The Opportunities At Hand

The Opportunities At Hand

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

Ephesians 5:15–17

We aren’t supposed to question if God in his unchangeable wisdom is willing to help us and give us what we need. Instead, we should say with conviction, “I believe that God will take care of me, but I don’t know his plan. I don’t know exactly how he’s going to fulfill his promise.”

So we must take advantage of the opportunities we have at hand. We have to earn our money through hard work and diligence. In order to stay alive, we have to have milk, food, clothes, and so on. This means we have to cultivate the fields and harvest the crops. Providing for ourselves is a God-given responsibility. We can’t use God’s promise to take care of us as an excuse for not working diligently. That would be wrong. God doesn’t want us to be lazy and idle. He tells us in Genesis, “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken” (Genesis 3:19). He also says of the ground, “It will produce thorns and thistles for you” (v. 18).

The Lord is saying, “I promise that I will take care of you and give you food. But to the best of your ability, I want you to take advantage of the opportunities I have made available to you. Otherwise, you will be testing me. However, if you are in need and have nothing available to you, at that time I will take care of you and give you food in a miraculous way. But keep this in mind: if any opportunities are available to you, don’t forget that I am the one who gave them to you so that you would be able to take care of yourselves.”