Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Jerry Bridges
Who Holds Whom?
I remember walking my son across the street to school when he was young. I never asked him to hold onto me, but I told him, “I’ll hold onto you.” That first day of kindergarten, He squeezed my hand tight but lost his grip when he stumbled over the curb. It didn’t matter because I had him secure in the palm of my hand and wasn’t about to let go. He didn’t hold me–I held him. With that in mind, listen to Who is holding whom in John 10:28-29, where Jesus says, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” Those Who Jesus gives eternal life (John 3:16) “will never perish,” and nobody will take them out of Jesus’ hands. But even more, “no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” Nobody includes the devil and his demons. Who’s got whom? God’s got us!
All-Knowing About You
God is omniscient, which means He’s all-knowing. God knows everything there is to know about you. There is nothing He does not know about you (Hebrews 4:13) because God is all-knowing, and “even the hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:30). Mine are easier to count than in my youth. The point is that Jesus told the disciples that if every single hair is accounted for in their lives, then nothing they experience will go unnoticed by God. By the way, He knows you better than you know yourself, especially considering your heart can deceive you (Jerermiah 17:9).
More Valuable Than They
Jesus reminded His disciples of their value to God in saying, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father” (Matt 10:29) so “Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:31). Why did Jesus bring up sparrows? It’s because they’re considered the least valuable in the eyes of the world, highly insignificant. Sparrows were sometimes the only things the poorest of the Jews could afford to buy for their required sacrifice at the temple. These were so inexpensive that you could buy two sparrows for one farthing (Matthew 10:29). A farthing was about a half a penny. I believe Jesus’ point was that even things that are small or esteemed as nothing to the world are precious to Him. We “are of more value than many sparrows,” so our value to Him is not determined by our size. A mother loves her tiny baby despite his or her size. Size has nothing to do with value to the mother, and neither does it to God.
Conclusion
There is absolutely no detail of your life that is too insignificant for your heavenly Father’s attention, even more so knowing that He has a firm grip on you, that He knows everything there is to know about You (and He still loves you), and that You are valuable to Him, but only for those who are in Christ Jesus (Acts 4:12, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21).
