He Knows

Our heavenly Father's job description includes being the CEO of the universe, but even the tiniest details do not escape his notice. Jesus said, "even the very hairs of your head are all numbered" (Matthew 10:30). I remind my balding friends that some of us are making it easier for the Lord to count!

In the broader context of Matthew chapter 10, Jesus was giving instructions to his disciples before he sent them out to preach. He prepared them to face persecution and rejection. They were going out like sheep among wolves. They would need to be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. They should prepare to be arrested, flogged, betrayed, hated, and slandered. Nevertheless, they should not be afraid. Evildoers might kill their bodies but could never kill their souls. When even a creature as common and inconsequential as a sparrow falls to the ground, God knows. And Jesus (perhaps with a twinkle in his eye) pointed out the obvious: "You are worth more than many sparrows."

When Jesus spoke about "the hairs of your head," I wonder if he was thinking about the Psalms where David wrote that he faced "troubles without number" and his sins were "more than the hairs of his head" (Psalm 40:12). Or maybe Jesus had in mind the Hebrew heroes Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who survived Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace and emerged to their bodies without any harm, "nor was a hair of their heads singed" (Daniel 3:27). To say God knows the number of hairs on our head is an Old Testament way of saying he knows all the troubles we face—every insult, every abuse, every trauma we endure.

He knows the anxiety of the mother in India who quietly prepares herself and her children for the possibility that her husband may be killed because he is a Christian leader.

He knows the stress of the Christian businessman in Southeast Asia whose daily activities are monitored by hostile authorities.

He knows about the preacher in Central Asia who risks his life to train leaders for the underground church in a nation where open proclamation of the gospel is against the law.

He knows about the young American husband and wife who choose to live under a Muslim regime in North Africa so they can bear consistent witness to their faith in Christ.

He understands the pain of believers who suffer intellectual scorn in university classrooms where professors delight in undermining Christianity.

He knows the plight of Christians who dwell in poverty-stricken lands where nutritious food and clean water are scarce.

He stands alongside the teenagers whose friends ridicule their commitment to sexual purity.

Jesus sent a letter to his suffering followers in first-century Smyrna and reassured them, "I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich!" He told them, "Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life" (Revelation 2:9-10).

How many hairs are on our heads? More than we can count—but the Lord knows. How many burdens are on our hearts? Sometimes, more than we think we can bear. But the Lord knows, and he will bear our burdens and give us hope until this troubled world finally gives way to the kingdom of God in all its fullness.