God's provision for today is sufficient to sustain us throughout the day and everything we will experience. God will provide for our needs for tomorrow, at exactly the right moment, not a moment early, and not a moment late. We thus need not worry. God delights in making up for what we lack. How to get it is straightforward. We only need to get on our knees and pray to Him. James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” This is a reminder that none of us is self-sufficient. God is our provider.
Like any good parent, God would never give us what He knows would harm us. It is for this reason that our immature and selfish prayers are unanswered. God differentiates between our needs and our wants because He knows that where our treasure is, so our heart is also. He wants us to know that this world is not our home and that part of what we need is to shift our focus to eternal life while still living the present mortal one. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches His disciples to ask for provision, and our dependence on God is affirmed each time we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). In Matthew 6:24–25, Jesus tells His disciples not to worry about food or clothing. The Father knows our needs.
Mathew 7:7-11 is an eye-opener to the promises of God: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8 For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? 10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” Such is the great assurance of the Lord for the believers.
The miracle of Jesus feeding five thousand people is an outstanding biblical example of God's provision when our own means are inadequate. A large crowd follows Jesus as he goes into a remote area. They become hungry, and there is no place and money to buy food for them. When Jesus desired to feed them, Philip answered John 6:7 “Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. “One of the disciples discovers a boy who has a mere five barley loaves and two fish. Jesus receives these meagre supplies, gives thanks, and has them distributed to the whole crowd as if they were a meal for thousands. Astonishingly, everyone in the crowd was able to take as much as they wanted, they ate and were satisfied. Afterward, we learn in John 6:12-13 “When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. 13 Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.”
God’s provision extends to His ongoing relationship with all of His creation, who are deeply dependent on Him. Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Often, we take for granted the rain that falls, the sun that comes up every morning, the refreshing winds that blow, and the tides that cleanse our shores and invigorate the life in our vast oceans. But all these things are watched over by our loving God in His loving provision for us.
Dr Ashwin Drummond
Laddertoheaven.co.in