His Eye Is On The Sparrow

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+84:3&version=NIV1984

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hab%203:17-18&version=NIV1984

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2040:31&version=NIV1984

A continuation of yesterday's post.  I couldn’t help but be reminded of the song, His Eye Is On The Sparrow.  You don’t hear that song much anymore.  I think I first heard it on a Billy Graham crusade on TV.  It was sung by the great Ethel Waters.  She sang it only like she could sing it.  Slow.  Smiling.  With plenty of feeling.  You can view her singing it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0Jmu0zG9rE This might be the original broadcast I saw many years ago.

I found the background to the song on cyberhymnal.org.  It was written by Mrs Civila Martin.  She later wrote about the inspiration behind her song.  “Early in the Spring of 1905 my husband and I were sojourning in Elmira, New York.  We contracted a deep friendship for a couple by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Doolittle — true saints of God.  Mrs. Doolittle had been bedridden for nigh twenty years.  Her husband was an incurable cripple who had to propel himself to and from his business in a wheel chair.  Despite their afflictions, they lived happy Christian lives, bringing inspiration and comfort to all who knew them.  One day while we were visiting with the Doolittles, my husband commented on their bright hopefulness and asked them for the secret of it.  Mrs. Doolittle’s reply was simple: “His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.”  The beauty of this simple expression of boundless faith gripped the hearts and fired the imagination of Dr. Martin and me.  The hymn, His Eye Is On The Spar-row, was the outcome of that experience.”  The day after she wrote this poem, Civila mailed a copy of it to Charles Gabriel, who then came up with a tune for it.  The rest, as they say, is history.  In the hundred years since, the song has been a comfort and inspiration to millions.  I hope that it does the same for you.

His Eye Is On The Sparrow

Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,

Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home,

When Jesus is my portion, my constant friend is He,

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me,

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free,

For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

“Let not your heart be troubled,” His tender word I hear,

And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears,

Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see,

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me,

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free,

For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise,

When songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies,

I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free,

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me,

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free,

For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Lord, I thank you for Your great love of me.  If You care about the tiniest sparrow, then You certainly care about me.  May the beauty of this thought bring me encouragement.  Today and every day.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.