12112021 Inexhaustible Resources

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of the Great Provider. God has such tremendous resources and such great power that He is able to meet all our needs.

Think about the children of Israel as they left Egypt and commenced their journey through the wilderness. They very quickly ran out of food, and God began supplying manna one month after their exit from Egypt. It was about 14 months later (by my calculation) when the Israelites reached the land of Canaan. For those 14 months, God provided manna for every Israelite. Based on the result of the census, and accounting for women and children, there were probably over 2,000,000 Israelites. This was an incredible amount of food for God to provide, but He was able to do it.

At this point Israel should have entered Canaan and begun eating the fruit of the land. Because of their rebellion, however, they spent 40 years wandering in the desert. God supplied manna for every day of those 40 years, which was far longer than the original plan.

God had no more trouble supplying manna for 40 years than He did in supplying it for 14 months. The final day of the 40th year was no more difficult than the first day of the 14 months. God was not left scraping the bottom of the barrel or harvesting the last of His resources. God did not barely manage to supply during those additional decades. The length of time that God had to provide did not in any way threaten His ability to provide.

Elijah is another example of this concept. At the beginning of the time of famine, God sent Elijah to the brook Cherith, where ravens brought him his daily food. But “after a while” the brook dried up, and God needed to provide a new means of nourishment. He sent Elijah to a widow. For “many days” this widow prepared the last handful of meal into food for Elijah and herself and her son, and each day there was another handful of meal. God's provision lasted three years until the rains came again.

For the Israelites, it was the same consistent, routine provision day after day for 40 years. In Elijah’s case, the provision changed. It was one type of provision for several months, and then God chose an entirely different means of provision. We don't know how long each of those lasted. Perhaps Elijah stayed by the brook for three months and then with the widow for the rest of the three years. But it was no harder for God to provide for the two-and-three-quarter years than it was for the three months, if those were the time frames. It was no harder for God to provide through a widow’s meal barrel and oil cruse than it was through a brook and ravens. If God had chosen to allow the meal and oil to run out, He could easily have provided for Elijah through another means. There was no more risk on the final day of the third year than there was on the first day of the first month.

These are not just interesting stories, nor is this an unnecessary focus on numbers. This is extremely practical truth, because we face trials and needs in life that stretch on far longer than anything we had ever imagined. A physical trial or a financial hardship or a ministry challenge might start out seeming to be for a time frame of a few months. We might think ourselves incapable of supporting the trial for those few months, but we have experienced God's provision in them. Have we not, however, sometimes set timelines or created mental milestones? How many times have we said, “I can't do this for one more day?” Or we have made the observation, “If that trial had lasted any longer, I never would have made it.”

How wrong we are when we make such statements! Yes, humanly speaking those trials seem to last for longer than we can endure. But they do not last longer than the scope of God's resources. They never last longer than He is able to provide for us. “Just around the corner” is not always as close as we would like it to be. Reality is that sometimes we think the trial is over after three months, but there are still three years to go. Is God incapable of meeting our needs for the remaining 33 months? Even if we find ourselves in the situation of the Israelites, where a seemingly interminable situation has lasted 14 months, and then it stretches for an agonizing 38 more years, God is still able to meet our every need.

How long has your current trial lasted? Three months, three years, three decades? Is God any less able to provide for you today than He was on the first day? The answer, supported by these Bible stories, is a resounding “NO!” God's resources are abundant. His hand is still strong. He will never run out of anything that we need, no matter how long the trial lasts. God’s provision may not always look the same, but it will always be there.

“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). The verse doesn't say so, but “all your need” includes the concept of for as long as those needs endure. You may be at the end of your resources, but God never is. It is no harder for Him today than it was on the first day, and it will be no harder for Him in twenty years (if the trial lasts that long) than it was on the first day. His resources are inexhaustible. May He reassure you today of His ability to meet your every need, even when it seems that the challenge will never end.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA