Discover His heart: As our Father, He provides everything that we need
Reading Matthew 5-7 is a feast for the soul, and I’m so full right now I can hardly move. Three chapters filled with the teachings and words of Jesus! Does it get any better than that? Over the past couple of weeks, reading about land distributions and genealogies has challenged us to go really deep to find a morsel of truth or inspiration for the day, but today we have a banquet table! It’s filled with meats and sweets and everything in between – the blessed beatitudes, salt and light, anger, the Law, divorce, vows, revenge, enemies and forgiveness.
We read His example of prayer to follow and read about worry, judging, asking, The Golden Rule and the way to heaven. So get a cup of coffee, sit back and get ready to read a 600-page devotional today. Not really. Having listened to hundreds of preachers in my life, I’ve learned it’s better not to share absolutely everything on your heart in one sitting, unless you’re Billy Graham.
@ Matthew 6
“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” (31-32) With our economy stressed the way it is today, it’s always good to be reminded of Who’s really in charge.
When my children were little, they never had to worry about anything. Tom and I provided everything they needed. Every day, they ate breakfast, lunch and dinner, not always the McDonald’s Happy Meal or cookies they desired, but they were fed. They had plenty of water, juice and milk to drink, and the occasional sacred coke.
Every night before bed, I laid out clean clothes for my children to wear the next day, appropriate attire for them because I knew what they would be doing. When I think about it all, I’m tempted to send them an invoice for my services now that they’re grown. But as long as they stayed under my care, they had nothing to worry about. I knew what they needed and when they needed it, except for the 9:00 pm request that came a few times – “Mom, I need cupcakes for class tomorrow…” Amazing as it sounds, we have Someone caring for us who would even have known that request before it came. Our heavenly Father already knows all our needs.
If we really believed this we would never worry about anything. Worry would not plague us in the middle of the night, disrupt our sleep or upset our stomachs. “If God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, He will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?”(30) I would think that God wonders about this all the time, but because He knows us so well, probably not. I doubt that my children spent one moment worrying about if they would have food, clothing or shelter. When we accept and truly believe that God is our Source, we won’t worry either.
I am living proof and give witness to it that even when we don’t know how we will pay tomorrow’s rent, put food on the table or pay the bills, our heavenly Father already knows all our needs, and He provides a way forward. Sometimes it doesn’t look anything like what we think we need, it’s not McDonald’s and cookies, but it’s what we really need for the moment. The key is this, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” (33) Live right and seek Him, staying under His care, and we will wake tomorrow with what we need…for that day. “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” (34)
Moving Forward: My walk today is one day at a time, one foot in front of the other, trusting with each step. I’ve heard it said this way: To worry is to borrow sorrow from tomorrow. I’m not really interested in taking out a loan.
Tomorrow @ Romans 7-8
Phyllis Benigas 