I Will Provide For You
Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
Have you ever been in a place where you didn’t have the money even to put food on the table? Where you didn’t have the money to pay the next rent payment, the next mortgage payment, the next car payment? Where the creditors were knocking on your door, while the bills keep on piling up?
I have, a few times in my life and it’s not a nice feeling, I can tell you. Especially for a man – we men wear the responsibility of providing for our families rather heavily at times.
I remember in the early days in full-time ministry, there were a good many times where I simply didn’t know where the next dollar was going to come from. Whether I’d have to close this ministry down, and go back to my IT consulting career.
And yet each time I got to worrying about how I was going to make ends meet, both for the ministry and for my family, the message came back from God loud and clear:
Berni when are you finally going to get it? When are you finally going to come to your senses and realise that I’m your provider?
It’s as though God had to take me through those difficult and dangerous times to teach me a very important lesson.
Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? (Matthew 6:26)
God needed me to learn to rely on Him, rather than on myself. We’re taught in this world to become self-sufficient. And to be sure, that’s a good lesson to learn when we’re growing up.
We should learn to become responsible for ourselves, to get a job, to live within our means. They’re absolutely important lessons to learn. After all, the reason some people are struggling financially, is because they’re living beyond their means. And if that’s you, it’s time to get your spending under control and get out of that debt.
But there’s another important lesson that God needs us to learn. He needs us to learn that He is our provider; that sometimes our financial circumstances are beyond our control, and that in those times, we can trust in Him.
Sometimes people do lose their jobs; sometimes businesses do fail; sometimes God calls us to give so sacrificially, that we have nothing left to live on. And sometimes, God calls us to step out in a direction that involves a financially uncertain future. God does those things.
But can I tell you – honestly, God has never failed to show up when I’ve been in need. Never. That’s it.
The lesson He wants us to learn is this – that this God of ours is faithful. He will never fail us. Ever.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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