"Do not fear; you are of more value than many sparrows."  Luke 12:7 (NASB)

I brought my Bible to my desktop computer yesterday to respond to a message a woman had sent me, someone I had recently connected with through e-mail.  She’s a very grounded woman who obviously loves the Lord and yet, she made a comment that surprised me.  She said that after reading something I had written, she had concluded that God really was involved in her life, something she had to keep telling herself because she often felt insignificant and unimportant in His eyes.

My heart reacted immediately, wanting to assure her from God’s Word that she absolutely was significant and important to God.  But as I drafted the reply, it hit me that she was not isolated in her concerns.  I’m sure many of us have those moments.  When we’re in high spirits, we’re certain that God is with us, ordering our steps, powering our lives, making Himself known in the little things.  But when we’re in a low moment, we may wonder, "Do I really matter?  Does God really care what’s going on with me?"

It’s in those low moments especially when we have to walk by faith.  The question I like to ask myself in those times is, "What do you know?" and by that I mean, "What does the Bible have to say about the issue?"  On this issue, the Bible is very clear—we are of great value to God.

Jesus said to his disciples, "Are not five sparrows sold for two cents?  And yet not one of them is forgotten before God" (Luke 12:6).  In Jesus’ day, one cent was the smallest coin in circulation, as in our own economy.  Two cents would buy five sparrows, showing how little these birds were regarded.  And yet, not one of those insignificant little birds was forgotten by God.  Not one.  Jesus went even further, explaining that God is so involved in the life of an insignificant sparrow that "not one of them will fall to the ground" apart from His will (Matthew 10:29).  Not one.

What’s awesome is that Jesus was imparting this truth to show that if a sparrow matters that much to God, we can be certain that He is taking great care over each of our lives, for we are of much more value than a sparrow.  To emphasize the point, Jesus said, "Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered" (Luke 12:7).

Allow that to sink in.  God is so intimately acquainted with you, so interested in every aspect of you, that He knows how many hairs are on your head.

If God cares about such an inconsequential detail as that, we can be sure that He cares about the day-to-day happenings in our lives.  If He cares about one sparrow falling to the ground, He cares when our spirits are fallen.  Not one of us escapes His notice.  Not one.

When we consider the majesty and power of God, His work in creation, the heavens, the moon, and the stars, we may think of ourselves as small and insignificant.  When we consider our circumstances, those times when nothing is as we hoped and we wonder why God hasn’t shown up, we may think we’re unimportant.  But we must dwell on what we know.

To my friend who inspired this devotion and to every one who needs to be encouraged, God is right this moment involved in your life, even as you read this.  He directed you to it.  He wanted you to know the truth, that the true and living God, the Most High, the sovereign Lord of the Universe thinks you are significant and important.  He cares about your every mood, your every step, your every coming and going.  He loves you.

Father, it boggles my mind that You would take such notice of me as to know the number of hairs on my head.  Write that truth on my heart, O God, that I am valuable to You, that You care.  I pray that You would remind me in the low moments that You have Your eye on me and I am in Your sovereign care.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

To view archived devotions, go to www.kimberlycashtate.com. 

"You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him."  Deuteronomy 13:4 (NASB)

This is just like the Word of God, isn't it?  One verse is so packed that we can keep chewing on it.  We've looked at "cling" and "listen," and this week, we will look at another thought-provoking verb:  follow.

We haven't yet discussed the context of this verse.  It's from the book of Deuteronomy, in a time when the people of Israel were receiving a host of instructions from Moses as to how to conduct themselves when they entered the Promised Land.  They would be surrounded by nations who didn't know God, and as His chosen people, He wanted to protect them.  He also wanted them to be a light in darkness, to demonstrate what it looked like to know, trust, and obey the true and living God.

Numerous times in this book and others, God commands them to follow Him fully.  This particular passage in chapter thirteen warns against idolatry.  It says that if a prophet or a dreamer of dreams tells them to go after other gods and serve them, they were not to listen, even if the prophet or dreamer gives a sign or a wonder which comes true (Deut. 13:1-3).  They'd already been told not to go after other gods, and sign or no sign, they needed to follow what they knew was true.

