Day 3: Our Father Provides
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? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? – Matthew 6:26-27
There are countless moments in each of our days in which we find ourselves worrying. We worry about our jobs, our family, our friendships. We stress about finances, car maintenance, or housing costs. In a forward-thinking culture, we often get caught up in what’s next.
Will what we need show up at the right time and in the right place?
This isn’t at all to say that we shouldn’t be planning. It is a responsibility and a stewardship of our time and our resources to make God-honoring plans with what He has already given us. Yet, we often confuse planning with a forward-looking restlessness.
Take a look at the promise of a blessing spoken by Jesus in Matthew 6:26-27. He tell us to look at the nature around us: the deer bounding through the forest, the birds soaring across the sky, even the smallest plants and animals in nature. God provides for the needs of each and every member of His creation. Not only does he feed them enough, but he provides abundantly above and beyond their bare needs. God’s creatures don’t simply survive. They are given so much that they grow, they thrive, and they flourish under the generous hand of their Creator.
Are You not much more valuable than they?
As humans, we are not just creatures in the grander picture of God’s created world. We are uniquely made in His image. We are His children. If God provides so very generously to even the lowliest creatures, how much more will he generously provide for each of us? As the final part of this verse rhetorically implies, we cannot add a single hour to our lives by worrying about our future. God promises that He will give us more than what we need. So, as we make plans for the future, let us be wise, and yet, unshaken by worry because we know that God is faithful to His promises.
Action Step: Take some time to read, think, and pray on the words of Psalm 145:13-16, offering up your worries and anxieties to a God who faithfully provides for our needs.
