October 23, 2013
Philippians 4:19; Matthew 6:24-33
(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)
Do you trust God? Do you really? I have discovered one of the most prominent indicators of our trust is our wallet – or our purse, as the case may be! What is it about Trusting God in this matter that holds us back? After all, we have a very specific promise concerning such things in Philippians 4:19: “But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” How many of our needs will be supplied? “…all your need…”! And where lie the resources for meeting those needs? God’s “…riches in glory…”! And how rich is God? Psalm 50:10 through 12 tells us:
For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I
know all the birds of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field are Mine.
If I were hungry, I would not tell you: for the world is Mine, and its fulness.
We could expand this last thought to say, “…for the universe is Mine, and its fulness!” And by what means are these riches made available to meet our needs? “…by Christ Jesus.” Now Paul uses a logical argument in Romans 8:32 to show us God’s willingness to meet our needs: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” In other words, He has already given us the most costly gift He would ever give – His own Son dying on the cross for our sins. So anything else is a lesser gift!
There are five general areas where we have needs:
• Physical needs – our health, both maintaining it and restoring it if we are sick.
• Spiritual needs – our relationship to God and how we then relate with Him to life.
• Mental/Emotional needs – how we deal with life internally in our minds and emotions.
• Relational needs – relating to others in our family and wider social circles.
• Material needs – our needs materially/financially to live a decent quality of life.
The last area may be the toughest to conquer in our lives. And yet, there are so many promises in the Bible concerning trusting God for our material needs. For instance, one of my favorites is Matthew 6:24 through 33:
No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the
other; or else he will be loyal to the one, and despise the other. You cannot
serve God and mammon. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will
put on. Is not the life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look
at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet
your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of much more value than they?
Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you
worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they
neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, that even Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field,
which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more
clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, “What shall
we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or What shall we wear? For after all
these things the Gentiles [unbelievers] seek. For your heavenly Father knows
that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
What do both of these scriptures – Philippians 4 and Matthew 6 – say to us about Trusting God? If we really believe what His Word plainly says, would we be so concerned with our material needs?
It is a matter of priorities. The world says we should focus our lives on material things – education, job, investments, retirement. Jesus told us in the scripture above what should be number one in our pursuit: “…seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness….” What will God then do? He will see to it that “…all these things shall be added to you.”
Look over again those five areas of need in our lives. Get your focus right, and you can quit worrying in all five catagories! “But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Start Trusting God!
I know, I started this blog by alluding to our use of money. Although the passage in Matthew 6 mentions that, it’s going to be addressed more fully in the next blog.