Day 44
The Lord Will Provide
Read your Bible: Psalm 100
Spotlight Verse:
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.Psalm 100:5
After my dad died, our family lived beneath the poverty line for about eight years. Many times my single mother said to my little sister and me in her heavily Swiss-German accented English, “Ve haff no money for food! Ve must pray!”
I remember holding hands in our kitchen, a little circle of three, asking God, quite literally, for our daily bread. And God always provided — though not always in the way I would have preferred.
For instance, once we specifically asked for milk, and the very next morning we found a box of powdered milk on our doorstep. Which I couldn’t stand. But it did provide what we needed. To this day I have no idea how it got there, or who donated it.
Another day we asked for shoes, and the next day shoes just my size were left in a bag on the porch — and they were the ugliest puke-green shoes I have ever seen in my life. I told Mom, “There is no way I am wearing those to school!” And she explained to me in her patient, logical way, “YOU VILL WEAR ZEM!!!”
So I did. And everyone at school thought they were so cool — the one and only time they ever thought that of me at school!
But incidents like that made an impression on me.
Recently I was preparing to speak at the funeral of a man who died at about the same age as my father, leaving two young children and a widow, just like our family, many years ago. I asked my mother what words of wisdom she had for this woman who was about to walk the same path she had walked.
She stopped and thought for a moment and then said one phrase. Four words.
“The Lord will provide.”
Talk about an antidote to discouragement.
“The Lord will provide.” She told me, “I’ve seen it again and again.” And then together we remembered more of the ways God literally put food on our table.
God is Faithful to Provide
Here’s a verse that was written by the Apostle Paul after he’d been in prison, beaten for his faith, shipwrecked, sick, homeless, laughed at, slandered, taken to court… whatever you can go through in life, he’d been there. And he says, guess what I’ve learned?
And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
The Lord will provide.
I love the true story of George Müller. He was a remarkable man who lived in the 1800s.
By his own admission he was a rotten kid. Started stealing at age 10… from his own family! Ended up in prison, an alcoholic.
But then he totally changed. Became a Christian. And decided God was calling him to reach out to kids just like him.
He started Christian homes for London’s street children. This was way before his time. No one in the world was doing this then. He ended up housing 10,000 street kids, mostly orphans, in his homes.
Think of how stressed you get making ends meet for yourself, or for a family of two or three kids. He had thousands of kids to worry about.
But the really amazing thing is this: He never asked for funds. Not one time. He said it was a grand experiment to see if God really was faithful. I don’t recommend this for everyone, but it sure worked out for George Müller. Not one child ever went without a meal. Not one person ever had to settle for an I.O.U.
George Müller’s favorite saying: “God is faithful still and hears prayers still!”
The Lord will provide.
Great is God’s Faithfulness
There will be dark times in all of our lives. You may be in a dark time right now. But I love the saying:
“Never doubt in the dark what God has taught you in the light.”
In the past few weeks you’ve learned about God’s holiness, love, omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, sovereignty…
And now know this: None of that will ever change.
God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (See Hebrews 13:8)
Those truths about Him never shift, no matter what you are going through! Cling to them. Focus on them, instead of the problems around you.
The grayer I get, the more I sing “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” with gusto. Because I have more and more memories of God’s provision. I know this: The Lord will provide!
God is… faithful.
Questions For Reflection
What specific situations or memories in your life reinforce God’s immutability and faithfulness?
Write a brief statement specifically about immutability and what it means to you: “Because God never changes…”
