He Cares for You, Part 4

"And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!”

Matthew 6:28-30

Can I make a confession? I chose this passage because I wanted to think on these things about

worry myself. I am a worrier. I come by it honest, as my grandma was a major worrier, and so is

my mom. My grandma had bent blinds in her house because she would stand by the windows

and peak out through the blinds to watch the neighborhood. She did it so much that one time,

she had her head sticking out through the curtains in her living room and a police officer drove

by, slammed on his brakes, backed up and came knocking on the door. He thought maybe

somebody was up to no good in there, but it turns out, my grandma was just watching the

neighborhood to make sure nobody else was up to no good!

Why are you worried about clothing? Now I don’t know what all of the conversation entailed

here that Jesus was pointing out to clothing being a worry area, but He may have been using it

as an illustration of something simple and necessary that people very well could stress out over.

Maybe our stress talk sounds like, “Where are we going to get food? How will I pay these bills?

How can I afford to get this car fixed? What will happen to my child?” Do those concerns not

matter? Of course they do, they’re part of our lives. It’s just so easy to become so obsessed with

those concerns that we block out the goodness and provision of God, or to forget how He has

provided all along the way to where we are. It’s so common for Christians to lose sight of God

and rob themselves of joy.

Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you

that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. Notice that there’s

a very parallel line of reasoning here between birds and flowers. Neither stress over working or

saving, though they live, but both are provided for, and both have their own beauty provided to

them by God.

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown

into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Flowers don’t live

that long and their end is basically to decay. They might even be burned up with the grass. How

valuable! Obviously, we don’t place immense value on grass and lilies, but rather mow over

them, burn them, throw them out, and yet they carry the beauty of God’s design.

We matter to God. Way more than flowers and grass. God takes care of them. God will take

care of us. Great faith, not little faith, will serve us well to trust that truth.

Be blessed.

Sam Stringer