God’s Provision
The Financial Dictionary defines Economics as “the
study of how people use their limited resources in an attempt to satisfy
unlimited wants.” This
definition mirrors the Pattern of the World (Rom 12:2), which is using
external resources in an attempt to resolve internal problems.
This correlation is not a coincidence.
With this in mind, perhaps we should all be students of
Micro-Economics on a personal level.
We have an option when we face financial difficulties.
We could just pursue the next way to fill our bellies and survive
or we could pay attention and learn from the pain. (Ps 49)
To do this, it helps to understand how we normally try to meet
our needs and why we have settled on these methods.
When the fall of man occurred in the Garden of
Eden, a number of consequences went into effect.
Instead of immediately executing the death sentence, God allowed
life to start decaying.
Additionally, sin forced a barrier between man and God, our Creator and
Provider. Also, man no
longer worked in harmony with God’s creation, but toiled in competition
with the weeds, the animals and the elements.
Since we were left to our own means, it became immediately
necessary to focus all our energy on survival and our basic needs of
food, shelter and clothing.
But, we also have other needs with no satisfactory source of
nourishment: personal value, image, pleasure, security and purpose, just
to name a few. We were
designed to have all these needs met by God.
Separated from Him, there is no substitute that can truly fulfill
the depths of these infinite needs.
So, we toil, struggling to meet our needs.
And no matter how successful we are, our internal needs go
unsatisfied. This is where
the exploitation of our fellow man usually comes into play.
Exploitation is a universal scheme which takes advantage of
others to get ahead in the game.
For example, by building ourselves up in a leadership position we
might be able to get a little extra in our bank account, while also
gaining a sense of value.
Many leaders throughout history have given us good examples of
corruption that involves the exploitation of others.
We often do this subtly, without a second thought, since we were
raised in this culture and it is our very nature.
However, the flaws of our plans can often be made obvious when we
think through them and state them bluntly.
Our plan for how to meet our own needs without God is to use our
own limited abilities to squeeze what we need out of decaying resources
and crumbling relationships.
Our plan is delusional because it is based on the deception of wealth.
In fact, this plan has a poor track record, regularly failing for
individuals and whole societies.
However, Jesus made an amazing statement.
He said those who follow Him
should not worry about their own needs. (Lk 12:22-34)
He said this because He came to reconcile us with the Father, to
give another opportunity for direct access to our Provider.
While Christ paid the ultimate price for this reconciliation,
there is still a personal cost to receive God’s provision.
This cost is our life, as we know it.
While He provides for our needs now and in eternity, we must
abandon all of our physical self and our old nature.
In John 6, Christ emphasized that “the Spirit gives life; the
flesh counts for nothing.”
He is saying that the physical and temporary should be sacrificed for
the internal and the eternal.
This is also how He prioritizes His provision in our lives.
He didn’t sugarcoat this message or sell us a bill of goods.
In fact, after many left Him because of this statement, He turned
to the Twelve and gave them the opportunity to leave also.
The question is whether we are willing to give up all that we
have, all of our dreams and all that we are, even our whole life.
We must pick up our cross and follow Him, crucifying our old
nature and our addiction to external resources in the process.
This is a decision we all must make, since we cannot serve both
God and Money. (Matt 6:24)
Once we have made this decision, there are still
many pitfalls ahead of us.
Thankfully, we have a wonderful illustration of this from the Old
Testament when God led the Israelites out of Egypt. As the young nation
was led across the Red Sea they were not just leaving slavery behind.
They were also leaving their homes and their birthplace;
everything familiar that they had built expectations and habits upon.
Soon, they found themselves in a desert with no oasis in sight
and their hopes and dreams for a land flowing with milk and honey
evaporated. One thought
dominated their mind:
Survival. They had their
families to consider; generations traveling the long journey together.
And so, their worrying and fretting went unchecked.
Not only was this insulting and demeaning to God, it was
dangerous. Stepping out of
God’s care and returning to Egypt was the only other option.
Our life is similar.
God has taken us into His care, but at the first glimpse of troubles,
our vision is distracted from the joy set before us and we begin
fretting and worrying. (Mk
4:18-19)
But what ultimately threw the Israelites over the edge were their
cravings. They didn’t leave
their expectations in Egypt.
They whined and complained about having meat on their table, but it
wasn’t concern that got them into trouble.
It was their presumptuous, demanding attempts to seize control
that damaged the relationship.
