God Will Provide
Psalms
145:9 reads…
The Lord is
God to all; he has compassion on all he has made.
I will trust in you Lord.
I will always be careful to honor and obey your ways. I will call on you, your holy name in times of distress as well as in times of celebration. I have come to know you as faithful, as all that I need. One of my most frightening thoughts is of…where would I be in life without you.
Lord, I thank you, as you lift me up above the troubles of my past, above the anxiety of my today and above the uncertainty of my tomorrow. You lift me so that I may see the assurance that lies in you. It's you whom I seek. You, who is in control of “the then”, “the now” and “the forever”.
I had yet another awesome opportunity to sit and share with my grandmother today. The word of God through David spoke to my heart as she told of times during her 95 years here on earth. They come from Psalms 37:25, “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.”
I began to look past the physical as God revealed the spirit of those words to my inner being. She spoke of times when she and her friends and family walked miles to get where they were going. It would take them hours to get from place to place. They walked often in the heat of the day as well as in the darkness of the night. They walked not on a paved road but through woods. Real trees and forest woods. She spoke of pieces of fat meat to eat, corn meal bread and fresh milk with butter in it (straight from the cow…churning) being the meal of the day. And, they were glad to get it. She spoke of doing chores for a dime then going to the store and what she could buy with such a small amount of money to care for not just herself but her family. (Look at God). He has seen her from a day of lack to a day of more than enough.
Her words alone are a testimony of the goodness and the faithfulness of God. She spoke of how her mother took a little of nothing and made it into just enough. It goes without saying that God worked through her mother and made a way. As she spoke of how her father put her on a train and how far they walked to get there, and then of how far he would have to walk back alone at night. My eyes filled with tears as I looked upon her face. She smiled, knowing how deeply he loved her and cared for her to do such a thing.
What more do we have with our heavenly father? What more does he care and provide? What more?
God cares for us and he loves us. We should put all our hope, faith and trust in him. My grandmother now lives a comfortable life. It is truly by the grace, mercy and faithfulness of God. He's the same God of her corn meal bread and fat meat days. I'm so grateful that she has shared him with me. As she sits threading straws making a basket, she too is weaving pieces of straw within me so that I may carry and hold on to…straw pieces of hope, love, faithfulness and dependence in the Lord. In her sharing, I see the provision and protection of God. I see his patience and long suffering. But most of all, I see his love and his care.
I'm taken to the word of God in 1 Kings Chapter 17. There it speaks of Elijah and the widow at Zarepath. God sent Elijah there for food and refuge. When he gets there, he encounters a widow. She is collecting sticks for a fire to cook her last meal for herself and her son. She has run out of supplies and there is no hope for her to receive more. She's at her end and is preparing to give up and die. She's lost all hope for a better day. Now, here comes this man asking her for her last. Really? But, there is a word from the Lord…Elijah tells her to not be afraid but to do as he asks for God has promised him that her jars will not be empty. Now, this widow has a choice to make…to prepare the meal for Elijah and take a chance on dying hungry or trust in the word from the Lord. As we know, her jars were never empty again. She could carry on for God did provide.
My grandmother and this widow stand because of the goodness, the protection, the provision, the faithfulness and the love given by the Lord.
God has a word for each of us. We have only to trust and obey for he is faithful.
Come what may, he has, he is and he shall provide. Amen.