I have been reading a marvelous fiction story set in the time of Christ, before His Crucifixion. The Zion’s Legacy series by Bodie and Brock Theone (pronounced “Tay-nee”) includes three orphaned children who find a baby sparrow and adopt it. They carry it with them and name it Yediyd. This little friend, the sparrow, plays an important role in helping the reader reach the understanding of all that God is and knows. These children—one blind, one deaf, and one broken in spirit—along with their little sparrow friend meet Jesus. I don’t want to give the story away but Jesus heals them all.
The Thoenes are gifted in intertwining the scripture with a cast of characters that live the stories of the New Testament in the time of Christ. The Bible even includes a mention of a little sparrow that Christ speaks of in Matthew as being so unremarkable, but still known to God.
Matthew 10:29 (NKJV)
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.
31 Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
Now I am confident that God loves the peacock too. But the peacock is a proud fellow. He is strutting his stuff and proud of his plumage. He cannot go unnoticed and unremarked. But a peacock is a dangerous bird behind those fine feathers. If you have ever been around peacocks you know how aggressive they can be; they will peck, chase, and pursue you to the ends of the earth if they decide they are threatened. A family member had a pride of them (okay mankind assigns the term for a group of animals and there are many terms, but a pride seems most appropriate). These birds were beautiful to look at but often hazardous to be around. No object or person was safe; they could be on your car, your chair, the road … anywhere they wanted to go, they went. Everything was “their” property.
Many of us are much like the peacock: Haughty, proud of our plumage, and territorial. We worry about how we “appear” to the world. But our exterior plumage can hide nothing from God.
1 Samuel 2:3 (NKJV)
3 Talk no more so very proudly;
Let no arrogance come from your mouth,
For the Lord is the God of knowledge;
And by Him actions are weighed.
Job 40:12 (NKJV)
12 Look on everyone who is proud, and bring him low;
Tread down the wicked in their place.
Psalm 36:11 (NKJV)
11 Let not the foot of pride come against me,
And let not the hand of the wicked drive me away.