Locusts and Wild Honey

His Eye is on the Sparrow
Words by Civilla D. Martin, 1905

Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home,
When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

“Let not your heart be troubled,” His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears;
Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise,
When songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

I sing because I’m happy,
I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

Martin’s lyrics, of course, elude to Mathew 10:29-31. I see nothing wrong with the song, but I do notice that the words stop a little short of Jesus’ full orbed teaching. She sings that God’s eye is on the sparrow.” If not careful, we may be tempted to underestimate this glorious truth. God does not watch simply as a passive spectator, but the Biblical wording implies Gods full knowledge and consent. Seeing and taking notice of every sparrow fall requires omnipotence, but Jesus points past that mind boggling truth to something even more profound – God’s sovereign governance. In other words, not only does God’s watchful eye see the sparrow, but his hand of providence guides its flight.

I love the way the The Heidelberg Catechism defines providence as “The almighty and everywhere present power of God; whereby, as it were by his hand, he upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things come, not by chance, but by his fatherly hand.”

Southern Baptist theologian, John L. Dagg, wrote in 1857:

Some persons are unwilling to attribute to God the care and management of minute and unimportant events. They consider it beneath his dignity to be concerned about such trivial matters. They believe in a General Providence over the affairs of the world, exercised by general laws; but a Particular Providence, exercised over every particular incident of every man’s life, enters not into their creed. But the Scriptures are plain on this subject. The fall of a sparrow is a very trivial event, yet it is affirmed by the teacher from heaven, to be not without our heavenly Father. If great events happen according to general laws, it is equally true of small ones; and operation of these laws, in the latter case, must be as well understood, and as perfectly controlled, as in the former. Moreover, it often happens, that very important events depend on others that are in themselves trivial and unimportant.

Early SBC president, P. H. Mell, further explained:

“Predestination is that eternal, most wise, and immutable decree of God whereby he did, form before all time, determined and ordain to create, dispose of, and direct to some particular end, every person and thing to which he has given, or is yet to give, being; and to make the whole creation subservient to, and declarative of, his own glory….That this ultimate object might be attained, and the end infallibly secured, he ordained, with unerring certainty, all the means necessary, both in the world of matter, and in the world of mind. He not only fixed, from eternity, all the forms, positions, relations, and motions of matter, even to the numbering of the hairs of our heads, and deciding when a sparrow should fall — in directing the motions of the particles of dust in the atmosphere, (Isa. 40:12) and ordaining when the sun should shine, (Job 9:7) and when the wind should blow, (Psalm 135:7), but he “fixed from eternity all the circumstances in the life of every individual or mankind and all the particulars which will compose the history of the human race from its commencement to its close.”

Charles Spurgeon, the prince of preachers:

You see the birds congregate in the autumn, ready for their flight across the purple sea. They fly hither and thither in strange confusion. The believer in providence holds that the wing of every bird has stamped upon it the place where it shall fly, and fly with never such vagaries of its own wild will, it cannot diverge so much as the millionth part of an inch from its predestinated track. It may whirl about, above, beneath, — east, west, north, south — wherever it pleases; still, it is all according to the providential hand of God. And although we see it not, it may be, that if that swallow did not take the precise track which it does take, something a little greater might be affected thereby; and again, something a little greater still might be affected, until at last a great thing would be involved in a little. Blessed is that man who seeth God in trifles! It is there that it is the hardest to see him; but he who believes that God is there, may go from the little providence up to the God of providence. Rest assured, when the fish in the sea take their migration, they have a captain and a leader, as well as the stars; for he who marshals the stars in their courses, and guides the planets in their march, is the master of the fly, and wings the bat, and guides the minnow, and doth not despise the tiniest of his creatures. You say there is predestination in the path of the earth; you believe that in the shining of the sun there is the ordinance of God; there is as much his ordinance in the creeping of an insect or in the glimmering of a glow-worm in the darkness. In nothing is there chance, but in everything there is a God. All things live and move in him, and have their being; nor could they live or move otherwise; for God hath so ordained them.

In 1922 The Baptist Young Peoples Union of the Southern Baptist Convention, published a study course using John Bunyan’s classic “Pilgrims Progress.” The introduction included the image of the Bedford Jail (pictured above) and a brief biographical sketch (below). L P. Leavell, secretary of the BYPU, offered the course and said, “Certainly no young Baptist should be unacquainted with the greatest of all spiritual allegories. Its great word pictures grip the imagination and stir the soul and, at the same time, teach the fundamental doctrines of grace which Baptists hold so dear. Next to the Bible, possibly no book better deserves a place in a course prepared for young Christians.” You can access the text of Pilgrim’s Progress from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library and many other works at John Bunyan Online. Leavell prayed, “May the study of this book strengthen the faith and zeal of our Baptist young people and help them to realize that it is indeed ‘sweet to walk in this pilgrim way.'”

THE PREACHER WHO WROTE “THE PILGRIM’S PROGRESS”

People have always loved a good story. But not until the year 1700 did the English speaking world have published a long story dealing with imaginary characters. “Robinson Crusoe” was published in 1719 and was the first of modern long stories.

