But the very hairs of your head.
Hairs of your head are all numbered
1. This is spoken in relation to the body. “Fear not them which kill the body.”
2. Our Lord is giving His disciples arguments against fear.
(1) He is their avenger.
(2) Be sure that you are never afraid to pray about the smallest thing.
(3) Do not shrink from feeling yourself a centre about which God is making all manner of kind things to circulate. Love never hurts any one.
(4) Go without anxiety, for it not only hurts you, but grieves God.
3. That man may be said to have the most of the mind of God who attaches the greatest importance to the trifles of life. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
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Jewels catalogued
God does not expose His jewels till He has catalogued them. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
The exquisite mechanism of the hair
A “hair” is a very little thing; but its structure is made up of a world of parts. There is a root and there is a stem, and there is a vein, and there is a fluid, and there is a membrane: and every part is arranged, fitted, guarded, and fed; and a thousand functions are going on to sustain that little thread-like thing. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Providence
I. The minuteness of providence. Providence over little circumstances; over minutes of time; in the use of little things. The minuteness of providence seen in the fact that even the thoughts of men are under God’s hand.
II. The kind consideration of God in taking care of his people.
1. In keeping them alive before they were converted.
2. In keeping them out of temptation.
3. In arranging their places.
4. In providing their daily bread.
III. What should be the spirit and temper, of the men who believe this truth.
1. We ought to he a bold race of people.
2. In bereavement, not excessive grief.
3. A calm which renders life happy. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The difference between fate and providence
Fate is blind; providence has eyes. Fate is blind, a thing that must be; it is just an arrow shot from a bow, that must fly onward, but hath no target. Not so, providence; providence is full of eyes. There is a design in everything, and an end to be answered; all things are working together, and working together for good. They are not done because they must he done, but they are done because there is some reason for it. It is not only that the thing is, because it must be; but the thing is, because it is right it should be. God hath not arbitrarily marked out the world’s history; He had an eye to the great architecture of perfection, when He marked all the aisles of history, and placed all the pillars of events in the building of time. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Taken by the Master
You have taken great care with a certain number of roses; you have trained them up, and there they are, blooming in their beauty. You pride yourself upon them. You come one morning into the garden, and you find that the best rose has been taken away. You are angry: you go to your fellow-servants, and charge them with hexing taken the rose. They will declare that they had nothing at all to do with it: and one says. “I saw the master walking here this morning; I think he took it.” Is the gardener angry then? No, at once he says. “I am happy that my rose should have been so fair as to attract the attention of the master. It is his own: he hath taken it; let him do what seemeth him good.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The numbered hairs
I. Fore-ordination.
1. Its extent.
2. Its source.
3. Its lessons.
4. Its influence.
II. Knowledge.
1. Its character
(1) Minute;
(2) Pre-eminent;
(3) Tender;
(4) Constant.
III. Valuation.
IV. Preservation-from loss, accident, persecution, etc. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Heads more than hairs
If God numbers their hairs, much more does He number their heads, and take care of their lives, their comforts, their souls. (M. Henry.)