God Provides

I am a guest blogger once a month on Hilary Taylor's blog. Below I have copied and pasted a blog wrote 2 weeks ago about God's provision. Since I have written this blog, I have gotten a job working in an insurance office (I actually was offered the job yesterday.).

Rent goes up almost $20 a month before you even move in…scholarships come back awarding less money than advertised…the car needs to go in the shop…you still need to buy a bed, couch, and other necessary furniture…

…this all leads one to wonder, “How will I pay for tuition? Will I get a bed to sleep on? Will my car make it from point A to point B without falling apart? How will I pay for my books for class at almost $100 a piece?”

These are just a few things that may go through a seminary student’s head as they begin their new journey on their own.

Growing up is different for everyone because everyone was brought up differently. I have been very blessed to grow up in the home that I have, with loving and supporting parents who found it as one of their parental duties to financially support me through my first college degree. However, I have earned that first degree and am now at seminary going for the second. This time is a lot different than the first. I knew going to a private Christian college for undergrad that my family was relying on the Lord’s provision to be able to afford my education at that particular institution. However, since I was instructed to “not worry about the money” but to “have fun and earn my degree,” I never truly understood how much we were relying on the Lord to provide until now. I am learning first-hand.

As I have asked myself the very questions at the beginning of this blog, I have had to constantly remind myself that it is not up to me to figure it all out. The Lord is going to provide. He provided for my first degree, he will provide now.

I think back in time to when the Lord was first called upon as Jehovah-jireh, “The Lord will provide.” It was Abraham who coined this term for the Lord in Genesis 22 when God provided the ram for his offering. You see, Abraham, in obedience to God, had his one and only son strapped to the wood on the altar to be sacrificed when an angel appeared to Abraham. When Abraham looked up, a ram was caught in the thicket. This ram was provided by the Lord. THIS is when the Lord was first called Jehovah-jireh. Kay Arthur explains the meaning of this term best in her book, “Lord, I Want to Know You.” Kay explains that jireh (the word for provide) means “to see” in the Old Testament. She continues to explain that since God is God, “when He sees, He foresees…the word see denotes provision.” Abraham proclaimed in Genesis 22:14 that “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.” This literally means, “It will be seen.”
The Lord sees our needs long before we see our needs. Think about it. Long before we were even born, the Lord saw the need for a Savior. So, he sent his one and only son (see any correlation from Abraham’s little adventure??) to be the sacrifice for our sins. If God can see and meet our need for a Savior thousands of years before we step foot on this planet, don’t you think he can see and provide for our needs in day-to-day life?

As I begin a new chapter in my life—a chapter that involves growing up—I am constantly having to remind myself that the Lord is providing. Even today as I went searching for a job and had the words “hiring freeze due to the economy” thrown at me several times, I can have confidence that he will provide just the right job. As I try to figure out how I will pay for classes and books, I can count on my God to provide even when scholarships were less than expected.

Let me encourage you that when you are waiting on the Lord to provide, remember those He has provided for in the past (in Scripture and people you know). Remember all the He has provided for you in the past—thank him for that provision. And remember Philippians 4:19, “And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

Additional Scriptures to read:
Genesis 22:1-19
Romans 8:32
Matthew 6:33-34
Matthew 7:7-8