Trail to Hope

Providence

Posted by Jesse , Monday, June 15, 2009 8:11 PM

I was talking with a friend yesterday about the effect of the economy on his paycheck, and how because of the way his pay is structured, with a heavy emphasis on bonuses based on the company's profits, he's out a fair amount of money this year compared to last. I didn't say this to him thlen, mostly because I wasn't thinking it then, but I've really been struck lately with how God provides so richly for His children. That may not exactly follow, but what I mean is that nothing happens to us believers - God's children - by accident. And nothing has made me more aware of our utter dependence on God than stepping out in raising financial support. Even as I've been keenly aware of God's guiding and provision in my entire life and His leading in my career choices, I think I've been impressed lately with just the degree to which God is truly in control of our lives, and how He leaves nothing up to us.

When a person works a traditional job, with a steady paycheck that depends solely (we think) on how many hours you've worked or what your salary is, maybe with some sort of variance because of bonuses, commissions, tips, etc., there's a tendency to believe that we are somehow involved in the making of that money. It's ours - we worked for it, we earned it, our hands did the labor. The money couldn't be any more our own.

But we who follow Christ know that's not true. Yes, we did the work. We showed up every day and performed the assigned tasks. But it wasn't us who got that money that pays the bills that keeps us living and surviving in relative comfort and ease. God gives us our very life, and the skills needed for doing the job that He leads us to do. We cannot claim any of the credit.

Yet it is so easy to then say that our money is "hard-earned," or that we worked for it, so we ought to get to enjoy it, as excuses for being able to spend it (or hoard it) as we wish. But it's not ours, is it? We only think it is because our name's on the paycheck.

Living on support eliminates that mentality. I've become sensitive suddenly to the idea that the money we make now as we work at the jobs we currently hold is no more or less God's provision for us than the money that will sustain us when we begin living from support. It's not as if God has changed His approach to the way He provides for us - it's that we see it more clearly as coming from Him because we're not getting paid in a traditional way. We think it's more miraculous - it seems more supernatural to us when the Holy Spirit prompts someone to mail a check at the last minute than when we hit a month with three pay periods at a crucial time. Both are works of God; both are just as much directed by Him. But in our imaginations we can see one as more clearly a work of God, and the other a fortunate coincidence.

There are no coincidences with God, however, just as there is no such thing as "my" money, "my" house, "my" stuff. One thing I look forward to in this new venture is for is the constant reminder that this is true. And even as we venture into this, I hope to remember each day the providence and sovereignty of God. I encourage us all to consider this: no matter what we do, it is God the Creator who sustains us, and not our own hands. So we need not worry; He will provide.