sparrow

I like to listen to podcasts while I work out; things like this american life or speaking of faith. I know it's not pump you up music, but workouts for me are relaxing and these add to it. 

This morning, relishing the anonymity of being one of several people on dozens of elliptical machines, I listened to a conversation with an interesting atheist turned Jew. She wrote a book called the Sparrow. The book sounds a little crazy if not interesting, but it was when she spoke about how she got the title that I was really intrigued. 

She quoted from where the Bible mentions that not even a sparrow falls without God seeing it. She said that is supposed to be a comfort. But it has always caused her to question: why then does the bird still fall? If God is watching why does the bird die. I love this question. 

Our God is complex. Larger than we can handle or understand. Often we try to explain away the problem of sparrows dieing, like we are trying to get God off the hook. To imagine up our own reason why God might have the sparrow die. But in the end the two things exist right next to each other: Bad things and all powerful Good God. Both are true...some things are just all bad, and the all powerful God is all good. It can be confusing if you think about it too much. We're better off letting this be a comfort--in the midst of bad the all powerful Good God is on your side.