But while the writer of “Robinson Crusoe” was a boy of seventeen there was a great, rough Baptist preacher in Bedford jail, in England, busy writing a greater story. This preacher was John Bunyan and he was writing “The Pilgrim’s Progress From This World To That Which Is To Come.” This story was widely read when Bunyan died in 1688, and is read today in more than eighty languages of the earth.

BUNYAN’S BOYHOOD

What sort of a man was Bunyan? From his beautiful writings we would think he was a scholar, having both leisure and culture. But, instead, he was born of poor parents and was never rich. His father was a mender of cooking vessels and John later followed the same trade, hence is often called “the Bedford tinker.” He went to school very little, but managed to learn to read and write.

He tells us that in his youth he was rough and thoughtless and given to swearing and Sabbath breaking. There was little religious influence in his home. Yet, when nine years old, he became interested in religion and, was converted when he was twenty-four or about fifteen years later.

BUNYAN’S YOUNG MANHOOD

When about seventeen, he served a year or more in the army. During one battle, a comrade who went forward in Bunyan’s place was killed. Bunyan never got over the thought that in this way God had spared his life for some purpose. When about twenty, he married a girl who was poor like himself, but of godly parents. She owned two books, of which Bunyan said, “Her only portion was two volumes which her father had given her, ‘The Plain Man’s Pathway,’ and ‘The Practice of Piety.’ In these I sometimes read, wherein I found some things pleasant to me.”

Bunyan thus reveals his liking for good literature, yet he little dreamed that he would himself make a valuable contribution to the world’s best literature.

BUNYAN BECOMES A “PILGRIM”

After his marriage, Bunyan gave up much of his wickedness, attended church, read his Bible and found his mind filled with thoughts of his lost condition. His wife encouraged him to read. This period of reading and thinking possibly gave him many of the ideas about which he wrote so beautifully later on.

He left off dancing and Sabbath breaking and set out from the “City of Destruction” to the “Heavenly Mansions.” One day, as he was walking in the country thinking and praying, there came to his mind this verse, “He hath made peace through the blood of the cross.” He says, “I then saw that the justice of God and my sinful soul could embrace each other.” Soon every thing became clear and he made a profession of religion after which he began preaching to others about the Saviour he had found.

IN PRISON FOR PREACHING

Bunyan joined the Baptist church at Bedford and two years later became its pastor. Great crowds came to hear him. But his preaching was cut short by King Charles II, who came to the throne of England in 1660 and ordered that all preachers who did not belong to the Church of England (Episcopal) should be imprisoned or banished. Bunyan was one of these and was thrown in jail for nothing else than preaching the Gospel as he believed it.

Twelve years he was kept prisoner. Yet he was not idle. He wrote many religious tracts and sermons. The one called “Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners” is still read and is a masterpiece of its kind. Thus, to his long imprisonment, Bunyan owes his literary fame. He had quiet and leisure to think. He reminds us of the Apostle Paul, who, while in prison at Ttome, wrote letters which still bless the world.

BUILDING UP His FAME IN BEDFORD JAIL

In 1672 Bunyan was released. But three years later he was put back in jail and at this time he began his great work, “The Pilgrim’s Progress.” This was a new species of literature upon which he worked until 1677, when it was published. Meantime he had been again released from jail. Three editions in the first year proved the popularity of “Pilgrim’s Progress” and, also, raised Bunyan to the place of a favorite writer and preacher of England. For the rest of his sixteen years of life, no one cared to put him in prison again.

BUNYAN’S LAST YEARS

Bunyan’s last fifteen years were spent in fruitful service for his Lord. His one thought was to preach and write about the way of salvation. He was a popular preacher even in London, where he went annually to visit the Baptist churches. It is said that if a day’s notice were given of his coming, the church would be crowded to overflowing to hear him.

He was active until his last illness which was contracted while riding home in a cold, driving rain from Reading, where he had been to reconcile a father to his wayward son. He died August 12, 1688, in his sixty-first year, at the home of a grocer on Snow Hill, at ‘The Sign of the Star.’ His last words were: “My toilsome days are over. I am going to see the Head that was crowned with thorns and the Face that was spit upon, for me. I have lived by hearsay and faith; but now I go where I shall live by sight, and shall be with Him in whose company I delight myself; take me, for I come to Thee.”

Thus, with triumphal joy, he entered the Celestial City.

How little did his enemies, who put him in jail, think that God would overrule their cruelty and make it the means of spreading Bunyan’s name and story over the whole world, and enable him to speak to every land and all nations, through all generations, until the Lord Himself shall come again.

Bunyan is buried in the graveyard at Bunhill Fields, not far from London. In the same graveyard are buried: Daniel DeFoe, who wrote “Robinson Crusoe”; and Isaac Watts, the great hymn writer; and Susanna Wesley, the mother of John and Charles Wesley. These four people influenced the world as few others have done.

