Lack of provision is my biggest fear.
It seems, no matter how many times God provides for my needs, I fear that this time may just be the time that He doesn’t come through. It’s a constant cycle of me fearing, God providing, me repenting, only to end with me fearing once more.
Here I am in Exodus following the children of Israel through the wilderness. I hear their grumbling and, for the first time, recognize it as fear. He freed them, but would He protect them? He protected them, but would He feed them? He fed them, but would He remain with them?
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you…” – Exodus 16:4
The Lord promises His provision. He tells them that, come morning, they would be filled with bread. You would think that they would have rushed out at sunrise to gather up the bread. God had never failed to keep His word to them.
Yet, they seem to look around hesitantly. They see something on the ground, but it isn’t something they have seen before.
When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. – Exodus 16:15
As I read those verses, I just kept thinking that we do not always recognize God’s provision. Perhaps, it’s because we have our preconceived notions of how we thought He would provide. God’s way of providing often includes something new. Maybe it’s a new job that we didn’t even want. A new city. New friends. Sometimes, God may take away something that was no longer working for us in order to provide something better. It can be scary. We have to ask ourselves, “Do we want God to provide or not?”
Make no mistake; God will provide.
Just don’t be afraid when you look around and think, “What is it?”
As fear and worry are constants in my life, I understand where you are coming from. This was an enlightening post, though, to know that God’s provision may not look like what I expected. Thank you,
Janis
Isn’t this such a great lesson? Sometimes when things happen it is God providing for us, even though we might not even know what to make of it at first. (This immediately makes me think of fast-forwarding into Numbers, where they eventually complain so much about having manna that God says he’ll send them so much meat it will come out their nose – it really says this. There’s got to be a lesson in there, as well.)