Preparing our Hearts for Hurricane Ian
Every home-owner who chooses to stay in the Tampa Bay area is preparing their property to withstand the category 3-wind-force of Hurricane Ian. Category 3 hurricanes are nothing to laugh at. I will do the same preparation for our property as I have done for all the previous hurricanes over the last thirty years. My house and heart are ready.
Your house, too, might be prepared. But how is your heart doing? Is it prepared? Or, are you gripped by worry as Hurricane Ian approaches your neck of the woods? Is anxiety the dominant element about what might happen to you or your loved ones? Ponder Jesus’ words to us about how trust in his Father is fruitful and how worry is fruitless:
22 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Therefore, I say to you, don’t worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. 23 There is more to life than food and more to the body than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they neither plant nor harvest, they have no silo or barn, yet God feeds them. You are worth so much more than birds! 25 Who among you by worrying can add a single moment to your life?[a] 26 If you can’t do such a small thing, why worry about the rest?
Our Interests Follow Our Investments
Earlier, Jesus calls his followers to invest in heaven by using their material goods to become rich toward God (Luke 12:13-21). But when we invest in things on earth rather than heaven, our hearts will be pulled in that direction. But if we use the material goods he gives to us, to extend his kingdom rule and help make disciples, our hearts will be pulled toward eternity. Our interests naturally follow our investments is a guiding rule of life. So, invest in heaven and our interests will follow suit.
But Jesus sees a choke point in his disciples’ hearts, a real problem for some of his followers. He knows that the obstacle to being rich toward God, being generous, is the addiction of worry and anxiety about our future security, fretting about the necessities of life. When we are handicapped by these addictions, emotions, worried about how we are going to pay the bills and feed and clothes our families, our future security, it prevents us from being generous toward God as we should be. Worry makes us poor toward God.
So, to invest in heaven, we first need to be free from the tyranny of anxiety and fear. Fear and anxiety will hijack our ability to trust God and seek first his rule, which Jesus says explicitly, is to be our foremost aim and purpose of life.
So, in view of the damage that can be done by worry and the need to replace it with trust, Jesus teaches us to look up and consider the ravens, a large, black-bird commonly seen by Jesus’ disciples.
Ravens: Flying Garbage Trucks
Ravens are scavengers. Lowest of the scavengers on the scale. Garbage birds, trash fowl, flying trash trucks. But ravens don’t plant crops or harvest them. The rich man Jesus spoke about earlier would not be able to take you on a tour of his farm and say: now these fields belong to the ravens. They don’t have any places to store food: kitchen cupboards, freezers, pantries. Under normal circumstances, considering the sheer number of birds in Israel, we might think the ravens would starve due to the excessive competition. But ravens don’t starve, despite the fact that they do not plant or harvest crops. God sets a table of food for them each day. He sees them and provides food for their feathered bodies. He meets their needs. On the scale of values and worth, these flying trash trucks are nowhere near how much God values us. We are worth much more to God than garbage birds.
Martin Luther used to say: God spends more every year in feeding birds than all the revenues of the King of France.” So, Jesus urges, read the creation like a divine textbook on trusting God. Let faith in God’s provision say no to fear.
God feeds the ravens
Let’s be clear. Ravens do in fact have to work to be able to eat their breakfast. God doesn’t drop the food down into their opened beaks. And, while ravens do not use barns or silos or pantries, we are encouraged to do just that. But Jesus’ point is that while God has not given the ravens the ability to plant crops or store their food in barns, God, nonetheless, intentionally and quite successfully feeds them throughout the course of their winged-life. When was the last time you met a homeless raven panhandling on the street?
Elijah and the Ravens
Do you remember what God used to feed unemployed Elijah when he was hiding from the rage of King Ahab? He used scavengers, ravens, not the football guys from Baltimore. And how did those ravens manage to find food? God supplied it. He fed the ravens who fed Elijah.
So, if God provides for a raven’s steady diet, we can be assured that he will provide for us as well. So, what good is it for us—worth far more to God than birds--to worry or given in to anxiety? Worry is fruitless and counterproductive. Our lifespan will not be lengthened even for a few hours by worrying.
We Can Be Confident that God will Take Care of Us
The point Jesus makes is that if God sees fit for us to live in this world, and when pursue his rule as the all-consuming priority of life, we can be confident that God will feed us and clothe us. Once that confidence sinks down to the bottom of our hearts, takes root, and bears fruit, we then are freed up to invest our material goods in heaven and be rich toward God. What could be better than that?
Prepare your Heart for Ian
Why, not take thirty minutes and meditate on Jesus’ words in Luke 12:17-31. His assuring words will help get your heart ready for the Hurricane Ian. Cast your burden on the Lord, trust him to take you and your loved ones through the storm. Then, get to work, like the ravens, to prepare your house for the windy days ahead.
Morning has broken like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken like the first bird
Praise for the singing
Praise for the morning
Praise for them springing fresh from the world.
Morning has broken like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken like the first bird
Praise for the singing
Praise for the morning
Praise for them springing fresh from the world.
Eleanor Farjeon, 1931
Thank you for reading.
Photo Credit: Jerry Smith