Tag: God’s Provisions

Devotionals

Despised or honored?    

Loring Schultz

“But I (God) will honor those who honor me, and I will despise those who think lightly of me.” 1 Samuel 2:30 NLT

“….. I praised and worshiped the Most High and honored the one who lives forever. His rule is everlasting, and his kingdom is eternal.” Daniel 4:34 NLT

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Have you ever stopped to think of how many things you take for granted on a typical day? You woke up this morning. You had a nourishing breakfast to start your day. If you’re working today, you have a job. Students, you have a school of learning waiting for you. You have transportation to get you there. You have clothes on your back. The sun came up this morning and the moon will rise this evening. We get rain when we need it and sometimes when we don’t need it, but that is in the hands of the rainmaker, our Lord God. In fact, everything we take for granted is supplied by our creator God. We cannot claim anything achieved or possessed as our own. God is the source for it all.

Taking things for granted is taking them too lightly. We expect those things, whatever they are, will always be there without giving thought to their origin. We surmise somehow that we had a part in their existence. When we take for granted everything we have, or put ourselves in control of our own destiny, we are thinking lightly of God. He is the creator and ruler over all things. He is all sufficient and the one who supplies our needs.

Recognizing God is all sufficient and is the Most High and is ruler forever over all things pleases God. The Lord God Himself says, “But I will honor those who honor me.” (1Sam.2:30a nlt) But the Lord also says to us who take too many things for granted, “I will despise those who think lightly of me.” (1Sam.2:30b nlt) The question to ask yourself is, ‘am I despised or honored?’ Let it be, ‘I’m honored.”

Devotionals

God’s Overlapping Provisions

Loring Schultz

“If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you the seasonal rains. The land will then yield its crops, and the trees of the field will produce their fruit. Your threshing season will overlap with the grape harvest, and your grape harvest will overlap with the season of planting grain. You will eat your fill and live securely in your own land.” Leviticus 26:3-5 NLT

Photo by April Klein on Unsplash

The Lord God does not neglect His own. He has promised to provide for us, His children. Christians can take comfort in God supplying all our needs. Paul confirmed this as he told the church in Philippi, “And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.” (Ph. 4:19 nlt) How is it then, that from time to time we suffer a shortage of provisions? There are some uncontrollable factors such as the economy of any country in the world you reside in, and the fact we live in a broken world. But there are some things we can control and they’re as old as God’s instructions to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, “If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you the seasonal rains. The land will then yield its crops, and the trees of the field will produce their fruit.” (Lev. 26:4-5 nlt)

The Lord promised the children of Israel He would supply their need if they obeyed the Lord their God. They would not have any lack between seasons. The threshing season started in March and would continue until the grape harvest in July. The grape harvest would then overlap with the season of planting grain. God’s continual provisions would satisfy all their needs.

God’s promise of overlapping provisions is still in effect today for every Christian claiming Jesus Christ as their savior, and the same conditions still apply. Paul warns us, “Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.” (Gal. 6:7 nlt) We are to be obedient to God in all we do as the nation of Israel in the Old Testament. If we obey God’s commands, we will witness His overlapping provisions in every season of our lives.