Your Heavenly Father Knows!
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 seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” (Matthew 6:21-32 NKJV)
Dependent on Self or Dependent on the Heavenly Father?
My earthly father was very practical. He was a good student himself but, as I look back on short courses that he took when I was growing up, they all had a very practical element to them. He wanted to be able to do something. When he advised me about courses I should take in high school, he wanted me to get involved in on-the-job training that would lead to a job. Looking back I realize that while my father was a believer and certainly had faith in God with regard to eternity, the message that I got was that I should make sure that I prepared for a good job that would support a family. That job should be honest and I should be industrious but I never really realized that I was dependent on a heavenly father. Of course, I was not a believer while at home but still, to this day, I feel that my efforts are the thing that will provide for my family. I realize that Paul makes it very clear in his writings that if we won’t work we shouldn’t eat. He writes in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, “For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.” However, while we should be industrious, we should also recognize all our efforts will not succeed if we have left God out of the equation. So the Lord is not saying, “Don’t work!”, instead He is saying, “Don’t worry!.”
Worry in the Scriptures
The Lord has given us a lot of Scriptures that balance the need to be industrious against the tendency to worry. In Philippians 4:6, Paul says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;” Prayer (conversations with God), supplications (requests of God) and thanksgiving (appreciating God’s care), seem to be the solution to anxiety. Telling ourselves not to worry just causes more worry since we know that we shouldn’t be worrying. But praying, supplicating and giving thanks to God should take our mind off of our troubles and get our focus on the one who has said “Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.“
Experience
Some people have a nature that allows them to stay calm in a storm. Others of us need Prozac. Juist about the time that one thinks that they have done everything right and that life is good, then along comes Covid 19 or the loss of a job. I remember how the loss of a job tested my faith (and yes I did worry). I have seen others close to me who have lost jobs and I have seen how at first there was a sense of panic. But in each case, looking back it is easy to see that “Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” When I lost my job years ago, I had been fasting and praying for another job opportunity. I did not want to continue working for a company that wasn’t honest. But I wasn’t praying to have my position eliminated. Yet that is what happened and I learned by experience that the God who has told us that if we “believe (or trust) in the Lord Jesus Christ we will be saved” also said, “Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” I am preaching the Gospel without charge today because the Lord answered my prayer for a different job opportunity.
I personally am constantly needing to be reminded of the Lord’s promise, “Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” Also, I need to be constantly reminded from Romans 8:37-39, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” That love was shown at the cross, but that love is also seen when the Lord proves in a very practical way that He knows (and meets) our needs.
The Lord says, “For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” We can take that promise to the bank.
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of January 9, 2022
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