God Provides

(Matthew 6:25-34 NKJV) {25} "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? {26} "Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? {27} "Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? {28} "So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; {29} "and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. {30} "Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? {31} "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' {32} "For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. {33} "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. {34} "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

I have "lived by faith" (dreadful term but you know what I mean) since 1980 except for 3 years when I worked as a college counselor. I have found out that God provides and that the above verses are absolutely 100% true. God feeds His children just like He feeds His birds and clothes His lilies. And I find God knows my needs "before I ask". The coffee jar was running low a few days ago and a friend spontaneously, without knowing my need, gave me bottle of coffee. Her husband also gave me three lovely woolen jumpers because it has just turned cold. How did they know I badly needed coffee or a jumper? God told them I guess. A few weeks ago a supporter spontaneously offered me a ministry trip to the USA (I live in Townsville, Australia). And on Friday someone else anonymously put an envelope under the door with $200 in it for spending money on the trip. I hadn't specifically and seriously prayed for any of these things. Birds don't have to pray for worms ... (often I do pray though). God just did it. From the big things to the little things God provides.

Does God provide because I am "more spiritual" or have "great faith" - not at all! He provides because He is loving and gracious. As Paul so poignantly observes"(Romans 8:32 NKJV) He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"If Jesus died for me when I was yet a sinner (Romans 5:8) then perhaps now I am His child God will give me a bottle of coffee ! Of course!

God also provides so I can be free for Him. He wants me completely, 100%, so he sets me free. I am not to entangle myself with the world. I am to"suffer hardship as a good soldier of Christ Jesus"and to"please my commanding officer"(2 Timothy 2:3,4). I am His child and His servant. In a great house the children and servants are provided for by the Master. Our God is a great and generous and utterly benevolent God. He feeds the birds who do not work for it and clothes the lilies who do not spin. Have you ever seen a skinny sparrow?

In 1988 I had just returned from a term as a missionary in Papua New Guinea and my clothes were worn out and I really looked like the picture of a poor missionary. I went to Matthew 6 and told God that I really wanted to be clothed like the lilies of the field. Of course God has a sense of humor and a friend of mine returned from a trip to Hong Kong where she was friends with a manufacturer of high quality fashion garments. Her generous friend sent back two large suitcases of extremely expensive silk shirts and other beautiful fashion clothes! I looked like a doctor or a lawyer not a missionary!

I have many such stories that have happened over the years. This article is far too short to tell even a tenth of them. I want you to know that I am a very ordinary person with a very extraordinary God. Please don't say to yourself "that might happen to John over there in Australia but it won't happen for me". Its a promise in the Bible. Its a promise to you as well as to me. If you step out and seek first God's Kingdom and His righteousness all these essential things (and probably quite a few nice little extras as well) will be added to you. Now I would like to take you to fifteen principles of God's provision.

1. God does not provide on the basis of worthiness. He sends His rain on the just and the unjust and provides for birds, flowers and crocodiles. His provision is an act of generous love.
   (Matthew 5:44-45 NKJV) "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, {45} "that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

2. Poverty is not especially spiritual and neither are riches. God is, generally speaking, a God of abundance and gracious giving. Nowhere, even in the New Testament, are believers exhorted to adopt a lifestyle of poverty. Sometimes people will have to be poor because the pioneer circumstances of their work make it temporarily necessary. This was the case with Paul's ministry. In the epistle to the Philippians he celebrates the arrival of a gift from them that met what seems to be pressing financial needs. Paul did not say "I'm so spiritual I'd rather be poor " instead he demonstrated joy, Christian grace and balance.
   
   (Philippians 4:10-14 NKJV) But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. {11} Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: {12} I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. {13} I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. {14} Nevertheless you have done well that you shared in my distress.
   
   The Christian should be content in all circumstances and learn both how to abound and how to suffer need as God disposes. Christians should not be lovers of money or to hanker after it.
   
   (1 Timothy 6:10 NKJV) For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Nevertheless they are to be normal human beings and enjoy abundance when God provides it - just as Paul rejoiced to receive the gift from the Philippians.

3. The general financial circumstances of ministers of the gospel was to be that of a reasonable and even higher than average income.
   
   (1 Timothy 5:17-18 NKJV) Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine. {18} For the Scripture says, "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain," and, "The laborer is worthy of his wages."There is no biblical basis for the cultural view that Christian workers should be paid less than other people with a similar level of responsibility.
   
   The Christian worker should not be a lover of money and should be content with his or her circumstances but this is not to be taken advantage of by others. Needless to say the extravagant lifestyles of a few ministers should be rebuked. They clearly love money and personal wealth and have that as a chief concern in their ministry. The 'prosperity gospel' is not the gospel.

4. The founder of the China Inland Mission Hudson Taylor used to say "God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply". This is a pretty good paraphrase of Matthew 6:33 which tells us to seek first His kingdom (God's work) and His righteousness (God's supply) and all these necessary things will be added to us.(Matthew 6:33 NKJV) "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

5. Stinginess and bitterness are things that can hinder God's supply or reduce it to a trickle. I have rarely seen a stingy parsimonious person experience the abundance of God's supply. It is in the measure that we bless others that we ourselves are blessed.
   
   (Luke 6:36-38 NKJV) "Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. {37} "Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. {38} "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."

6. God's supply is in God's timing. Each day brings the supply needed for that day. Just as we get our sunshine one day at a time so we also get God's provision one day at a time. The manna in the wilderness was given one day at a time except on the day before the Sabbath when enough was given for two days. God supplied according to the need. Jesus backs this up when He says in His teaching on the Lord's Prayer:
   
   (Matthew 6:8,11 NKJV) "Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him....{11} Give us this day our daily bread.
   
