No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus

I CRIED unto the Lord with my voice. . .When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, thou knewest my path. . .I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me: no man cared for my soul. I cried unto thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living” Psalm 142:1a,3a,4-5.

“David was a hero, and yet his spirit sank: he could smite a giant down, but he could not keep himself up. He did not know his own path, nor feel able to bear his own burden. Observe his comfort: he looked away from his own condition to the ever-observant, all knowing God: and solaced himself with the fact that all was known to his heavenly Friend. Truly it is well for us to know that God knows what we do not know. . .”

Treasury of David, vol. II, page 1390, C. H. Spurgeon

“Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” Matthew 6:26. What a question! If we truly search our hearts, can we say of a surety and with a clear conscience - Yes! We are better than they!?! True, in Adam we were created in the image of God; given an eternal soul, a discerning mind and a voice with which to speak. But that image was so grossly marred by our sin! Jesus, though spotless, holy, and without sin Himself, pictured in His flesh, representatively, the sinful condition and ruin of fallen man as described in Isaiah 52:14: “his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.”

Has the sparrow sinned? Has he transgressed the law of God? Could it be that the song he sings is unto the god of this world? God forbid! What of the lilies of the field? They are arrayed in beauty; in a glory that is greater than that of Solomon? But do they hide within themselves the darkness, have they an enmity against their Creator? God forbid! Were there any charges to be laid against them, they might well point a branch or a wing at Adam’s race!

“Are ye not much better than they?”

“God fails not,” as one has beautifully said, “to find a house for the most worthless, and a nest for the most restless of birds.” (The sparrow is the worthless or common bird, while the swallow is the one who is restless, and is easily frightened.) What confidence this should give us. . .What repose the soul finds that casts itself on the watchful, tender care of Him who provides so fully for the need of all His creatures! The Psalmist. . .longs to be nestled, as it were, in the dwelling-place of God. The believer finds a perfect home and rest in God’s altars; or rather, in the great truths which they represent. . .”

“But there is one thing in these highly privileged birds which strikes us forcibly in our meditations - they knew not Him from whom all this kindness flowed - they knew neither His heart nor His hand. They enjoyed the rich provisions of His tender care; He thought of everything for their need, but there was no fellowship between them and the Great Giver. From this, O my soul, thou mayest learn a useful lesson. Never rest satisfied with mere frequenting such places, or with having certain privileges there; but rise, in spirit, and seek and find and enjoy direct communion with the living God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Treasury of David, volume II, page 1523, C. H. Spurgeon

Nesting and Resting.

“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus?” “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or what shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?” Matt. 6:31. “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” Rom. 14:17.

“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” God feeds and shelters His creation - but we are creatures who have rebelled; having been at enmity against God. We merit nothing in ourselves save death and eternal judgment. That God should supply even one need is exceeding abundant mercy and grace! I can see that God would care for His creation; the sparrows, the lilies - but it is in great wonder that I am able to sing: “No one ever cared for me like Jesus!” Let us thank Him for His love, for His mercy and grace; for the forgiveness of sin; for the imputed righteousness of Christ, and our being reconciled to God!

A Bird Sanctuary.

“Yea, the sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord. . .” Psalm 84:3. (It is thought by some that David would be as the sparrow and the swallow: that he longed for the house of God and its altars: that they might again be his nest, his resting place.) adapted from Matthew Henry.

“A custom, existing among several nations of antiquity, is deemed capable of illustrating the present passage. For birds, whose nests chanced to be built on the temples, or within the limits of them, were not allowed to be driven away, much less be killed, but found there a secure and undisturbed abode.” - William Keating Clay

The Kingdom of God - the future nesting place!

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. . .They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” Isa. 11:1,5,6,9.