You Can Trust God To Meet Your Needs
By Rich Carmicheal
The fact that you are reading this issue of Herald of His Coming is a testimony to God’s gracious provision. Allow me to explain. It is late November as I write this article, and the messages for this January issue are gathered and ready for the print shop. However, much of the mail containing the December issue is still here awaiting postage funds. At this point, about $20,000 is needed in order to send all of the remaining packages of December Heralds. So the fact that you have this January issue in your hand means that the Lord not only provided the $20,000 for the remaining December Heralds, but He also provided the funds for printing and mailing the January Heralds!
Now as I write this, the money is not here. But I believe the Lord will provide, and so I am acknowledging His provision even before it arrives. I share these things with you hoping they may encourage you if you are in a difficult or seemingly impossible situation in which you absolutely need the Lord’s provision.
God Is a Provider
Our Heavenly Father is, after all, a Provider. He cares deeply for all that He has created, and He provides for His Creation. David highlights this truth as he declares of the Lord: "The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food at the proper time. You open Your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing" (Psa. 145:15-16). Job is reminded of the Lord’s care for Creation as the Lord asks him, "Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?" (Job 38:41). The answer, of course, is that Job is not the provider, but that the Lord is.
Jesus likewise reminds us of our Heavenly Father’s provision for Creation by drawing attention to His provision for birds: "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them" (Matt. 6:26). He goes on to encourage us with the truth embedded in this question: "Are you not much more valuable than they?" (Matt. 6:26). Since we are obviously much more valuable to our Heavenly Father than birds are, we can be confident that He will meet our needs as well.
Jesus reinforces this truth with a second comparison: "…See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" (Matt. 6:28-30). Notice in this passage that Jesus not only emphasizes God’s faithfulness to clothe His people, but He also mentions how we lack faith if we doubt God’s provision. Since God is so faithful to care for the birds of the air and the grass of field, we can be certain that He will care for our needs as well. Jesus states it in this way: "So do not worry, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matt. 6:32-33). As we turn our eyes and hearts toward the Lord, we can confidently trust Him to meet our needs!
God Knows Our Needs
One of the truths embedded in the previous passage is that our Heavenly Father knows what we need. Jesus emphasizes this same truth in the verses just before the Lord’s Prayer: "And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him" (Matt. 6:7-8). How encouraging and comforting it is to know that our Heavenly Father cares for us deeply and knows our needs even before we ask! Therefore, we can confidently expect His provision as we ask Him to "Give us today our daily bread" (Matt. 6:11).
Jesus goes on to encourage us to have great faith as we look to our Heavenly Father for our needs: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!" (Matt. 7:7-11).
There Is Always Hope!
Perhaps you are in a situation that looks hopeless, and from man’s perspective may very well seem impossible. If this is the case with you, keep in mind that what is impossible for man is possible with God, for "all things are possible with God" (Mark 10:27). Take to heart, for example, Jeremiah’s reminder that no matter how bleak our situation is, there is always hope because of who the Lord is. Notice how Jeremiah’s hopelessness gives way to hope: "I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. So I say, ‘My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.’ I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.’ The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him" (Lam. 3:17-25). There is always hope as we look to the Lord because of His great love, His compassion and His faithfulness. He Himself is our Portion!
The Lord’s Miraculous Provision
There are many illustrations in the Bible of how the Lord is able to provide in difficult and seemingly impossible situations. One such example is the occasion when He provided for Abraham during the test involving the sacrifice of Isaac. As this father and son made their way toward the place for the offering, Isaac asked, "The fire and wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" and Abraham answered, "God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son" (Gen. 22:7-8). God did indeed intervene and provide as "Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns" (Gen. 22:13). Imagine the sense of relief and appreciation Abraham felt as he called that place "Jehovah-Jireh" – "The Lord will provide" (Gen. 22:14). The name "Jehovah-Jireh" literally means "The Lord who sees," and may very well describe the truth that God sees our need and can meet it fully.
Another example of God’s provision occurred during a time of drought in Elijah’s day, when the Lord provided food for him through a widow who was down to her last meal. Although she had only a handful of flour and a little oil, the supply did not run dry, and she was able to prepare food every day for herself, her son and Elijah. (See 2 Kgs. 17:7-16.)
Consider also the story of God’s provision for the armies of Israel, Judah and Edom recorded in Second Kings 3:4-20. As these three armies set out against Moab, they ran out of water for themselves and their animals. The situation seemed hopeless, and Joram, the king of Israel, feared they would fall to Moab. But Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, sought Elisha for a word from the Lord. The hand of the Lord came upon Elisha and he declared, "This is what the Lord says: Make this valley full of ditches…You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink. This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord; He will also hand Moab over to you" (vv. 16-18). The next morning "there it was – water flowing from the direction of Edom! And the land was filled with water" (v. 20). This account shows that what is impossible from man’s perspective is not only possible with God, it is "an easy thing" for Him!
Just after that story in Second Kings is another story illustrating God’s miraculous provision. (See 2 Kgs. 4:1-8.) A woman cried out to Elisha for help because her husband had died and a creditor planned to take her two sons as slaves. She had nothing available to her except a little oil. Elisha instructed her to ask her neighbors for empty jars and then to pour oil into all the jars. Her sons brought the jars to her, and as she kept pouring, the oil kept flowing until all the jars were filled. Elisha then told her to sell the oil and pay her debts, and for her and her sons to live on what was left.
Jesus also reveals God’s ability to miraculously provide. For example, after Simon and some other fishermen had worked hard all night and not caught any fish, Jesus told Simon to go out into the deep water and let down their nets for a catch. When they did, "they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break" and when their partners in another boat came to help, they "filled both boats so full that they began to sink." (See Luke 5:1-7.) On another occasion, Jesus was able to take five loaves of bread and two fish and feed five thousand men plus women and children, and still have twelve basketfuls of food left over! (See Luke 9:12-17.) And not only is Jesus able to perform such miracles, He is Himself the source for God’s provision toward us: "And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:19).
God Is Able to Meet All Our Needs
Dear friend, our God is a Provider! He cares about you, He knows your needs even before you ask Him, and He is able to meet all of your needs, no matter how difficult or impossible your situation seems. Of course, God is not at our disposal to give us whatever we want, but He is our loving Heavenly Father who meets the needs of all who look to Him.
Keep ever in mind that in giving up His one and only Son as the provision for our salvation, God has already clearly demonstrated how far He will go to meet our needs. As the Apostle Paul reminds us, "He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?" (Rom. 8:32).