Time Magazine has published a list of the 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson didn’t make the cut. I would have liked to have seen John Macarthur, John Piper, R. C. Sproull, and Al Mohler on the list. Time pointed to Howard & Roberta Ahmanson, David Barton, Doug Coe, Chuck Colson, Luis Cortès, James Dobson, Stuart Epperson, Michael Gerson, Billy & Franklin Graham, Ted Haggard, Bill Hybels, T.D. Jakes, Diane Knippers, Tim & Beverly LaHaye, Richard Land, Brian McLaren, Joyce Meyer, Richard John Neuhaus, Mark Noll, J.I. Packer, Rick Santorum, Jay Sekulow, Stephen Strang, Rick Warren, and Ralph Winter.

I thought it would be interesting to see what would happen if I ran each of these names through the “I’m Feeling Lucky” Google search. For those that do not know, the Google feature sends your browser automatically to the first search result. Since the Google ranking algorithm takes multiple factors into account, including page popularity, these 25 most influential names/search terms ought to point to relevant web content. Ideally, the ministry site would be ranked #1, however my hypothesis proved incorrect in several instances. I hacked together a quick list for you to link directly from here and see for yourself: Howard and Roberta Ahmanson, David Barton, Doug Coe, Chuck Colson, Luis Cortès, James Dobson, Stuart Epperson, Michael Gerson, Billy and Franklin Graham, Ted Haggard, Bill Hybels, T.D. Jakes, Diane Knippers, Tim and Beverly LaHaye, Richard Land, Brian McLaren, Joyce Meyer, Richard John Neuhaus, Mark Noll, J.I. Packer, Rick Santorum, Jay Sekulow, Stephen Strang, Rick Warren, and Ralph Winter.

Two-hundred years ago, not one Christian church stood in the “Golden Land of Myanmar,” then called Burma. Not one Christian voice could be heard lifting praise to the God of Heaven and Earth. As John Piper says, “missions exist because worship doesn’t.” God used the life and sufferings of missionary Adoniram Judson to call thousands to Himself. Today the Burma Baptist Convention lists over 3,700 congregations carrying on the work begun by the self sacrifice of Judson and his family.

At 24 years old, the young Judson did not head to the mission field blind to the suffering and difficulties that lie ahead. In a letter to his soon to be wife’s father, requesting her hand in marriage, he wrote:

“I have now to ask, whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world; whether you can consent to her departure, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of missionary life; whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean, to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death. Can you consent to all this, for the sake of him who left his heavily home, and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion, and the glory of God? Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with the crown of righteousness, brightened with the acclamations of praise which shall redound to her Savior from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair?”

The difficult road described in his request proved prophetic as Adoniram did bury his beloved Ann on foreign soil. Through the course of his ministry the harsh mission field also took his second wife and a total of seven children. In 1832, Judson wrote to missionary candidates looking to join him on the field, “Remember, a large proportion of those who come out on a mission to the East die within five years after leaving their native land. Walk softly, therefore; death is narrowly watching your steps.” Through sicknesses, imprisonment, torture, bouts of depression, and obstacles of every sort, God brought forth a mighty lasting work for His name’s sake.

John Piper highlighted “The Cost of Bringing Christ to Burma Suffering and Success in the Life of Adoniram Judson” two years ago at the Bethlehem Conference for Pastors with his sermon, “How Few There Are Who Die So Hard.” I highly recommend reading the sermon. The Wholesome Words web site also has some great resources and links about this great God-honoring missionary pioneer.

I wrote the following simple Bible study for a small group of teenagers to do themselves.

Use your Bibles:

1. Read Matthew 6:9-13
A. Underline all the pronouns in the Model Prayer.
B. What do you notice about the pronouns?
C. Who does each pronoun refer to?

2. Read Acts 1:14
A. Who prayed?
B. How many prayed?
C. How long did they pray?

3. Read Acts 6:6-7
A. What 3 things (verse 7) happened after the church prayed?

4. Read Acts 12:5,12
A. Where was Peter?
B. What did the church do?
C. Where were the people doing this?
D. Have you ever prayed with someone else? Where and when? Tell us about it

5. Read Matthew 6:5
A. Where do the hypocrites pray?
B. Why do they pray there? Do they really want their prayers answered or
something else?
C. Do they get what they want?

6. Read Matthew 6:6
A. Where does Jesus say to pray in contrast to the hypocrites?
B. Is this place literal or figurative?
C. List some good places you could pray alone. Why is that a good place?

7. Read Matthew 6:7 and Luke 6:12
A. What’s wrong with the way the heathen pray? ( Matthew 6:7)
B. How long did Jesus pray? (Luke 6:12)
3. What do you think the difference is between Jesus in
Luke 6:12 and the heathen in Matthew 6:7?

8. Read Matthew 6:8
A. Does God already know what you need?

9. Read Matthew 6:9
A. Who is the “our” referring to?
B. Does this mean we should pray with other people?
C. Does this mean we should never pray alone? Why?

Brain Storm and Discuss:

1. What are some advantages to praying with a group?

2. What are some advantages of praying alone?

3. What are some dangers of praying with a group?

4. What are some dangers of praying alone?