Jesus told His followers not to let our needs dominate our thoughts (Matthew 6:32). Our heavenly Father knows our needs. He cares for the creatures in the natural world so they lack nothing. He will care for you and me. We are to give ourselves to the Lord first and pursue God’s purposes more than our own purposes. Out of my study and my walk with Jesus for many years, I believe God wants us to think differently about His provision for us. In this post, we will explore 4 lessons to learn about God’s provision for us. With these lessons, we can recognize God’s provision and know what to do with it. Ready?
Listen to this post as a similar podcast from the Everyday Women, Ever-Faithful God Bible Study.
Think differently about God’s provision for you.
These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. (Matthew 6:32-33, NLT)
Those verses are from a sermon Jesus gave to His followers where he describes a stark contrast between what the world does, even good people in the world, and what the lives of Jesus’ followers should look like.
Don’t let your needs dominate your thoughts. That’s how those who reject God live. But it is also how those who won’t choose to trust God live. For you and I who have placed our faith in Jesus Christ, we need to trust that our heavenly Father knows our needs and will care for us. We are to give ourselves to the Lord first, and pursue God’s purposes more than our own purposes. Then, we will recognize God’s provision to us and what we are to do with it. We begin that recognition by learning 4 lessons about God’s provision.
Lesson #1: God’s provision is His to give and take away. Regard it humbly.
There are several things we need to understand about this lesson.
Everything we have comes from God.
Paul reminds us in his first letter to the Corinthians:
What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift? (1 Corinthians 4:7 NLT).
There isn’t anything we have that we did not receive from God—birthplace, height, attractiveness, intelligence, natural talents. All those came from God. Yet we can boastfully live as though we had everything to do with those things. Everything we have comes from God.
What we have is not a measure of our goodness or our faith.
Jesus told the disciple Peter not to compare the path he would follow with that of John (John 21:22). So it is with how God provides for us. We see a faithful believer who is struggling financially and point fingers at her thinking or saying, “If you were living right, you wouldn’t have this problem.” That’s not biblical.
How God chooses to provide for you or me at any time in our lives is His sovereign choice. We are to give ourselves first to Him and trust Him with our daily needs as we do the work He gives us to do.
Paul understood this well. He was in God’s will and doing what God purposed for Him to do. Yet, he experienced times of hunger and want (2 Corinthians 6:5; Philippians 4:12-13). If God saw fit that Paul would be in need sometime in his life, you can be sure the rest of us might also find ourselves in need by God’s designed plan. Paul said in that Philippians passage that he learned to be content whatever his situation—in want or in plenty. And his second letter to the Corinthians describes how he learned that as he stayed dependent on the Lord!
I chuckle about being content when having plenty. Of course, I can do that. Who can’t? But can I be content with only pancakes daily for 2 years like Elijah and the widow in 1 Kings 17? Sure, if everyone else is only eating pancakes. But what if they are eating prime rib?
Is it possible in this American culture to be content? Someone will always have more than we do. Of course, someone will always have less than we do as well. But who cares about that! Trusting God to take care of you and me in whatever manner He chooses is something we have to learn on our faith walk. Like Paul, we must learn how to stay dependent on the Lord.
Why does God let His people have needs? Someone once said this,
God is in the human development business. How is God going to teach us faith if He never allows us to have needs?!
Do you agree? We want to grow in our faith and mature as Christians so we pray, “Lord, make me a godly woman.” But in the back of our minds we are thinking, “Don’t let it hurt too much!”
When God removes our comforts and strips away our support, we actually begin to depend on Him as God Almighty—as an essential to our lives, not just an appendage. Don’t let anyone deceive you by equating prosperity with your measure of faith. What we have is not a measure of our goodness or our faith.
God determines our provision—the how, when, and why.
Most of the time, God’s provision is going to come through people, not miraculously appear from the sky. People design products and services to sell; they take the risk to start businesses and hire workers, including you. People buy farmers’ crops. And people provide meals for someone in a time of need.
