Look at the Birds: God Is Already Taking Care of You

Introduction

For several weeks now at Momentum, we've been working through a series called God or Mammon. A subject too often ignored in our churches: talking about money, but talking about it well. We've seen that money is a spiritual subject. We've exposed the two traps of Mammon: the love of money (the thing you pour yourself into) and hope in money (your security, your identity, your status built on what you have). We've answered with gratitude, thankfulness, contentment, and simplicity.

Today, Jesus is going to draw a very concrete application from all of this: he's going to tackle worry. Worry about finances, about material things, is the chain Mammon uses to keep us prisoner. Worry about running out, about not having enough, about not being able to provide for your family, about not being able to handle the unexpected. It settles into your head, hijacks your thoughts, and keeps you from thinking about anything but being safe.

And to break that chain, Jesus is going to do something surprising. He's not going to hand you a financial plan. He's going to say: look at the birds of the sky. Look at the lilies of the field. He's going to take you outside, to remind you that your heavenly Father is already taking care of you.

Outline of this article

1. "Do not worry": a thesis, not a suggestion

Open your Bible to Matthew 6, verse 25. The verse before just said that no one can serve both God and Mammon. And Jesus continues: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?"

We need to stop right there. Jesus has just laid out his thesis for the rest of the passage, and he says something we absolutely must not downplay. We tend to see worry as an attack, something that falls on us and that we try to manage. For Jesus, worry is not something you suffer, it's something you choose. It's not something imposed on you, it's something you impose on yourself.

And we need to weigh who he's talking to. Jesus is addressing people living in crisis. Israel is not an independent territory, it's a Roman colony crushed under taxes. These are people who are struggling, who count every coin. This isn't a message for people who are comfortable. Too often, we imagine there's some income level above which we'd stop worrying. The people who are most at peace with their finances are almost never the wealthiest. If anything, the relationship runs the other way.

Then Jesus drops a sentence that changes everything: is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? In other words, your worry comes from a wrong view of the world. Human beings were not created to survive. They were created for something far greater. You are not just a body with needs to meet. If life came down to just that, it would be sadly poor. Most creatures on this earth are concerned only with survival. For you, it's different: you were created to glorify God. And Jesus's logic is simple: if God created you for something greater, he's not a bad engineer. He will provide what you need to accomplish it.

2. Look at the birds: daily dependence

Jesus continues, verse 26: "Look at the birds of the sky: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"

Jesus takes you outside for a case study, and he picks the birds. Why them? Because they act very differently than you do. A bird doesn't have the luxury of planning ahead. It has no grocery list, no supermarket, no fridge to stock. Every day, it's forced to depend on God. Every day, God has to open its eyes to the seeds, the earthworms (or the fries you're holding a little too high at the fast food place), so it can eat.

Be careful: dependence is not laziness. The bird spends its day searching, flying, working for its food. It doesn't sit with its wings crossed. What Jesus is exposing isn't your activity, it's the source of your security. Does your security come from your planning, or does it come from the Father who provides?

Then Jesus makes an argument from the lesser to the greater: if God already takes care of these small creatures, how much more will he take care of what he calls his children? Much of our worry comes from misunderstanding the relationship. We picture God as a harsh master, a distant king, someone too great to approach. Those things may be true in some sense, but that's not the relationship he's offering you. He invites you to call him Father. He invites you into the relationship of a dad with his children.

Look at your kids, if you have any, or the kids around you. Do you expect them to pay the bills, make dinner, find a place to sleep? No, that's your job. And you love it. You love that they dare to ask you. It's exactly the same with your heavenly Father. That's why the Lord's Prayer includes this line, just a few verses earlier: "give us this day our daily bread." That's the direct application. Your life has value to Jesus Christ. He gave the most radical proof of it: he sacrificed himself so it could live. He wants to take care of it.

And Jesus adds a sharp question: "Which of you, by worrying, can add a single hour to his life?" In other words: worry has never fixed anything. It has never added a single day to your life. It has added nothing at all. It has only stolen the peace your Father wanted to give you.

3. Look at the lilies: God takes care of even the big things

Verse 28: "And why do you worry about clothing? 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 clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith?"

