God Our Provision

"But he gives us more grace..." (James 4:6, NIV).
"... Freely you have received, freely give" (Matt. 10:8, NIV).
"But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:19, NKJV).    
"His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life..." (2 Pet. 1:3, NIV).
"Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart" (Psa. 37:4, NKJV). 
"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you" (Matt. 6:33, HCSB). 
"One's wealth consists not in the abundance of his possessions, but in the fewness of his wants." --source unknown, quoted by Billy Graham  

One of the so-called Jehovah texts is in Gen. 22:8, which calls God "Jehovah-Jireh" or "the LORD will provide [your need]" literally from the Hebrew and could be interpreted as "the Lord will see to it."  We all have been blessed with the provision of God to be thankful for and this is an example of true gratefulness--expectation of God's blessing and confidence that He will provide all our needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus (cf. Phil. 4:19).  We are to believe God for the impossible and not underestimate His blessings on our behalf.  There is no most-favored status (cf. Rom. 2:11; Acts 10:34) we can reach but God levels the playing field and we all can come to Him expecting God's best.  Only when we realize God's blessing and become grateful are we able to spread the spirit and the word, being a blessing to others (cf. Zech. 8: 13) like the song goes:  "Once you've experienced it, you'll want to pass it on!"  Being thankful, giving praise, and bowed down to His glory is the way to enter His presence (cf. Psa. 100:4) --it's not how big our faith is, but how big our God is that matters!

The father of modern missions, William Carey, delivered the famous sermon, "Expect Great Things from God; Attempt Great Things for God," is pertinent and we must venture out in faith, leaving our comfort zone, to be tested in our faith, which is more precious than silver or gold that are tested by fire!  The crucible of the cross is what we bear for Christ.  We are to be assured that if we are doing God's will, God will ensure adequacy to do it (may He "equip you with everything good for doing his will," per Heb. 13:21, NIV ).  It's vital to be in the safest place we can be--God's will!

St. Theresa set out to build a monastery and only had twelve pence to her name!  They believed she was a woman of God but no one had the faith to believe she could do that with only these limited resources.  She claimed quite the contrary that she and God could do it!   With God, we all share an abundance of resources and should live as if there is no limit to what we can accomplish for God, as long as it's God's will.  He will call us to do the impossible and it's our duty to believe in the impossible from the God of miracles.  "Is anything too hard for the LORD?" (Cf. Gen. 18:24, NIV) or "Nothing is too hard for you" (cf. Jer. 32:17, ESV).  It is only a matter of Christian faith to believe "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," (cf. Phil. 4:13).

We may see obstacles but God sees the big picture and from the vantage point of eternity, not one day at a time as we do.  When the chips are down we are to trust all the more and realize that it's a test of faith to see if we are willing to walk with Christ through thick and thin and let the chips fall where they may! We all must be tested, provision-wise, to see where our faith is:  Even Habakkuk (cf. 3:18) came to the realization after his crops failed that all he really needed was God and everything else is a bonus.  He was able to thank God for knowing that God was still his Provider even in the lean times (cf. Isa. 45:7).  If we cannot trust God in the small matters, what about the great ones?  He who is faithful in little will be faithful in much, for of whom much is given, much is required (cf. Luke 12:48).  Sometimes we all must come to the end of ourselves or suffer loss to realize that with God we will survive any trial--"If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Cf. Rom. 8:31).  Knowing the meaning and purpose gives us the motive and the attitude to praise God and not to be discouraged or downcast.

We can have faith and should keep the faith that God will see to it that we are taken care of and that we can do His will. But God is good to all in some ways, that's His nature; however, He is good to some in all ways too.  We are to believe God for miracles and "feed the poor" but not to be known as do-gooders who just "turn stones into bread." Even Jesus didn't want to be known just as a miracle worker or do-gooder, but only performed miracles to illustrate His Deity and to teach a lesson or to show compassion to those in need.  We are to keep the main thing the main thing:  The Great Commission.  We can move mountains by our faith if it's in the right object--God: with God-confidence and God-esteem.

God has indeed promised to meet all our needs to glorify His name but not necessarily our felt needs or things we think we need.  God knows what we need better than we do ourselves and in the end result: we will someday realize that God had the best in mind for us and that His Plan A is for our own good.  And so we must get over the notion that lacking no good thing is the same as having everything or thinking that God is holding back--this leads to the false doctrine of prosperity theology! NB:  The Lord's prayer makes it plain that we are not to get ahead of ourselves and worry about the needs of the future, but live one day at a time in light of eternity, and ask for the daily provision or "our daily bread" (cf. Matt. 6:11).

We must confess that everything we possess is the blessing of God, even our work (cf. Eccl. 3:13); for what do we have that we didn't receive? (Cf. 1 Cor. 4:7). However, on occasion, we have not because we ask not (cf. James 4:2) and we must keep in mind the promise of Jesus that if we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these things will be added unto us (cf. Matt. 6:33)--that means God as our first priority in His will for our lives. In God's economy, emptying comes before filling, poverty comes before riches and God cannot pour out His blessings into hands already full!  Most of all, He desires us to learn to be content with what we have--the poorest are those who think they are rich and need nothing, not realizing their need of God.

Finally, to wrap things up and see God in the equation, one of the last words of Jesus on the cross was to John that he behold his mother and to Mary to behold her son:  This means Jesus was concerned about the welfare of his mother to the very end and provided for her indirectly through John.  This is also the message of Jesus to us, viz.,  His name has no definitive predicate:  When He says I AM .... we can fill in the blank for whatever we need God to be, He is:  I AM that I AM that I AM that I AM that ... ad infinitum, i.e., He is the eternal IS-ing or being, not an eternal IS-ness or state of being.  In view of God's unlimited resources, we ought to put our requests into proper perspective.    Soli Deo Gloria!

Do We Need "Big Brother?"

Many people are enraptured with the TV show "Big Brother" and have a negative attitude towards what it represents. I am a big bro myself. I played a roll growing up with three younger siblings that I don't regret. Today many people see the government as a big brother, as it were, interfering in our lives and telling us what to do. When we depend on the government for everything and have forgotten personal responsibility we are using the government as a big brother. Many people today are dependent on the government for welfare, entitlements, and employment. Government is ordained of God and we are to submit unless it contradicts Scripture, and Israel had mandatory welfare set up  (see Deut. 15:4).

God wants us to ultimately trust in Him and not in government--He is our Provider. The best way to acknowledge this is to give thanks and trust him to give us our daily bread. In the Bible, a big brother is called a "kinsman-redeemer" and is an example of someone in the family buying back or redeeming a relative who is a slave or destitute. The book of Ruth shows a kinsman-redeemer marrying Ruth. In analogy, Christ is our kinsman-redeemer. He is our big brother! Everyone is dependent in some sense but don't forget God is the Provider and is only using the government or job, etc., (you don't owe your soul to the company store, as they say).   Soli Deo Gloria!