January 20, 2013
Dear friends in Christ.
It has often been said, and
rightly so, I think, that parents are our first providers. After all, it is our parents who care for us,
who nurture us, and who provide for our needs in this life from the time that
we are born until the time that we are able to be on our own. They are the ones who provided for us by
feeding us when we were too young to feed ourselves, by clothing us and bathing
us before we could do it ourselves. They
were the ones who watched over us and kept us safe, who attended to our
injuries and showered us with their love, and in many ways the care with which
our parents provided us was a picture of the way that the Lord, God our
heavenly Father provides for us each and every day. Though the way our heavenly Father provides
for us may not always be as clear as the way our parents provide for us, we
know that he is at work in our lives, caring for us and providing all that we
need. This is why, as we study the word
of God before us, we want to take a closer look at the question, How does our heavenly
Father Take care of us?
So, how does our heavenly Father
take care of us? What does he do to
provide for us? Well, to find out we
want to take a look at Matthew 6:25-27, where Jesus tells us, “Therefore I tell
you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your
body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body
more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow
or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are
you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a
single hour to his life? 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the
lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not
even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is
how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is
thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little
faith?" (Matthew 6:25–30, NIV84)
Now, as Jesus spoke these words,
he was essentially in the middle of his famous Sermon on the Mount. He had been sitting on a hillside preaching
and teaching all the people who had been following him; a large group of people
who had come to faith in him as the Messiah—the Savior of the world. As he speaks, Jesus makes it very clear how
our heavenly Father provides for us and how he cares for us. For in the same way that our heavenly Father
provides food and drink to the birds of the air who do not sow or reap, our
heavenly Father provides food and drink for each and every one of us. In the same way that our heavenly Father
dresses up the lilies of the field even though they do not labor or spin, so
our heavenly Father provides us with clothing and shoes, food and drink,
property and home, spouse and children, land, cattle and all that we own. It is the Lord our God, our heavenly Father,
who provides us with all these things for our bodies and lives. It is our heavenly Father who always provides
us with exactly what we need, as the Apostle Paul reminds us, “God is able to
make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all
that you need, you will abound in every good work." (2 Corinthians 9:8,
NIV84)
Just think about it! Have you ever gone without food for a whole
day or even longer because your cupboards were completely bare and you had no
funds with which to purchase groceries?
Have you ever been homeless? Have
you ever found yourself sleeping out on the street because you didn’t have a
place to stay? Have you ever found
yourselves wearing the same clothes day after day because your closets were
empty and you only had the one set of clothes to your name? These are but a few of the ways that our
heavenly Father provides for us. Each
and every day we live in the blessings of food and clothing, house and home,
family and loved ones, because our heavenly Father has provided these things
too us. Though we have all stood,
staring into refrigerators filled with food and claiming there was nothing to
eat simply because there was nothing in the fridge that we wanted to eat;
though we have all stood in front of closets filled with clothing and shoes
claiming that we had nothing to wear simply because there was nothing in our
closets that we wanted to wear, we have had the privilege of living in the
Lord’s great blessings. For it is the
Lord, our heavenly Father, who continually blesses us by providing for all our
needs as well as lovingly, giving us even more than that!
Yet, how is it that the Lord our
God provides for us? Well, in Psalm 104
we read: “He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate—
bringing forth food from the earth:" (Psalm 104:14, NIV84) So often the Lord
provides for us by simply making things grow!
Just think about the many different kinds of plants that grow throughout
our world. There are the grains (wheat,
oats, rice etc.) that feed both us and the animals. There are fruits and vegetables that fill our
supermarket shelves because they were grown either locally or internationally
and they were shipped to us for our convenience. Think of the cotton and the rubber plants,
soy beans and corn that provide us with clothing and a whole assortment of
other products. Think of the birds,
fish, and animals that multiply and provide us with many different kinds of
meat. None of these things grow by
chance. God makes them grow and provides
us with all that we need.
Yet, the Lord doesn’t only
provide for us through these natural means that we see in nature each and every
day! There are also times when our
heavenly Father provides for us through his miraculous power, like he did in
John 6. “Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples.
4 The Jewish Passover Feast was near. 5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great
crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these
people to eat?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind
what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, “Eight months’ wages would not
buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” 8 Another of his disciples,
Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley
loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” 10 Jesus
said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and
the men sat down, about five thousand of them. 11 Jesus then took the loaves,
gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted.
He did the same with the fish. 12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said
to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be
wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of
the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten." (John 6:3–13,
NIV84)
In a miraculous way, Jesus
provided food for 5,000 men plus women and children who were there. In a miraculous way, Jesus provided food for
more people than the population of Le Sueur.
In a miraculous way, Jesus provided food for more than 5,000 people
maybe as many as 10,000 maybe even more than that. In a miraculous way Jesus provided food for
all these people and then after the meal was done, the disciples filled 12
pick-nick baskets with leftovers! Though
Jesus doesn’t miraculously make food appear on our tables, how often doesn’t he
work miraculously in our lives? How many
stories can you tell about close calls?
How many times haven’t you found yourself delayed, frustrated because
you simply couldn’t get out the door when you wanted to, only to discover that
the frustrating delay saved your life, or kept you from being involved in a car
accident that occurred exactly when you would have been in that spot had you
not been delayed? How many times haven’t
delays allowed you to run across someone that you needed to talk to but simply
could not get a hold of? How many times
haven’t deer or other animals appeared in your headlights, appeared so close
that there seemed to be no possible way to avoid them, yet somehow you didn’t
hit them? How often haven’t you found
yourselves remaining healthy while others around you are dealing with colds? These are but a few of the ways that our
heavenly Father has miraculously provided for us in our lives, and if we went
around the room today, I’m sure that each and every one of you could tell many,
many different stories of how your heavenly Father has miraculously provided
for you or protected you in one way or another.
Yet, before we forget the most
important way that our heavenly Father has provided for us, let us remember how
he sent his Son to be our Savior. While
we were still his enemies, lost in sin and dead in our transgressions, our
heavenly Father provided for our salvation by sending Jesus to take our
place! In his great love for us, he
provides us with forgiveness, life, and salvation through faith in Jesus
Christ, our Savior. Because of his great
love we have Jesus’ own promise that he is right now preparing a place for us
in his heavenly kingdom. Now, because of
this we join with Isaiah in proclaiming, “Give thanks to the LORD, call on his
name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name
is exalted. 5 Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things; let this be
known to all the world. 6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for
great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”" (Isaiah 12:4–6, NIV84)
For all of our heavenly Father’s
providence and for all that he provides us with through natural means and
through miraculous means, we give him all our thanks and praise. Because he is the one who has provided for
our salvation through his Son, we seek to show our love for him by serving him
and obeying him with our lives. In the
same way that we would show our earthly parents appreciation for a special gift
that they have given us, so also we show our thanks and our praise to our
heavenly Father for all that he has done for us by seeking to live according to
his will.
What greater gift could our
heavenly father give us than his gift of providence! He is the one who cares for us and showers us
with his love. He is the one who
provides us with all that we need in this life, and even more than that. He is the one who has already provided for
our salvation by sending his Son to be our Savior. He is the one who protects us by keeping
danger away from us and even working things out for our good. He provides us with food and drink, house and
home, spouse and children, land, cattle, and all that we own. He is the one who directs our lives and leads
us in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. For all of these things, he gives us the
opportunity to thank him and praise him, to serve him and obey him. This is how our heavenly Father provides for
us each and every day.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
GraceEvangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
