Provision - 2

Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else?  Romans 8:32 NLT

These pelicans know that at 2.30 every afternoon, at a resort near, us a man appears with a bin full of fish bits to feed them.  They start arriving about 1 o'clock and generally disappear as soon as they are fed.   Their mates have a different eating place, they hang out on the local channel where the fishermen clean their catch. These birds are dependant on men providing their food.... and they are never disappointed.

Not many of us are dependant on someone else to feed us (though an increasing number are these days), but at times in life there are other things that we need provision for.  Many are looking for a job, or a house, some would love to have a close friend, someone to care and share life with.  It is too easy to just go ahead and try to provide such things by our own effort, but it's much more exciting (but scary) to pray and ask God to provide for us.

Without thoughtful contemplation of our Bible it is too easy to read many of the stories without imagining them in their real context.  The truth is God doesn't mind putting his people in uncomfortable situations to test their trust of him, our Father, who loves to provide.  God took Israel into the desert and fed them on manna for 40 years. He led Elijah into the wilderness after he had prophesied a drought where, for a time, God had Elijah fed by ravens, morning and night.  When the brook dried up he sent him to a town to be fed by a widow (1 Kings 17). Jesus too demonstrated God's ability to provide for basic needs when he twice fed huge crowds during a time when he relied completely on the hospitality of others for a roof over his head as he travelled the land.

Sometimes we are 'squeezed' and we find ourselves in need.  Those are the times God would like us to trust him and not rush around in a panic trying to work things out for ourselves.  How else is our faith going to develop?  In every area of need I believe that our heavenly Father would like us to come to him and lay our need before him, then trust him to ultimately provide.  At various times during our life we have trusted God to provide funds for travel, a seat on a full aeroplane when none seemed possible, the right car, the right house, and a new job when the other work dropped off and was no longer sufficient to supply our daily needs.  God has often kept us waiting, and sometimes for longer than was comfortable, but he has never failed to provide.

God's ultimate provision is Jesus, the Lamb of God who was given as the perfect sacrifice so that we might have relationship restored with him through forgiveness of our sins.  As Paul said in our verse today, "won't he also give us everything else? "  That is a very good question!

What do you need right now, and have you put that need before God? Or do you think you have to work it out because "you are a big person now" and should be sorting things out for yourself?  You have a Father in heaven who loves you and longs for you to ASK...... but you do have to ask! "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us." 1 John 5:14. Won't you allow him to be part of your life in that area of need today?  He longs to provide for you, his child.

Prayer:  Father God, thank you for giving us the most precious gift of Jesus Christ, and for the promise that you will provide all that we need if we entrust ourselves to your loving care.  Forgive me for the times I do not trust you enough to share my needs with you. Help me to do that so I can have the joy of sharing with others my own stories of your provision.  Amen