Promised Provision

Promised Provision

Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Matthew 6:33

IN WORD Jesus assured us: God takes care of flowers and birds. By comparison, human beings—we who are made in the very image of God—are much more significant. Why would He not take care of us as well?

The problem is what our eyes see. We know there are starving people in impoverished countries who are not receiving “all these things” as Jesus promised. There are millions of people lacking in the basic sustenance that life requires. What does that make of Jesus’ promise? Is He wrong?

Of course not. Scripture is emphatic that God satisfies the needs—even the desires—of every living thing (Psalm 145:16, among others). God is not short on supply. The problem must be elsewhere. The problem must be in the conditions Jesus laid out. In a world gone wrong, there are billions of people who are not seeking first His Kingdom and His righteousness. And many of them are starving.

That’s not to lay the blame for hunger entirely at the feet of the hungry. Though God is able to sustain them, His provision is often thwarted by corruption and misuse. The hearts of those who need Him are often deceived and exploited by those who hate Him. And so we have a needy world, and a call to help meet its needs. The Giver has made us part of the solution. Part of seeking His Kingdom and His righteousness is acting it out in this world.

IN DEED Do you worry about your life? God commands us not to. Why? Because He is the Provider. He withholds no good thing from us, He opens His hand and satisfies, and He clothes us and feeds us better than the lilies and the birds. Though we live in a world infected with sin, we have a God who has promised sustenance in the midst of it. And He has called us to be His ministers of sustenance to those who don’t know Him. Seek first His Kingdom, and you—and others—will be filled.

Providence is the care God takes of all existing things.

—JOHN OF DAMASCUS