God’s Will and His Provision

Have you ever thought about how the will of God and His provision for His children are intertwined?

I sat down tonight to have some much needed, and belated time in the Word. I had no idea what passage or even what book I would dive into. Of course, God did. He knew exactly where He wanted me tonight and what He wanted to inspire in me. I started out by flipping through a journal I’d kept for our sessions in South Africa. I got to a December 8th discussion and suddenly God threw me into the topic all over again. The topic in our Big Group discussion that day in South Africa, was God’s will. I remember our leader starting off by saying that at the end of the session we would know what God’s will was for our lives. The room burst into looks of confusion and some snickering. How could our leader possibly say that? How could he promise that a room full of 18-24 yr olds were all about to know exactly what God wanted them to do with their lives?

-What job should I have?

-Where should I attend school?

-Who should I marry?

-How should I raise my children?

-What should I do with my money?

-What church should I attend?

-And so on…

Those are just some of the questions we all seem to ask at one time or another in our lives. They are all honorable searches but we seem, often, to look straight past the answers God has already given us. The biggest question we ask is the one that all of these stem from, “Why am I here?” Mark 12:28-33 gives a great answer to this question.

 28 One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?”

 29 Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD;

 30 AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’

 31 “The second is this, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

 32 The scribe said to Him, “Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM;

 33 AND TO LOVE HIM WITH ALL THE HEART AND WITH ALL THE UNDERSTANDING AND WITH ALL THE STRENGTH, AND TO LOVE ONE’S NEIGHBOR AS HIMSELF, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

So what are we here for? Simply put in these verses, first and foremost, we are here to Love God with everything we’ve got. In that, we are to bring to this fallen world, the Kingdom of God. So, that’s God’s will for each and every one of us. “Yeah, yeah, ok. But what does that look like?”

It is definitely wise to offer up the details and decisions of our lives to God in prayer. Sometimes the every day and especially our future days, can become so overwhelming. But I think we often just make it all so much more complicated and frankly, about us, than it’s supposed to be. God knows that I’ve done that to Him a million times. Matthew 6:19-34 gives us a smaller picture of what loving God with all we have (Mark 12: 28-33) (and our life’s purpose) is supposed to look like.

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

 20 “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;

 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.

 23 “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

 24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other You cannot serve God and wealth.

 25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

 26 “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?

 27 “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?

 28 “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,

 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.

 30 “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!

 31 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’

 32 “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

 33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

 34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

These are verses many of us have heard and read many times over. But, do we really put them into practice?

-Don’t store up wealth on this earth for the sake of the things of this world.

-If we want our treasures to be of heaven, then we should be seeking with our lives, things which glorify God.

-The things that we worship with our time and efforts, are the the things we truly serve.

That pretty much covers verses 19-24. Seek after the things of God with every part of our lives and do not put our hope into the things of this world. The rest of the passage keys in on our needs and God’s provision. That’s where my first statement of this blog comes in. Have you ever thought about how the will of God and His provision for His children are intertwined? Verses 25-34 seem to take a turn from the first set.

-We have no reason to worry about the “little” things, even though to us, they often seem so big.

-Verse 26 is a beautiful analogy of the fact that, despite our efforts, God is the ultimate Provider.

-Worrying, does not add to our lives. Instead, it takes away from them.

-If God sustains the plants and animals of this world, how much more will He provide for His children?

-Do not worry about the things of the day: your health, your wealth, your shelter, etc.. God is very literally in control of all of these things. Our needs DO NOT go unnoticed.

-If we seek after the things of God, we will be provided for.

So why do you think God talks about His providence in the same passage as His will? It’s almost like, God knew we were going to worry about the decisions and details of our lives. Oh wait, He did! For us to be willing to go against what the world calls for us to do with our lives..and instead seek after God with every element of what we have….. Well, that would definitely require reckless abandon! And ya know what, I’d love to reckless abandon the things of this world!

Here’s to giving up the life of this world, to diving into a life of total servitude, to no longer freaking out about the daily struggles of my life, and to instead loving God, loving people, and living with everything I have for Him…in that, may His will be done.