Context No. 2811 of 4322 · Luke

Luke 12:20-28: in context

20“But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’ 21So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” 22He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life, what you will eat, nor yet for your body, what you will wear. 23Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. 24Consider the ravens: they don’t sow, they don’t reap, they have no warehouse or barn, and God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds! 25Which of you by being anxious can add a cubit to his height? 26If then you aren’t able to do even the least things, why are you anxious about the rest? 27Consider the lilies, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28But if this is how God clothes the grass in the field, which today exists and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith?

God calls the man who filled his barns a fool: tonight your life is required of you, and the things you stored up, whose will they be? So it is, Jesus says, with anyone who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. Then he turns to his disciples with what sounds like the opposite problem: do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, or your body, what you will wear.

Consider the ravens, he says; they neither sow nor reap nor own a barn, and God feeds them. Consider the lilies; they neither toil nor spin, yet not even Solomon in his splendor was dressed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass, how much more will he clothe you. Two failures of trust sit side by side here: the rich fool who leaned on his stockpile, and the anxious disciple who fears there will not be enough. The cure for both is the same Father, who feeds birds and dresses fields and counts you worth far more than either.

When I catch myself either hoarding for security or fretting over need, can I look at the ravens and the lilies and remember that my Father knows and provides?

Sources

Luke 12:24: "Consider the ravens... and God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds!"
Matthew 6:33: "But seek first God's Kingdom and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well."
1 Peter 5:7: "Casting all your worries on him, because he cares for you."