PAYING ATTENTION

Friday, August 11, 2006

I like these words from Philip Yancey’s book, Rumors of Another World:

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father,” promised Jesus. “And even the hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” Yet sparrows still fall to the ground, as do the hairs from chemotherapied human heads; and of sixty leatherback turtles born, only two or three survive. A sovereign God who wills against his ultimate will, who superintends a universe of a hundred billion galaxies and yet lavishes intimate attention on its tiny creatures—how do I comprehend such a God? Sometimes I rail against the mysteries and sometimes I accept them. As a starting point, I take for granted that a creature’s proper response to God is humility. Accepting creatureliness may require that I, like Job, bow before a master plan that makes no apparent sense.