This is a lesson I had heard time and again growing up, but it is hard to understand some things until you have experienced them. My adult life has been full of God’s blessings and often they showed up in unexpected ways.
God Provides Physically
Right after I graduated from college, Andrew and I moved in with my grandparents temporarily while he finished the interview process for a job. We thought we would be moving to WV. One day, after he had completed the last phase of the interview process, he was notified that the company would not be hiring him. We were dumbfounded and frustrated. He needed a job (the job he was in was low hourly pay and unnecessarily stressful). The day after we found out he would not be getting that job, we found out that I was pregnant. A few days later, Andrew was job searching and saw a position open at Harding. He applied not expecting to be hired. Soon after he met with the guys at IS&T, he was offered a job. God provided for us by opening up a job for Andrew in Searcy. We were not able to move to WV to be near his parents but we were able to stay in AR and be near mine. This was and continues to be a blessing.
Within the last 5 years we have had 3 kids and bought a house. Our needs and thus spending have increased. We have had a few months during the last 5 years where Andrew has been concerned that his paycheck would not stretch to the end of the month. Fortunately, he pays every bill at the beginning of every month so we will always have a roof over our heads, but his concern is for groceries or gas. In each of these anxious moments, we are reminded that God has always provided for us and when we trust in Him, He gives us peace and what we need (not necessarily what we want). Andrew started a small business of making websites for congregations around the country and began tuning pianos around AR to help us financially. Each of these months we have had reimbursement checks show up in the mail from the hospital because they overbilled us, another congregation needed a website, a family in town wanted their piano tuned, and so on. Andrew knows he could be making double his current salary working somewhere else but we have decided that this is where we need to be so we are determined to be content with what we have because we truly do not need more.
“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” Hebrew 13:5-6
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious 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?… 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: 25-26, 33 ESV
It is easy sometimes when things seem to be going wrong or when we are struggling to think that God has left us or that He does not have time for us. In these moments, it is us who have stepped away from God. He will never leave us; any distance we feel is on us.
“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Luke 12:6-7 ESV
God’s blessings may be obvious but often they are not. His blessings can look like a check in the mail or a friend whose garden is overproducing. God has given us every good thing we have. Part of asking, seeking, and knocking is trusting in His judgment and His time. He will always give us what we need and that may not be what we think.
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” Matthew 7:7-11
“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19 ESV
God Provides Spiritually
A while back, Andrew and I found ourselves spiritually drained. We were not falling away from God but we were spiritually exhausted. We did not understand what was going on. We were serving, teaching, praying, studying, and more. We realized that while we were doing a lot of work on the outside, we had stopped doing work on the inside. I am not overly fond of the phrase, “Fill yourself before you fill others.” However, it is true that you cannot pour from an empty cup. I believe you can fill yourself and others at the same time if you are leaning on God to help you. We had been trying to fill others while we were running on “empty.” In all things, we are called to rejoice. In the good times and the bad. It is easy to forget to lean on Him when things are going well, but what is good without Him? Nothing. In the bad times, He may not fix everything (we do not know His plans) but He will give us peace no matter the outcome.
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:4-7 ESV
As with the parable of the talents, when we are generous with what we have (whether it is much or little) we are rewarded. This reward may be physical, but more often it is spiritual.
“… whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written, “He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” 2 Corinthians 9:6-9 ESV
Psalm 23, 34, and 37 are three beautiful psalms that illustrate how when we trust in the Lord we will lack nothing. In Him, we are filled physically and spiritually which makes every other aspect of life so much better.
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” Romans 8:31-32 ESV
When we put God first and learn to be content with what we have, peace and joy abound far more than anything else.