I have been pondering this week on Jesus’s words from Matthew 6:25-34.
Jesus specifically tells us not to worry: Don’t worry about food or clothing, there is more to life than this. There is greater reason for you living than just to eat and drink and survive. Life has greater purpose than this.
Jesus continues … Your Heavenly Father knows what you need to live. He will take care of it. So do not worry. Worrying won’t help anything. God will take care of you. Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and God will take care of the rest. ( – Matthew 6:25-34)
I shared a couple of blog posts ago this photo of Boundary Dam and I compared the reservoir stored up behind the dam to the “reservoir” of goodness God has stored up for those who love him.
“How great is your goodness God, which you have stored up for those who fear you.” – Psalm 31:19
The thing is, most of the time we can’t actually see the “reservoir” of God’s goodness which is stored up. Complications happen in our life and desperate needs arise … and we can’t actually see the “reservoir” of God’s goodness for us.
Jesus tells us: Do not worry. I’ll take care of you. I know what you need. I’ll take care of you.
This is where faith comes in. We trust. We trust what Jesus has told us. We trust that Jesus will take care of us. We make a deliberate intentional decision not to worry, and instead we intentionally, deliberately choose to trust.
Yes, God has a “reservoir” of goodness stored up for us. But he doesn’t pour out that entire “reservoir” of goodness out on us all at once. Rather, his provision for us is on a daily basis …. more like bread, delivered to your seat.
A couple of weeks ago hubby and I and our daughter attended a large business conference held at the local arena. The conference was about how to make a Kingdom impact in our daily workplace. (check it out – Life Surge – Surge Your Life God’s Way! )
The conference was a full-day event, beginning at 8am and going until 6pm.
On our ticket it was stated that lunch would be provided at our seat. I couldn’t help but wonder what that was going to look like. Would we really not have to scramble and scrabble with each other to get out to the vendors in the lobby and stand in long lines to order greasy burgers and fries??
Sure enough, noon drew near and we were all beginning to get hungry for lunch. Right on time, there was a break in the sessions. All the arena workers came out carrying stacks of huge brown boxes. Each big brown box was filled with smaller bright-orange boxed lunches.
The arena workers started going aisle by aisle, passing the bright-orange boxed lunches down each row. There was an air of excited anticipation among everyone in the arena! We all were going to get a boxed lunch!
Hubby and I and our daughter glanced over at the rows over there … they had already received their bright-orange boxed lunches. What was in it??
Soon the arena workers arrived at our section and began passing bright-orange boxed lunches down our row. We passed and passed boxes, until everyone had a boxed lunch, and the workers moved on to the row behind us.
It was all so exciting! I wonder what’s in it!!
Check it out! It’s actually a really nice boxed lunch! I was so surprised at the goodness provided for our lunch! There was a top-quality Honey Baked Ham sandwich! And … our boxed lunch came with bottled water! Not only that, there was a bag of chips and a bag of chocolate-chip cookies included.
I was very impressed by the high-quality, boxed lunch which had been provided for us. All of us!
I wound up getting a really funny selfie of hubby and me and our daughter. In the background, as far as you can see (rows and rows of seats going up in the arena) all you could see was everyone with their bright-orange boxed lunches and everyone chowing down on the goodness which had been provided for lunch!
This right here is how God provides for each one of us!
Daily bread.
Bread … delivered to our seat … exactly when we need it.
Every . one . of . us!
Every single person in the entire arena (probably 3,000 – 4,000 people) received a bright-orange boxed lunch filled with goodness … and water to drink!
Bread … delivered to our seat!
This right here is how God provides for our needs!
Yes, God has a “reservoir” of goodness stored up for us. But we can’t see the “reservoir” which is stored up any more than we could see the huge amount of bright-orange boxed lunches stored up for the 3,000-4,000 people in the arena. That huge pile of stored-up boxed lunches was there the whole time we were enjoying the morning sessions all about making a Kingdom impact in our daily workplaces.
Jesus tells us: Do not worry. I’ll take care of you. I know what you need. I’ll take care of you.
Jesus tells us: I have a “reservoir of goodness stored up for you.”
Jesus further tells us: Do not worry. Worrying won’t help anything. I will take care of you. Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and I will take care of the rest.
And so, we trust. By faith we believe and we trust.
We trust … even though we face giant complications in life which are very frightening. We make a deliberate, intentional decision not to worry. It takes deliberate effort. And instead, we intentionally, deliberately choose to trust.
We trust that Jesus, our good Shepherd, will take care of us.
We trust that Jesus – our Bread of Life – will deliver “bread” to our seat.
We trust that Jesus – the Living Water – will deliver “bottled water” to our seat.
Jesus tells us: Do not worry. I’ll take care of you. I know what you need. I’ll take care of you.
Jesus tells us: I have a “reservoir of goodness stored up for you.”
Jesus tells us: Do not worry. Worrying won’t help anything. I will take care of you. I am the Bread of Life. I will provide the “daily bread” that you need. Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and I will take care of the rest.
