EPISODE 78: BE PRAYERFUL-PROVISION
A MESSAGE FROM MONICA:
The Israelites were grumpy and complaining and shaking their measly fists at God asking why, why had He brought them to the wilderness to die of hunger? And the Lord saw their need and supplied for them and said they would see the glory of the Lord in the morning. And He rained down bread from heaven and the glory was to be seen when the bread was rained down.
And so when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it (Numbers 11:9).
The Israelites woke up the first morning and stretched with the sun and saw the dew laying around the camp. And when the dew went up, they saw it. The manna. And they didn’t know what it was. It was like coriander seed and the taste of it was like wafers made of honey (Exodus 16:31) and the appearance was like bdellium (Numbers 11:7) but they couldn’t specifically identify it. So they called it What Is It. Manna.
And the Lord tells them, each one, to gather as much as he can eat. And so they go around the camp after the dew is gone and gather up the What Is It before the sun could melt it. And there was no lack for any one of them. And each morning for 40 years (Exodus 16:35) they woke out of their tents and stretched with the sun and waited for the dew to go up. And they gathered their What Is It, enough for that day.
God rained it down What Is It while they were asleep — tucked nicely into their tents sleeping and resting and gaining strength for their bodies. And while they slept, God set to the business of sending down What Is It. And when they woke up and they walked out of their tents and set out to gather their What Is It and bring it back to their camps. And they then ground it in handbills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it.
This imagery is glued to me. Every single night, God showers down His manna to me. I might not know what it is. It might be like something I know and taste like something I’m familiar with and appear like something I’m comfortable with, but I might not be able to identify it clearly. But it’s there. And it’s His glory. And like the Israelites, it’s my job to wake up and get out of my tent and before the sun gets too hot, go gather it and grind it or beat it and boil it and make something of it.
Did your breath catch in your throat like it did mine?
Each night while we sleep and gain strength for the next day, God has rained down and provided to us exactly what we need for that day. But it’s up to us to go and gather it and make something edible and tasty and satisfying out of it. Every. single. morning. Long term. For forty years, or even more.
I think, sometimes, that I am an Israelite. I grumble and complain and shake my tiny fists at God, yet completely overlook the What Is It that He has provided for me. I conveniently gloss over the waking up and the gathering part of the process. I simply open the curtains and don’t see what I’m looking for, and assume He hasn’t answered. Yet again.
God is the One Who Sees and One Who Answers. His name is Jehovah-Jirah, not because provision is what He does, but who He is. He is Provider. And yet I forget to ask for what I need. Or if I ask, I forget to look for how He chooses to provide. I forget to look for What Is It and that it will taste and look and be like something I know…but will be entirely it’s own thing.
Maybe you can relate? Let’s commit this week to seek out the Manna that God rains down for us each and every day. Let’s keep our minds and eyes open to the new thing God is doing and go make something of it.
BE IN THE WORD (this week’s verses):
There are at least 169 verses in the Bible that refer to the ways God provides for us! So awesome. Here are just a few!
Trust in the Lord and do what is right! Settle in the land and maintain your integrity! Then you will take delight in the Lord, and he will answer your prayers. (Psalm 37:3-4)
God will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. (Genesis 22:8)
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:11)
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)
The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. (Psalm 34:10)
No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. (Psalm 84:11)
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it. (Psalm 81:10)
Don’t hold back—give freely, and you’ll have plenty poured back into your lap—a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, brimming over. You’ll receive in the same measure you give. (Luke 6:38)
If you don’t have all the wisdom needed for this journey, then all you have to do is ask God for it; and God will grant all that you need. He gives lavishly and never scolds you for asking. (James 1:5)
BE DOERS, NOT JUST HEARERS (practical application):
1. Make a Top 3 list. What are the three areas in life you need major provision for? Write it down and pray specifically over all them. Be bold and audacious in your prayers. Ask God to show off, to make it clear He’s the only one that could have answered that way.
2. Play Your Part. All those verses we talked about have the if/then paradigm – they say we need to walk uprightly and seek the Lord. Not in order to make God do what we want Him to do, but because it’s the right thing to do, and then God can choose to bless us. Be obedient in every small thing.
3. Make a List. Do what Miss Clara does in The War Room…make a list of answered prayers, so that when you are in the waiting again, you can reflect on what God has done, and be reassured that He will come through for you again.
4. Every single time God provides and answers your prayers, REJOICE unashamedly. THANK HIM profusely. Stop everything and acknowledge from whom the answer came and have a party about it!
BE EDUCATED (additional resources):
1. How Should I Pray for God to Provide?
2. The Habit of Recognizing God’s Provision