While following Jesus is never easy in this world, it can seem to be when life is running smoothly. If you have a job, shelter, health, and all your needs covered, the blessings make it easy to thank God for His provision. But what about when the storms come? What happens when you lose your job, your health fails, you fall behind on your rent, and you’re uncertain how you’re going to buy groceries next week? Where is God then?
Praising Him for your situation gets tougher when it feels like the bottom is falling out of your world. It’s in these times God’s love and provision become even more obvious. As He walks with You and provides for your needs, you realize it is all Him. Where your efforts fail, He steps in. Hope seems lost, but in ways you least expect, God provides.
Many blame God when their life gets turned upside down. They ask questions like, “If God is so good, why did He allow this to happen to me?” Some begin to doubt He will provide for their needs and, tragically, some will turn their back on God just when they need Him the most. We all will go through periods of struggle in our lives (John 16:33). In a world caved in by sin, we should expect difficulty and pain. But God—I love those two words—crashes through the darkness and cares for those He calls His own. Everything may seem hopeless, but God will never abandon You (Deuteronomy 31:6).
When I was growing up, my father had retired from the Air Force and was working on a cleaning crew for several hours in the morning before heading off to a full day of classes in college as he studied to be a pastor. My mother babysat in our home to bring in extra income. We never went without a meal, but we had little money. I remember one month we did not have enough to pay the rent on the house where we were living. The day before the rent was due, my dad went to the mailbox and found a check from a friend of a friend—someone he had never met—for the exact amount of our rent. A simple note said the person was praying and sensed God tell him to send it. You hear these stories all the time, but when you experience it for yourself, it’s no longer a story. It is the miraculous provision of God.
In my adult life, when my wife and I were struggling a bit financially, I cataloged month after month of unexpected ways God provided additional income for us. When I say unexpected, I mean out of left field, could have never seen it coming type of stuff. It could only be God because there aren’t enough coincidences in the world to account for the ways He provided. Even as I write this, I am aware some are reading and thinking those are wonderful stories, but God hasn’t put a check in their mailbox or sent any extra income or provision their way. But if you are reading this, then God is still working on your behalf. You are not forgotten. You are His and He deeply loves You. While you may think all hope is lost, God is never without hope for You. Your situation has not caught Him off-guard. Already He is working to provide for your needs (Matthew 6:31-33). You need only trust and obey. You are weak, but God is strong. He will provide, and He will deliver you.