There is always something or someone to follow, isn't there?  We have as many gods today as they had then, maybe more.  There are the gods of money, fame, power, and greed.  There are the gods that tell us, "It's all about you," so that we'll make choices solely for our own benefit, often to the detriment of others, including spouses and children.  There are the gods that elevate intellect above all else.  If you pursue and attain the best education, they say, you've achieved the highest goal.  There are the gods of identity—race and gender among the most powerful—that want to be the sum total of our being, wanting to take that which God has made and cause us to worship and serve it rather than the Creator.

And of course, there is the god of this world, who's behind them all, and he's not choosy.  Any path that's not of God will do.  He works to keep us following after emptiness, so that we ourselves become empty.

But when we follow God, we understand that all we do is for Him.  If, in following God, He leads us to fame, wealth, power, or intellectual heights, we understand it's not about us.  He has established the platform for his glory.  When we follow God, we understand that we've become new creatures, His creatures.  We don't live, move, and have our being in earthly identities; we live, move, and have our being in Him (Acts 17:28).  When we follow God, we will never be empty, we will never thirst, we will never hunger.  We will be richly filled with His Spirit.

Are you a follower?

The path starts with Jesus, for He said, "I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12).  He also gave this awesome assurance:  "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand" (John 10:27-28).

That's really all we are—sheep.  We are that unique creature that is easily led astray.  When God says to follow, it's for our protection.  He knows the emptiness that comes from following other gods, the promises they can't deliver, the band-aids that leave us hurting.

As believers, we are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14).  God wants us to be a peculiar people, to demonstrate to an unbelieving world what it looks like to know, trust, and obey the true and living God.  No matter what others around us may be following after, we ought to find ourselves lined up behind the Good Shepherd.  Following.

Lord, it may be painful but show me the gods in my life, the ones I've put before You.  And then, Lord, give me a heart of repentance and, in Your power, help me to overthrow them.  It is my desire to follow You and You alone, and I thank You for showing me the path to eternal life.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

To view archived devotions, go to www.kimberlycashtate.com.

"You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him."  Deuteronomy 13:4 (NASB)

Last week we focused on the "cling" part of this verse.  This week we will look at another important action verb from the same verse:  listen.

So many places in the Bible speak of listening, and not just who we ought to listen to, but who we ought not listen to.  Who don't we listen to?  The ungodly.  Psalm 1 tells us, "How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly."  When we hear that, we may think of someone who in our minds is especially wicked, someone we wouldn't listen to anyway.  But the Bible teaches that the ungodly are in a broad category.  They are those who do not know God through His Son, Jesus Christ.

They may be wonderful in our eyes, kind and giving.  They may be family members we adore or high profile personalities who inspire, but without Christ, they are in darkness as we once were.  Without Christ, they are dead in their trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1), they walk "according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air" (Eph. 2:2), they are "darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart" (Eph. 4:18).  We can understand, then, why we are not to listen to their counsel.  Why would we?  What wisdom could those who have been made alive, who dwell in the light, gain from those who are dead and in the dark?

The Bible also tells us not to listen to the world.  This is similar to what we just covered, but wider and deeper.  When the Bible speaks of the world, it's speaking of the whole world system—the philosophy of this age, beliefs and opinions entrenched in culture, and the like—all of which are under the influence of the "prince of the power of the air," who is Satan.  This passage from First John is telling, in which the apostle contrasts the listening habits of those who don't know God with those who do:

"They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them.  We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us.  By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error."  (1 John 4:5-6)(emphasis added)

How do we know if what we are hearing is "from the world?"  Sometimes the message plainly runs afoul of the Word of God, but often it's subtle, which is why it is so important to know and understand what the Bible says.  We are told to "be renewed in the spirit of your mind" (Eph. 4:23), which only comes through a constant infilling of truth.  Everything we hear should be measured against the Word of God, and if it doesn't line up, we ought not listen.

