The God of My Supply ...

You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it. Psalm 65:9

Every time I turn on the TV it seems I'm bombarded with images of people in need. It may come in the form of a news report, an organization's appeal for help or the images reality TV captures. Such images can be heartbreaking to see, because we feel overwhelmed with a sense of helplessness to meet the needs before us. We feel an urgency to eradicate the suffering but are unable to do so. Who among us can feed the millions starving on the African continent? Who of us can restore with one check the homes, businesses and communities destroyed by Katrina? Setting my eyes on a much smaller scale doesn't really encourage me. Often, I'm confronted by my helplessness to help a family experiencing financial hardship due to their cancer battle. I want to help, but I'm not able to pay for just one of their procedures, medications or a night's stay in the guestrooms. Our natural inclination, in such circumstances, is to protect ourselves by turning the channel or busying ourselves, so we'll not feel the hurt for them. We become so overwhelmed by the magnitude of the problem that we run from it. And the suffering continues.

Now you might be able to insulate yourself from other people's suffering, but this means of protection doesn't work too well when applied to your own life. Your problems aren't going to just go away, no matter how hard you try to ignore them. So, the only solution is to acknowledge them and seek a solution.

But once again, where will you get the things you need to battle cancer? And even if I break it down to the bare essentials, I can get overwhelmed; where will I get the resources I need for daily life?

You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. Psalm 65:10

Praise God for His providence. Can you imagine what it takes to keep the earth working in good order? I recently saw a commercial where people in the clouds were gathering the water and setting the storms so the earth could be watered. If it were up to us to make sure the rain fell, we'd be in big trouble. And no matter how haughty we may get, God is the one who accomplishes all this.

Friend, nothing good on this earth happens without God's blessing. The doctors can set the bones and give medicines, but they can't make the bones knit together or make the medicines work. If God didn't command these things to work, you would never get better. But thank God for His providence. God sees the need in nature, and His hand moves to bring us what we need.

You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with abundance. The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy, the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy. Psalm 65:11-13

It amazes me how the forests and grass cover the earth. I'm overwhelmed at the thought of how long it would take for grass to spread out over the whole earth if I had to plant it, or how long it would take to grow the forests or stock the lakes and oceans with fish. I can barely water and seed my own lawn, let alone do this for the whole world. I can tell you, having been in horticulture, that God not only does all this, but He also makes sure each month is populated by its own set of plants -- spring, summer and fall crops. He orchestrates the plant life, so we get a little of what we need throughout the year rather than all in just one season. I can just imagine God, as the master maestro directing nature. God sings over His creation and, in response, His creation sings back to Him His praise. God will never abandon His creation, because He loves it and, though muted (Rom 8.19-23), it confesses that He is God, and there is no other. If God cares for the inanimate earth with such passion, what do you suppose He thinks of you? If God supplies for the earth and its muted witness, how much more do you suppose He longs to be your supply?

You can be assured that God will tenderly and lovingly supply His children's needs by seeing how He cares for His creation. He has the means to supply all you will ever need! Can you imagine the cost of everything you've been given throughout your lifetime: the money you've made, the cost of the water and food you've consumed, the cost of the things people have given you, the things you've borrowed? On top of all that, He has given me all the things I need to take care of my family. One fact I read was that it cost $125 thousand to raise one child. If you have more than one child, you should be in even greater wonderment at God's providential care; if you have boys, I know you can appreciate what I am talking about.

But God is so faithful. For all my worrying, He has always supplied our needs when there was a hospital bill, one of the appliances broke down, or I just wondered how we were going to make it. These examples may be a far cry from your present need, but no matter who you are or what your need, God is faithful. He is Good. All the time.

So how can you move forward on a problem when its magnitude has you stuck in your tracks? First; trust that God is good. He is not stingy and does not resent giving good things. God requires that we acknowledge Him as the only God and ask Him for everything we receive, so we won't miss out on a relationship with Him. You will move forward on the problem at hand when you see it as an opportunity to experience God's goodness and providence in depths you've never known. Focusing on God's providence will changes your outlook from dread of the future to waiting to see how God will display His love in an even more intimate, deeper way.

Second, trust in God's providence. You'll be relieved of the pressure to do it yourself when you trust that God has the thing you need. So trust that God knows the job, the money, the spouse, the medicine you need. I can't count the times I've had a patient tell me how God led them to Cancer Treatment Centers of America. He knew about this place before they ever did. In His perfect timing, He connected a person in Alaska or Australia to this place. God, in His providence, opened their eyes and directed them to this place.

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