One of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father.

In our reading for today Jesus tells us in Matthew 29:31, " Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows."

As it's said, God doesn't take vacations. From the smallest happenings to the largest, all of what we experience is part of what is called the Economy of Salvation. For short, people call it "God's plan".

Abraham Lincoln put it this way in an 1862 letter:
"I have desired that all my words and actions may be in accordance with His will; but if, after endeavoring to do my best with the light which He affords me, I find my efforts fail, then I must believe that, for some purpose unknown to me, He wills it otherwise. If I had had my way, this war would never have been; but, nevertheless, it came. If I had had my way, the war would have ended before this; but, nevertheless, it still continues. We must conclude that He permits it for some wise purpose, though we may not be able to comprehend it; for we cannot but believe that He who made the world still governs it ..."

This understanding of the nature of things is called Divine Providence, or in Hebrew Hashgachah Pratis. There are two basic concepts regarding Divine Providence. The first is called individual-specific Divine Providence, and the second is species-specific Divine Providence.

Individual-specific Divine Providence refers to the concept of God's intentions being operative in a specific individual's life, while species-specific refers to God's general oversight of groups of individuals. 

Some scriptural commentators have suggested that God works only with certain individuals, and not with others, with humans individually and animals and plants only in general, or only with specific groups of people and only generally with groups of other people. The degree to which God works in the world is subject to discussion, but where do we go for authoritative definition of its parameters?

Of course we go to the Bible, and as Christians we must look to what Jesus teaches as the authoritative and normative teaching on the subject. In Matthew 10:29a Jesus first of all uses a sparrow's smallness and inexpensive cost as a way of illustrating how refined God's providence is. 

Then in Matthew 10:29b Jesus says that even one of those tiny inexpensive sparrows doesn't have something happen to it apart from God's providence. In this teaching Jesus is giving us his authoritative ruling on the debate. He teaches in line with the body of traditional Jewish teachers who say we need to approach the working out of God's guidance of the world in terms of individual-specific Divine Providence. In other words, nothing happens outside of His specific intention down to the smallest thing.

The 18th century Jewish leader Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov, taught in line with Jesus' definition of Divine Providence when he used a slightly different example, "Everything is by Divine Providence. If a leaf is turned over by the breeze, it is only because this has been specifically ordained by God to serve a particular function within the purpose of creation."

While everyone is responsible for his or her own actions, still everything falls within His plan. The Baal Shem Tov elucidates what he said previously, "Every single thing that a person sees or hears is an instruction in his conduct in the service of God."

Whatever you experience look for God's seen and unseen presence. View whatever happens as an opportunity to learn from the experience how to conduct yourself even more gracefully in the service of the Lord.