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“Look at the birds of the air:
they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns,
and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not of more value than they?”
— Matthew 6:26
“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:
they neither toil nor spin.”
— Matthew 6:28
“Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap,
they have neither storehouse nor barn,
and yet God feeds them.
Of how much more value are you than the birds!”
— Luke 12:24
The central theme of this song and these passages can be summed up in one simple, powerful truth:
> Your heavenly Father cares for you and takes responsibility for your life.
But there is a condition: you must cease from anxiety and enter into trust.
The Lord Jesus addresses one of the most common sins among believers: anxiety. Many Christians do not recognize anxiety as sin, but Jesus did not treat it as something neutral. He did not say, “Try not to be anxious if you can manage it.” He gave a command:
> “Do not be anxious about your life.” (Matthew 6:25, 31; Luke 12:22)
Anxiety is not only emotionally destructive; it is spiritually disobedient. It implies that God cannot be fully trusted. The Lord answers that inner doubt, not with a philosophical argument, but with a simple, visible illustration: birds and lilies.
He is saying: *“If you will look at what I have already done in creation, you will see that I have committed Myself to ongoing care for what I have made. And if I do this for birds and grass, how much more for you, My child?”*
This is the foundation of biblical faith for provision: the Father’s care, not our own anxiety-driven striving.
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The primary setting for Matthew 6:26–34 is the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7). This was Jesus’ authoritative declaration of the ethics and inner life of the Kingdom of God.
### Who is speaking?
The speaker is Jesus, the eternal Word made flesh. He is not giving advice as a religious teacher. He is speaking as the Son of God, perfectly revealing the Father’s heart. When Jesus says, “Your heavenly Father,” He is speaking out of His own intimate knowledge of the Father. He is inviting us into that same trustful relationship.
### To whom is He speaking?
He is speaking to His disciples and the crowds gathered in Galilee—ordinary people, many of them poor, living under Roman occupation, subject to heavy taxation, and constantly uncertain about tomorrow’s bread.
These were not people with full refrigerators, stable salaries, or government safety nets. Their anxiety about food and clothing was not theoretical; it was daily and pressing. To those very people, with very real needs, Jesus said:
In Luke 12, the context is similar. Jesus is addressing His disciples about covetousness, fear, and worldly anxiety. He contrasts the striving of the nations—who “seek after all these things” (Luke 12:30)—with the peaceful confidence of those who know God as Father.
### What was the situation?
Israel was under Roman rule. Economic pressure was real. Day laborers were paid one denarius per day—no work, no pay, no food. Clothes were precious, not easily replaced. Food insecurity was common.
Jesus does not deny these realities. He confronts them with a greater reality:
> The Father’s government over His creation and His covenant commitment to His children.
He draws their eyes away from their circumstances and directs them to creation itself:
He is saying: *“Creation is preaching to you every day. Listen to its message about the Father’s care.”*
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Let us look at two key Greek words that deepen our understanding: “anxious” and “value.”
### 1. “Anxious” – μεριμνάω (*merimnaō*)
In Matthew 6:25, 27, 28, 31, 34 and Luke 12:22, Jesus uses the verb merimnaō.
Anxiety, in the New Testament sense, is not merely “concern.” It is a divided mind—pulled between trust in God and trust in self, between faith and fear. James describes the “double-minded man” as “unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8).
So, when Jesus says, “Do not be anxious,” He is not condemning wise planning or careful stewardship. He is forbidding that inner division that refuses to rest in the Father’s care.
Anxiety is a spiritual condition where the heart is not anchored in the Father’s trustworthiness.
### 2. “Value” – διαφέρω (*diapherō*)
In Matthew 6:26, and Luke 12:24 we read:
> “Are you not of more value than they?”
> “Of how much more value are you than the birds!”
The word is diapherō.
Jesus is making a value judgment. He points to the birds and says, in effect:
> “If the Father exerts Himself continually to feed these lesser creatures, how much more will He exert Himself for you, who are of far surpassing worth?”
Why are you of far greater value than birds?
Understanding merimnaō and diapherō shows us the contrast:
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We will now walk through the themes of the lyrics and see how Scripture interprets Scripture.
### A. “Look at the birds of the air…”
> “Look at the birds of the air:
> they neither sow nor reap
> nor gather into barns,
> yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
> Are you not of more value than they?”
> — Matthew 6:26
The Lord gives three specific activities that birds do not engage in:
1. They do not sow.
2. They do not reap.
3. They do not store in barns.
These are the activities by which humans typically secure their provision for the future. Jesus does not say that sowing, reaping, and storing are wrong. Elsewhere, Scripture commends diligence and wise planning (Proverbs 6:6–11). But He is making a contrast:
The key phrase is: “your heavenly Father feeds them.”
Notice carefully: He does not say “their Father.” He says “your” heavenly Father. The same Father who claims you as His child feeds them as His creatures.
This means:
> “These all look to you
> to give them their food in due season.
> When you give it to them, they gather it up;
> when you open your hand,
> they are filled with good things.”
This is not poetic sentiment; it is theological reality. All creation is dependent, moment by moment, on the hand of God. He does not merely create and step back. He continues to give.
So, if God invests Himself so steadily in lesser creatures, what does that imply about His commitment to those of greater value?
### B. “Do not be anxious about your life—your heavenly Father knows what you need.”
The lyrics echo Jesus’ command:
> “Do not be anxious about your life…”
> — Matthew 6:25, 31; Luke 12:22
and:
> “Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.”
> — Matthew 6:32
There is a vital sequence here:
1. Command: Do not be anxious.
2. Reason: Your Father knows what you need.
Notice: The ground for rejecting anxiety is not positive thinking, nor human optimism, nor denial of problems. It is the omniscient care of the Father.
God’s knowledge of our needs precedes our asking:
The world runs after things because it does not know God as Father (Matthew 6:32). Anxiety, then, reveals a failure to function as a son or daughter. It is behaving as if we are fatherless.
In spiritual warfare, Satan’s persistent lie is: *“God is not truly good. God will not really care for you. You must look after yourself first.”* That was the essence of the serpent’s suggestion to Eve in Genesis 3.
Jesus confronts that lie directly:
“Your heavenly Father knows what you need.”
Knowledge plus love plus power equals absolute security. God is:
If any one of these were missing, we might have cause for anxiety. But in God, all three are complete.
### C. “He feeds the birds, He clothes the lilies—how much more will He care for you.”
Here we have two sides of provision:
Jesus says:
> “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
> yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
> But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,
> will he not much more
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