Provision

Jock Stein August 23, 2024 3 2

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Luke 12: 27-31 (NRSVA)

27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! 29 And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. 30 For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

The kingdom comes without us (even in spite of us) – Mark 4: 26-27 – yet here we are told to strive for it, which implies that we sweat for it and count it all joy when we suffer for it. The context is God’s provision, promised to us as naturally as the annual flourish of wild flowers, so we should not be anxious.

Another word is God’s providence, which seems sometimes a sick joke when you consider Gaza and Ukraine. Behind it is an Old Testament word for the God whom Abraham came to know, Jehovah Jireh, the Lord who provides. In context, it means the Lord who provides when things are dire, when all hope is lost. The resurrection is the ultimate example. It tells us that God’s kingdom is not like an earthly empire which grows and declines – rather, the kingdom of God is a continual creation out of nothing, a continual discovery of God at work in no-God times and places. To strive for that is to want it, to expect it, to do what God’s rule demands against all odds.

Prayer:

God, please help me to do whatever your kingdom requires of me today, and to find your provision in the midst of life, through Jesus Christ, our master and commander, Amen.