God determines how He provides for His own. We must learn to trust whatever manner He chooses. And maybe a change in God’s provision might be tied to His moving you away from an evil influence or danger. God determines our provision—the how, when, and why.
Our provision belongs to God. Hold onto it loosely.
Just before Elijah went to live with the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:7-15), God told Elijah to go to a brook for about 6 months and then ordered takeout for him from “Raven’s Grub Hub” (1 Kings 17:2-6). No menu to choose from, the ravens did the choosing and brought him food twice a day. Ravens eat just about anything—fruit, nuts, eggs, baby birds, and small mammals. It was a surprise at every meal! You can learn more about Elijah’s experience in our Profiles of Perseverance Bible Study.
Have you ever been in a place where you had to be fed by God’s ravens? Sure you have. You just didn’t recognize them. Have you received meals when you were sick or hurt or in grief? Gift cards or groceries when you needed help? God’s “ravens” provided for you then.
Back to Elijah, his time by the brook is during a drought so he watched the stream gradually dry up!
In his sermon series on Elijah, Chuck Swindoll made this great observation, “The God who gave the water has chosen to take the water. It’s His sovereign right! He gives the child; He can take it away. He gives the business; He can take it away. He gives the house; He can take it away.”
Yikes! I don’t like that, do you? But it’s true.
Lesson #1: God’s provision is His to give and take away. Regard it humbly.
Lesson #2: God’s provision is always enough. Receive it gratefully.
The definition of “enough” is “as much as is needed or can be tolerated.” I think I can tolerate quite a bit, don’t you? But maybe God knows better. I’ve learned two things about this…
The sufficiency of God’s enough
Consider what Moses told the people of Israel at the end of 40 years of nomadic life in the desert. With manna in the morning and quail every night for supper, no house or farm, no new shoes or clothes, Moses told the people of Israel they “lacked nothing” (Deuteronomy 2:7). Later, he told them that in their new land with abundant water and bountiful food they “will lack nothing” (Deuteronomy 8:7-9). With little or with lots, they “lack nothing.”
That makes no sense to us. But here is what it means: When you have the Lord’s provision (whatever it is), you lack nothing that you need at this time in your life. It’s what you HAVE that counts, not what you don’t have. That’s the sufficiency of God’s enough. Then, there’s…
The creativity of God’s enough
When you receive God’s provision, you learn that He is creative and personal. Elijah had “raven” delivery. For the widow of 1 Kings 17, she had endless pancakes but only enough for today with a promise for tomorrow. There was no 50 # sack of flour in her pantry. She had to trust that it would be refilled for the next day’s meals. She lacked nothing. For another widow in 1 Kings 4:1-8, she had a bottomless pot of oil, enough for today and to plan for her future. She lacked nothing.
God doesn’t do the same thing for everyone. Both of those women learned to follow God’s directions even when it made no sense. Your hope is to be in your God, not in prosperity—current or future. That’s recognizing the creativity of God’s enough.
#2: God’s provision is always enough. Receive it gratefully.
Lesson #3: God’s provision is meant to be shared. Give it generously.
That is wrapped up in the word “compassion.” What does compassion look like? Let’s try to describe it.
Compassion is doing, not feeling.
Compassion is doing something to ease someone’s pain, whether it’s for this week or more. In reality, most times of need last longer than a day! God’s plan for the needy in Israel was that perfectly good food was intentionally left in the fields for the poor to have. You can read about that in Leviticus 19:9-10. That’s being proactive. Compassion is doing, not feeling.
Compassion requires trusting God, not having plenty.
This is totally opposite of the world’s thinking, isn’t it? There is a fine line between good stewardship of the provisions God’s given today and not trusting God enough to be able to share it. WOW. From the example of the Macedonians, I am to let my overflowing joy and extreme poverty well up into rich generosity. I am getting better at this. As I am willing to trust God more. Sharing out of my meager supplies in faith that God will help those supplies stretch. And, do it joyfully, right!
