Today’s Readings: Psalm 63; Exodus 16:10-22; Luke 14:25-35; Romans 14:1-4; Psalm 111
My father was a child of the Great Depression. As such, he instilled in each of his children a deep value for – how shall I say this politely – being careful with our money. The notion he embedded in us is that we ought to save as much as we could for a rainy day. Consequently, I have a hard time with the notion of spending money (unless it’s for Houston sports memorabilia, but that’s a topic for another day). Needless to say, I can soooooooo relate to the Israelites in today’s passage from Exodus for in that passage the Israelites find themselves hungry and wandering in the desert. God heard their cries and decided to provide food in the form of quail and water in the form of dew to meet their daily needs. The only condition was that they not hoard the provisions for the next day; instead, they were asked to trust that the provisions they needed for tomorrow would appear at that time. They had a hard time with the notion of trusting that God would provide so they did want many - including myself - are prone to do: they hoarded food. Their strategy failed miserably, and they were eventually placed in a situation where they had to trust God. Of course the Israelites and myself aren’t the only ones to wrestle with the notion of trusting God to provide for tomorrow. Even many of our local churches struggle with this notion of trusting in God’s provision as they try to stock away reserves for tomorrow in the form of endowments or huge reserve accounts rather than invest in today. What is it about us that makes trusting in God’s provision so difficult despite God’s proven track record of being there for us in the past? Why are we so prone to hoarding? I can’t speak for everyone else, but for me it’s the lingering remnants of fear based on the notion of scarcity. I invite you today to live into a place of trust by focusing on the abundance of God’s blessings in your life rather than fear-based assumptions of scarcity. See what happens when you make this important shift in perspective. Til next time…
My father was a child of the Great Depression. As such, he instilled in each of his children a deep value for – how shall I say this politely – being careful with our money. The notion he embedded in us is that we ought to save as much as we could for a rainy day. Consequently, I have a hard time with the notion of spending money (unless it’s for Houston sports memorabilia, but that’s a topic for another day). Needless to say, I can soooooooo relate to the Israelites in today’s passage from Exodus for in that passage the Israelites find themselves hungry and wandering in the desert. God heard their cries and decided to provide food in the form of quail and water in the form of dew to meet their daily needs. The only condition was that they not hoard the provisions for the next day; instead, they were asked to trust that the provisions they needed for tomorrow would appear at that time. They had a hard time with the notion of trusting that God would provide so they did want many - including myself - are prone to do: they hoarded food. Their strategy failed miserably, and they were eventually placed in a situation where they had to trust God. Of course the Israelites and myself aren’t the only ones to wrestle with the notion of trusting God to provide for tomorrow. Even many of our local churches struggle with this notion of trusting in God’s provision as they try to stock away reserves for tomorrow in the form of endowments or huge reserve accounts rather than invest in today. What is it about us that makes trusting in God’s provision so difficult despite God’s proven track record of being there for us in the past? Why are we so prone to hoarding? I can’t speak for everyone else, but for me it’s the lingering remnants of fear based on the notion of scarcity. I invite you today to live into a place of trust by focusing on the abundance of God’s blessings in your life rather than fear-based assumptions of scarcity. See what happens when you make this important shift in perspective. Til next time…
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