God of Provision

There are countless stories in the Holy Scriptures of God miraculously caring for and providing for His people.  A favorite of mine is in Exodus 16, when God provides daily food for the Israelites in the wilderness in the form of quail and manna.  This story is remarkable not only because of God's active hand of provision in the lives of His people, but also because of the context it occurs within.

Think of the circumstance.  God had just saved the people from slavery under the Egyptians in the Exodus through the Red Sea and out of Egypt.  He (the Lord) has just given them sweet water to drink by casting a log into the river.  And yet the people are grumbling and complaining that God has led them into the wilderness to die of hunger and that it would have been better if they would have just stayed in Egypt.

But God, who is rich in mercy and compassion for His grumbling people, determines to provide for them daily food of quail and manna to sustain them as they make their way through the Sinai peninsula to receive the Law.  And on the first day, when God provides all this for the people, they are so stunned that they do not even know what to do, so that Moses has to tell them that God is providing for them.

You see, God wants to provide for us.  He truly does.  And His desire has far-less to do with any goodness or righteousness that is within us and more to do with who God is and that He is a God of love and compassion.  And even as unbelieving as the Israelites were, and later became, God was faithful and fervent in His compassion and care for His people just as is faithful in His provision to His people still to this day.

This is as wonderful for us today as it was for the Israelites in the wilderness.  God has, does, and will provide for us in our very time of highest need.  The appropriate response to this is humility, reverence, thankfulness, and utter praise.  For God has no obligation to care for us apart from His goodness.  Therefore, we should be in awe, full of praise and thankfulness at the provision of God!