   And later on in that chapter he specifically tells us not to worry about the next days provision.
   
   (Matthew 6:34 NKJV) "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
   As Corrie Ten Boom used to say "God is like my father who used to give us the train ticket when we are at the station, not before".

7. God's supplies in unusual ways that often involve others in the process. He uses the Kingdom economy - which seems unpredictable. However the Kingdom is where mustard seeds become enormous and mountains move. The feeding of the five thousand is a case in point (Matthew 14:14-21). Instead of having everything organized beforehand Jesus hands over the job of feeding the multitudes to 12 disciples with 5 loaves of bread and two small fish. You may say "Ahh this was a lesson of faith for Jesus' disciples it doesn't happen today." Unfortunately God still needs to teach lessons to you and I and He often uses financial supply to do it. Be prepared for surprise solutions to crisis situations.

8. There is always sufficient resources at hand for the obedient person to get the job done. You might not think that five loaves and two small fish can feed five thousand people. They did. Once the obedient disciples started on the job Jesus made the resources at hand do the job required. The resources often come in only after we have started. This has been a major lesson for me because I like to see the resources in hand before I start.
   
   I have learned that the resources I have at hand are always enough to do the job that God wants done. It is my task to get to it and God's task to supply. This magazine is run on a very small budget of less than ten thousand dollars a year and when I started I had none of that in hand. God has taken this mustard seed and made it grow into at least a middle sized shrub for Him. The 'mighty tree" stage is yet to come.

9. Living by faith is a balancing act. Jesus makes very clear that we must hold our finances loosely and "despise them"
   
   (Matthew 6:24 NKJV) "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
   On the other hand we are not to be foolish and careless.
   
   (Proverbs 21:5 NKJV) The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, But those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty.
   I see both carelessness and stinginess in Christian circles and both do great harm. Lets try and find the Holy Spirit inspired balance in the way we use finances only under the leadings of God.

10. God supplies through both the usual and the unusual. After the Israelites entered the promised land the manna ceased. They then earned their living the normal way - by farming.
    
    (Joshua 5:11-12 NKJV) And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain, on the very same day. {12} Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land; and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year.
    
    Both were the free gift and provision of God. They did not earn their wealth but were given it...
    
    (Deuteronomy 6:10-12 NKJV) "So it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, {11} "houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant; when you have eaten and are full; {12} "then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
    
    Whether your wealth comes through usual or unusual channels it is a free gift from God. You have not earned it. Who made your body, mind, soul and strength? Who created the world you work in? And the air you breath? Nearly everything you use for work is a free gift from God. We rarely give Him the credit for all He has given us and tend to "forget the Lord our God" just as the Israelites did.

11. God always provides free of charge.
    
    (Isaiah 55:1 NKJV) "Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk.
    Without money and without price. There is nothing in life or in our salvation that we have to "pay for".
    
    (Romans 8:32 NKJV) He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
    When we are in Christ everything is a free gift from God. Jesus emphasis this in the Sermon On The Mount.
    
    Matthew 6;26-30 "Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? {27} "Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? {28} "So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; {29} "and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. {30} "Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

12. God provides for every good work and then some. He does so in accordance with our own openness of heart.
    
    (2 Corinthians 9:6-11 NKJV) But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. {7} So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. {8} And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. {9} As it is written: "He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever." {10} Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, {11} while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.
    
    The purpose of God being gracious to us financially is so that we can do good works (verse 8 above). It is "an abundance for every food work" not an abundance for our own pleasures. God wants wide open channels of blessings not reservoirs of spent and stagnant grace. God gives more to cheerful givers because they will pass the blessing on.

13. God is not predictable but He is safe. We may not be able to calculate how much he will supply but it will be enough. He cares for us and will not let us fall providing that we stay within His will We need to do God's will regardless of what the ledger says.

14. Satan will steal from us any way he can but Jesus is the antidote to the Devil's schemes.
    
    (John 10:10 NKJV) "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.. Satan steals through many avenues such as fear, unbelief, ego and greed. Many Christian ministries have gone bankrupt because they were seduced into bad "get rich quick" investments. In every case I know of God sent wise people to them warning them not to do it. Others have let ego go rampant and engaged in exaggerated projects to make them look good in the eyes of men but which were not commanded by God.
    
    Sometimes a spate of burglaries or a thief within the organization does much harm. Prayer for protection, humility, wise counsel and abiding in Christ will protect us from most of these common pitfalls. Even if we are stolen from Jesus can and does restore "what the locusts have eaten." He wants us to know abundance.

15. God feeds His children for free just like you do. If you are a son of God then God will provide for you simply because He loves you.
    (John 1:12 NKJV) But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
    If God feeds birds and clothes lilies - and He does, then why shouldn't He feed and clothe you who are His child! (See Matthew quote that begins this article).

Conclusion

God provides for us out of His abundant grace and might power. He does so in ways that are consistent with His Kingdom principles. These ways cannot be understood by the world. However we commonly find them in nature and in all that God does. The way God provides is through people and in love and fellowship. He does this to strengthen our trust in Him. God feeds his children. We are not slaves earning a wage but sons enjoying the free gifts of a Heavenly Father.

 

This article may be freely reproduced for non-profit ministry purposes but may not be sold in any way. For permission to use articles in your ministry, e-mail the editor, John Edmiston at johned@aibi.ph.