Stupid Sparrow

The ground was covered in snow, but the driveway had been cleared.

It was there that I saw the little sparrow pecking away, looking for food where the snow and dirt had dropped and melted from the car wheels.

Stupid sparrow, I thought. There is a bird feeder filled with delicious bird food on the other side of the driveway. Why are you pecking in the dirt? Then I wondered, how often have I picked in the dirt for the spiritual food I need when there is a rich supply close by? This world is full of self-help books, well-meaning material, and YouTube videos that tell us how to live our lives. One such book was given to me recently, telling me how to live my senior years faithfully.

And, of course, there is Google, which can tell you about anything you can dream of, some factual and some not so much. But how much better is the pure Word of God, both Jesus as the Word and our Bible as the written Word. “Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him” (Proverbs 30:5, NKJV).

When I was working in Women’s Ministries worldwide, one of my assignments was to help start literacy programs. A Bible text that I found meaningful was Amos 8:11: “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord GOD, “That I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the LORD” (NKJV).

I discovered that many of the women who wanted to learn to read wanted to read the Bible. I remember attending a literacy graduation in Brazil where an eighty-four-year-old woman read the Scripture, something she could not have done before attending the literacy class. I was so proud of her as she beamed from ear to ear.

Psalm 119 is full of truths and challenges regarding God’s Word, one of the most familiar being verse 105, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (KJV). Each of the eight verse sections, introduced by a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, has six to eight different terms for God’s Word. Unlike the stupid sparrow, let us read it wisely and prayerfully, receiving the full benefit of God’s pure Word to us.

Ardis Dick Stenbakken