It is strange which Bible verses people who don’t go to church actually know. But one of the sayings which is part of very many people’s general knowledge is this memorable saying of Jesus in Matthew 10:30:
“Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”
How many hairs on head 100000 to 150000
How many people = 7 billion so in world = 1,000,000000,000000
Present here this morning =5 million to 7 million hairs.
The writers of the helpful little book “101 things to do during a dull sermon” would encourage you to try and count the number of hairs on the head of the person in front of you in any moments when your concentration wanders. They also suggest your count is more accurate if you try pull those hairs out one by one without the person noticing, but personally I think that would be going a bit too far!
“Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered”
In other words, whatever is going on in the world, in every place, at all times, everywhere, God knows all about it. Everything that happens – God knows and God cares.
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
God knows about what happens to every bird. Every animal. Even every plant. Every hair of our heads. God knows, and God cares and God is in control. Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. So don’t be afraid. Don’t worry.
God knows about every one of the boys and girls who will receive a Christmas Shoebox with Operation Christmas Child. Every single individual.
God knows every instance of Human suffering – God is there beside that person. Every child dying of preventable disease. Every soldier’s bullet and bomb and gun. Every abortion. Everybody starving or drowning or buried alive. Every illness. Every accident. Every sadness and fear. Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. God is there. God knows. God cares. So don’t be afraid. Don’t worry.
Psalm 139
1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
God knows everything that happens to us. God sees our lives from every side. He even knows our every thought. God knows, and he never forgets! He never loses count!
4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
There is NOWHERE we can go where God is not with us.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
16 …. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
God knew every detail of what our lives will hold even before we were conceived. God is there. God knows. God cares. So don’t be afraid. Don’t worry.
Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. He knows all there is to know about every human being who has ever lived or ever will live. And that means he knows everything there is to know about each and every one of us here this morning!
We may be sick and in pain. Suffering from a disease or illness or simply from advancing years. We may be concerned about our health – will we ever recover? Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. God is there. God knows. God cares. So don’t be afraid. Don’t worry.
Some may be worried about their jobs. Threat of redundancy. Increased pressure to deliver the goods. Or there may be conflicts in the workplace. Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. God is there. God knows. God cares. So don’t be afraid. Don’t worry.
We may be worried about our finances. Credit crunch. Depression. Our savings may be threatened. Our pension may have dropped in value. We may not be able to pay our way. Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. God is there. God knows. God cares. So don’t be afraid. Don’t worry.
There may be tensions at home in the family. Divisions or battles. Problems with neighbours. Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. God is there. God knows. God cares. So don’t be afraid. Don’t worry.
We may have difficult decisions to make. We may be finding it hard to see the way ahead and we need God’s guidance. Or we may have spiritual problems. Battles with temptation. Prayers not answered yet. You may have deep questions and even some doubts. Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. God is there. God knows. God cares. So don’t be afraid. Don’t worry.
Whatever our situation. Whatever our problems – God is with us. God understands and God can help. Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
But hang on a minute! By now some of you will be asking questions about what I am saying. “Hang on Peter,” you will be saying. “All this may well be true, but aren’t you taking this verse out of context??”
If that is what you are thinking, you are absolutely right! Because when Jesus said every hair on your heads is numbered he wasn’t particularly talking about times of illness. or problems at work, or money problems. Jesus was not talking about problems in the family, or in seeking God’s guidance, or even spiritual problems.
In Matthew10 Jesus is sending his 12 apostles out to preach. And Jesus is warning them that they can expect opposition and even persecution when they preach the gospel. Christians can always expect opposition and persecution if we speak out for Christ. We have the Holy Spirit inside us giving us the words to say and the courage to say them. But, Jesus says, some people will hate us and persecute us just because we follow Him.
And that is when we need to know that every hair on our heads is numbered!
Listen again.
27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
In this passage Jesus is reassuring his disciples not to fear in one specific context. It is when we are proclaiming His message from the rooftops. This passage is really about not being afraid to preach the gospel – however hard that may be! Even the very hairs on your head are all numbered. The time when that really matters, more than any other time, is when you are witnessing for Christ and proclaiming the gospel!
But God knows our situations. God understands. So don’t be afraid. Don’t worry. It is always going to be hard to speak out for Christ. But it cost Jesus his life and more to give us a gospel to proclaim. It costs many Christians in other countries so much to proclaim the gospel. We have no excuse for keeping quiet.
So if you are nervous about telling your friends and neighbours about Jesus, be courageous, be bold, be strong. If you are hesitant about inviting folk along to church, or to the Evening with Janey Lee Grace next Saturday, be courageous, be bold, be strong.

Whatever situations you are facing, God will not let you down. He is with you. He understands! Hear again what Jesus says,
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.