ours. Our federal head, Adam, brought death into this world by sin, and that curse remains because we have all sinned. So the birds remind us of the Lord Jesus, in that they must die because of our sins. Because of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, our hearts and lips can burst forth in worship and praise that is just as acceptable as the sweet song of the sparrow.
Don’t ignore or undervalue the little birds; God doesn’t. It is our fault that they die, but they keep on singing for us. – Jim MacIntosh