I recently discovered one of the most mind-blowing verses in the Bible. Consider what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians about some of his Christian friends,
Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity… they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will. (2 Corinthians 8:2, 7)
That is so radical! Extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. And that done with overflowing joy. Who does that naturally? Only those who know how to trust God with their money.
It is not what you’d do with a million, if riches should e’er be your lot. But what you are doing at present with the dollar and a quarter you’ve got. (R. G. LeTourneau)
Compassion requires trusting God, not having plenty. It’s what you do with what you have.
Compassion shares God’s riches flowing through us.
God’s grace can make a dynamic difference in the mindset of His people when it comes to provision. Whether you are the receiver or the giver, how you do both should be different than what the world does.
Paul continued with these words,
Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. (2 Corinthians 8:13-14)
Here’s the key: God’s riches to us are supplied through us to meet another’s needs. We are brothers and sisters in a large family with a responsibility to care for each other. That may require some learning to live without something so we have more to give.
Compassion is doing, not feeling. That requires trusting God, not having plenty. Compassion is God’s riches flowing through us to someone else.
Compassion is personal.
Have you experienced the joy of deliberately and delightfully meeting the specific needs of a person with a name and a face you know? I remember a particularly tough time for us when a friend of mine shopped with two baskets—one for her family, the other for our family. Everything she bought for her family for Thanksgiving, she bought for us, including all the staples to make everything we’d need. When she pulled up in my driveway, I was absolutely floored by her love in action. Compassion is personal.
Lesson #3 is this: God’s provision is meant to be shared. Give it generously.
Lesson #4: God’s provision brings Him glory. Praise Him openly.
In the books of Kings, you will find the stories of two widows—a Gentile widow in 1 Kings 17 and a Jewish prophet’s widow in 2 Kings 4. The life of a widow was very hard as it still can be in our world today. God used His representatives, Elijah and Elisha, to provide for both of those women and their children in miraculous ways that gave God the glory for generations afterward. Knowing women, I picture the two widows telling their stories to anyone who would listen. Someone knew about them and wrote them down for all of us to read and know.
I hope you are openly sharing how God has creatively provided for you in a tough time. As you share your story, you are giving Him praise. When you acknowledge that what you have comes from God, whether much or little, that is giving Him glory. Every time you tell about it, thank Him. Ask God to give you frequent opportunity to tell that story and give Him praise.
Lesson #4: God’s provision brings Him glory. Praise Him openly.
Recognize God’s provision and what to do with it.
You and I need to recognize God’s provision to us as being supplied to us for His purposes. Whenever there doesn’t seem to be enough, remember these four truths to stand strong in the tough times.
- God loves you
- He knows what is going on in your life
- He can do something about it, and
- You can trust His goodness in whatever He chooses to do
Whatever provision you do receive from God, regard it humbly, receive it gratefully, give it generously, and praise Him openly.
You can study the lives of the two widows mentioned in this post through our Everyday Women, Ever-Faithful God Bible Study or the shorter version called The Walk from Fear to Faith.
Related Resources:
- Everyday Women, Ever-Faithful God Bible Study on Amazon
- The Walk from Fear to Faith Bible Study on Amazon
- Satisfied Series 1 Podcasts (Old Testament women series)
- Old Testament Women: Connecting their stories with trusting God today
- Profiles of Perseverance Bible Study (Joseph, David, Elijah, and Nehemiah)
- Apply Faith to Your Fears
- “Applying Faith to Fear” bookmark
- Face Trouble with Courage and Peace-Mark 4:35-41
- Sarah: God Is Bigger Than Your Weaknesses
- Release Your Expectations of Acceptable Outcomes
- Trust God’s Goodness in Addressing Your Pain
- Esther: Two Aspects of Trusting God
- The Book of Ruth: Life Should Not Be Lived Alone
- Psalm 91: Rest in the Shadow of the Almighty
- 4 Lessons to Learn about God’s Provision
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Proverbs Women: Having a Wise Heart