DOWN TO THE BEANS
Philippians 4:19
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
A couple weeks ago we had 3 missionary couples over for dinner and 2 of them spent the night in our Bunkhouse. We shared a lot of hunting and fishing stories. There were stories from Michigan to Virginia, Alaska and many more states. Some of the best stories were of hunting and fishing stories from the jungles of Venezuela.
More than those stories we were blessed by the stories of God's provision in the lives of us four couples. As the ball got rolling they got better and better. They're were times when we were in tears over how God has provided in the hardest of times.
One story was shared by our retired missionary friends who left everything behind at about 30 years old. Being fairly new Christians they sold all they had and went to Bible training and then off to Papua New Guinea. While in school, the two of them and their kids often had almost nothing for food. There was one last bag of dried red beans that someone had given them. The other beans had been so hard that it didn't seem to matter how long you cooked them, they never got tender. So that last bag remained on the shelf. They now laughed about those times when Janet would tell Al and the kids, "we're down to the beans." But God always provided with having to eat hard beans.
One day Al, Janet and their young children came to the table at meal time, but there was no food. They said grace, giving God praise and praying for food. As they finished praying there was a knock at the door and when they opened it there was someone from nearby with their arms loaded with groceries that they brought as a gift. God is good.
Luke 12:24 tells us to
"Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!"(Luke 12:24)
Think about that... there are countless birds just around my house. One morning I had 9 different species of birds at my window. There were many of each species. As I write its daybreak and through my open window, I can hear several birds singing outside. I live on just two acres, and there are 2.26 billion acres in the United States. We could never count the birds (but the count approximately 990 different species snd approximately 3 billion bird plus or minus a few)... and God takes care of every one of them.
Do we believe that God has the power to take care of us? If we believe that, why do we worry about the little things or even the big things in life?
In Philippians 4:19, Paul writes,
"And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:19)
What are His riches? They are everything that He created... EVERYTHING!! How can he not provide for every one of my needs and your needs as well?
What problem are you facing today that is too big for God to handle? If we're honest, the answer is , nothing. If He loves us enough to have allowed His own Son to die on our behalf... then I think His love is sufficient for our daily needs.
The next time you're, "Down to the beans" in life, remember, you have a God that wants you to come to Him for all your needs... and He will supply.
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