Again, we are similar.
In our old way of operating, we may not have been that great at
meeting our needs, but it was on our terms and we got some sense of
control from that. In
walking with God, we have to hold back that desire to seize control, for
it is only a mirage of security.
We can even mess up as we return to God.
When we are between a rock and a hard place, it is tempting to
turn to Him solely as a solution to an external problem.
Instead, we should be more concerned about our relationship with
Him. God desires a broken
and contrite heart and there is usually much to be sorry for. (Ps 51:17)
It is so easy to be dishonest with ourselves and manipulative
toward God. So, like the
need to clean up the derelict temple in the book of Haggai, we have
areas in our relationship with God that need put back in order.
Rather than treating Him like a genie in a bottle, we can focus
our lives wholly upon Him and return to Him with a focus of getting our
relationship right with Him.
Whether our external problems improve or not, our driving need should be
the love of our Father. When
we honestly commit to resolving long ignored areas of disobedience, God
is faithful to forgive, accept us back and help us along the way.
While God promises to provide for us, we don’t have free reign to
live a life of leisure. In
fact, we were actually designed to work. (Gen 2:15)
Leisure is only a misguided goal we adopted when all work was
painful toil. Sure, God is
capable of meeting our needs without us lifting a finger, but He wants
us to work with Him. As our
good Father, He enjoys the company of a child ‘helping’ on a project and
takes the opportunity to give instruction and training.
And as our good Shepherd, He provides rest and care as He leads
us to opportunity and we work with Him.
But the key difference with this new work is that it’s not about
meeting our own needs.
Rather, the focus is to look after other people in the Ministry of
Reconciliation. (2 Cor 5:17-20)
This work is no longer toil, but our old nature still revolts at
the idea of sacrifice. (2 Cor 5)
However, suffering and pain are always part of the picture,
especially if we try to meet our needs on our own.
So we might as well have our discomfort come from the intentional
choice of going cross grain to our old nature by working with our
Co-Worker and Master.
Our old nature will challenge this choice whenever life gets
difficult. When we are not
clear how God will provide for us or when His provision doesn’t meet our
expectations, our old nature takes advantage of these situations.
Nevertheless, God is still caring for us and providing for our
needs even in the lean times.
Just as Christ described in John 6, the purpose of His provision
in our life is the fulfillment of His plan for us, not our momentary
comfort. He wants to wean us
from our addiction to tangible resources so that our only yearning is
for Him. He wants to develop
a habit of trust that doesn’t hesitate.
He wants to develop a dependence on His overall care for all of
our needs. He wants to
develop a character acceptable to be in His eternal presence.
God could pour out His bountiful storehouse for us in an instant,
but these goals would not be met.
This is why God’s provision and care for us is so much better
than our care for ourselves:
He sees the big picture and all of our needs, not just the handful of
desires we were obsessed with before.
Since His overall care hinges on our internal needs, we should
pay attention to how Christ meets these needs in our everyday lives.
God is actively fulfilling His miraculous work within us through
numerous methods, including the practice of community, the transforming
effect of suffering and the development of trust through specific life
events. But our tendency is
to look only through the eyes of our old nature, completely missing the
point that God is powerfully at work whether our pocketbooks are full or
not. If we don’t pay
attention to the work inside us, we can’t respond appropriately when we
fail. We can’t be thankful
and content with His care.
And we can’t gain the confidence to move on and participate in the new
life He is making in us.
To gain this confidence in His overall care is to gain a freedom
from the need to guard and protect areas of personal weakness in our
lives. Separated from God,
it was just common sense to respect our fear and make choices according
to the wisdom of this world.
But, as we become content with God’s care for us, we can look beyond our
areas of strength and excess to offer Him everything.
By following Christ’s lead and exposing our weakness, we allow
God to show His strength in the process.
In all reality, none of us really have anything resembling
strength or excess anyway. (1 Cor 3:18-23)
So, we might as well be foolish by the world’s standards,
allowing God to be glorified by giving selflessly and living in reckless
abandon to His will. As we
do this, He is making us childlike and we can be unconcerned.
Unconcerned, because we can give the last of what we have,
knowing that our Father provides abundantly.
Unconcerned, because anything we sacrifice is in abandon to a
Father who cares for us and a Savior who died for us.
Unconcerned, because no matter
what we give up, we are making refreshing progress on problems we have
never been able to touch before, which is the Harvest of Righteousness.
(Heb 12:7-11)