Jesus switches categories. Food is a daily thing. Clothing, in that era, is something else. Today, for cheap, you can walk into a store and buy a t-shirt. In the first century, clothes were precious. People owned few in a lifetime. They even hoped to pass them down to their children. This is no longer the daily stuff, this is the big things, the equivalent of your house, your car, the things you really don't want to lose.

And Jesus makes an outrageous comparison: he puts simple wildflowers up against the richest king the Bible ever recorded. Solomon, at the peak of his glory, never had an outfit more beautiful than what God gives to a flower that exists today and will be thrown into the fire tomorrow. The message is clear: depending on God is always the best option, because it always brings you something more beautiful than anything you could piece together on your own.

"You of little faith." That's the real diagnosis. For Jesus, the root problem behind worry isn't your salary, it isn't your rent, it isn't the price of your groceries. It's a lack of faith. It betrays three lies that Mammon whispers around.

Lie number one: God doesn't really know you. He's so great, so far up in the heavens, that he doesn't understand what you're going through. This is where the incarnation matters so much: Jesus came to live our life, to feel hunger, tiredness, waiting. Psalm 139 says it another way: "Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up, you understand my thoughts from afar." When that God tells you not to worry, he speaks from experience.

Lie number two: God's compassion has limits. It would stop at your flaws, your sins, your lack of devotion. Isaiah 30 sweeps that away: "The Lord longs to be gracious to you, he will rise up to show you compassion." In other words: all God is waiting for is for you to call on him. All he's waiting for is the chance to show you his compassion.

Lie number three: maybe God isn't really in control. Blasphemy. Since the Ascension, Jesus reigns with all authority in heaven and on earth. He is risen. That's the God you serve. Meditating on these truths is part of what it takes to break the chains of worry.

Key takeaways

• Worry is a choice, not a fate. Jesus treats it as something you impose on yourself, not as an attack you suffer.
• You were created for more than survival. Your body is not your purpose. You were made to glorify God, and he provides what you need for that.
• Look at the birds. They work, but they depend. Daily dependence on the Father isn't laziness, it's real security.
• Look at the lilies. God takes care even of what lasts only a day. How much more will he take care of you, whom he calls his child.
• Your Father knows you, has compassion, and is in control. Every lie of Mammon collapses when you answer with these three truths.

Personal application

• What's the first financial (or material) worry that Mammon reminds you of every morning right now? Can you name it out loud before God?
• Are you planning in dependence on God, or planning so you won't have to depend on him? How can you tell the difference in your week?
• Which of Mammon's three lies speaks to you the most: "God doesn't know me," "his compassion has limits," "he's not really in control"? What verse do you want to set against that lie this week?
• When have you clearly seen God provide for a need you didn't dare ask him for? Take five minutes to remember it and thank him.
• If you were to make "seeking the kingdom first" your priority this week, what would you change in your schedule starting tomorrow?

Verses cited

• Matthew 6:24 · "No one can serve two masters."
• Matthew 6:25-30 · "Do not worry... look at the birds... consider the lilies."
• Matthew 6:11 · "Give us this day our daily bread."
• Psalm 139:1-7 · "Lord, you search me and you know me."
• Isaiah 30:18 · "The Lord longs to be gracious to you."
• James 4:2-3 · "You do not receive, because you do not ask."
• Matthew 28:18 · "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth."

FAQ

Why does Jesus talk about birds and lilies to talk about money?

Because his target isn't your bank account, it's your heart. The birds and the lilies are two case studies from creation: if God feeds the one and clothes the other without them worrying, you're worth far more than they are and he will take care of you. It's an argument about value, not profitability.

Does "don't worry" mean "don't plan anything anymore"?

No. Birds spend their days searching for food, they don't just sit still. Planning isn't wrong. Jesus's question is about the source: does your security come from your plan, or does it come from your heavenly Father? You can plan while depending on God.

Practically, how do I get out of financial worry this week?

Change your priority. Instead of looping on "what am I going to eat, drink, wear," ask yourself: "Lord, where is your kingdom in what I'm facing right now?" That's the shift in focus Jesus promises to walk with you through: "all these things will be added to you as well."