It's clear, then, who we do listen to.  The verse from Deuteronomy 13:4 says, "listen to His voice," which means He's speaking, right?  Where can we be certain that we are actually hearing the very words, the very heart of God?  In His Word, which is "living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword" (Hebrews 5:12).

I've heard the statistic that more than eighty percent of professed Christians only open their Bibles on Sunday morning when the pastor directs them to do so.  Let us not be counted among that number.  The Bible is too much of a gold mine to go neglected.  Its pages are filled with an immense treasure of counsel and knowledge.  In a world where everybody wants a platform, everybody's got a blog, everybody wants to tell us what to think, feel, and do, we need to tune our ears to the only voice that matters.  We need to find ourselves regularly cozied up to our Bibles.  Listening.

Lord, give us an insatiable hunger for Your Word.  When we open the pages of our Bibles, give us understanding and renew our minds.  Close our ears to any counsel that is not from You.  It is our desire to listen to You alone.  Help us to hear Your voice above all others, that we may bring glory to Your name.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

To view archived devotions, go to www.kimberlycashtate.com. 

"You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him."  Deuteronomy 13:4 (NASB)

            I was standing at the sink the other day washing vegetables, my mind wandering through a series of "What ifs."  I'd been seeking direction on something and now that God had given it, I had to be sure that all the bases were covered.  "Well, what if this happens?" and "What if that happens?  Then what?"

My mind had no problem figuring out all the scenarios in which this would not work.  As I handled the vegetables, gazing out the window from time to time, I could feel my peace leaving as I pondered this thing.  And suddenly, one word breezed into my soul:  cling.

I love that word.  It holds such power.  When I think of it, I picture God's chosen people, the nation of Israel, in the early days when Moses was still their leader.  God in His grace was giving them instruction before they entered the Promised Land as to how to prosper and be a light to other nations.  He told them, "You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him" (Deut. 13:4).

Joshua was there that day and soon replaced Moses as Israel's leader.  He led them into the Promised Land, fought great battles with God's divine help, and before he died, reminded Israel of that one word:  "But you are to cling to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day" (Joshua 23:8).  The word was also in the mind of David, Israel's great king, when he said, "My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me" (Psalm 63:8).

But things went awry with the nation of Israel; they weren't prospering, because they weren't clinging.  By the days of the prophet Jeremiah, hundreds of years later, most of the tribes of Israel had been taken captive by Assyria as a result of sin against God.  The ones remaining, the southern kingdom of Judah, were on the brink of captivity as well.  Still, God in His grace sent them a prophet, Jeremiah, to try to turn them away from sin.

One day, God directed Jeremiah to buy a linen waistband and put it around his waist (Jeremiah 13:1).  Next the Lord had him hide it in the crevice of a rock, then retrieve it again, only to find it ruined and worthless.  It was a picture of God's people who refused to listen to Him and as a result, had become as worthless as the waistband.  "'For as the waistband clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole household of Israel and the whole household of Judah cling to Me,' declares the Lord, 'that they might be for Me a people, for renown, for praise, and for glory; but they did not listen.'"  The southern kingdom was taken captive by Babylon not long after.

The Lord hasn't changed.  He still desires His people to cling to Him.  When I heard the word in my head that day at the sink, I saw the image I always see when I'm reminded of it—my arms flung tight around the waist of the Father, no space between us.  No space for doubt, no space for worry, no space for disobedience.

If I could only stay that way every moment of every day!  Can we purpose together in our hearts and pray that when doubt comes, we will cling?  When worry comes, we will cling.  When other voices invade our heads and try to move us off course, including our own, we will forsake them and cling, listening to God's voice alone.  When the slightest temptation to sin comes, we will cling.  There is no better place, no safer place, no other place where we can truly prosper than in His bosom.  Clinging.

Lord, may Your grace and strength be abundant in our lives, empowering us to keep the affirmations above.  Help us to follow You and fear You, to keep Your commandments, to listen to Your voice, serve You, and cling to You.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

To view archived devotions, go to www.kimberlycashtate.com.