Luke 12:4-7 (NIV) 4 “I tell you, my friends,
do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.
5 But I will show you whom you should fear:
Fear him who, after your body has been killed,
has authority to throw you into hell.
Yes, I tell you, fear him.
6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?
Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.
7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
In Isaiah 11:3 we read of Jesus that “he will delight in the fear of the LORD.”
Notice how forcefully Jesus puts this on his disciples— “Yes, I tell you, fear him.”
The context is God’s awesome power — his authority, beyond the death of the body, to throw us into hell.
But then notice that Jesus immediately draws attention to another feature, so to speak, of God's unfathomable power — his tender concern for sparrows and his awareness of everything about us down to the number of hairs on our heads. Then Jesus follows that up with, “Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
Yes, our awareness of God needs to be enfolded in a constant profound state of shock—a deep regard for his immense power and with respect to all that matters to him. But then, in addition to that, Jesus calls us to an unshakable security and peace in the truth that we matter to this great God.
