One day Louisa Stead (1850-1917) with her husband and four-year-old daughter went to enjoy the beach at Long Island, New York. While there, they heard a call for help from a young child in the water. Mr. Stead went to his rescue but instead both he and the child were drowned. Louisa and her daughter were left to experience poverty in their life. One day she found some food and money had been left for her on her doorstep. She was so moved by this that she would later write:
'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to take Him at His word,
Just to rest upon His promise,
Just to know, “Thus saith the Lord..
God Can and Should Be Trusted to Provide for Our Physical Needs!
In the thirty-seventh Psalm David declared, “I have been young and now I am old. Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken Or his descendants begging bread” (Psa. 37:25 NASB). David wrote this psalm for the purpose of encouraging those children of God who were disturbed by the prosperity of the wicked. In the course of this psalm David expresses his belief that God will take care of His children. Scholars are not agreed as to whether this was meant by David to be an “invariable law of God”, or merely his own personal observation. But at the very least it seems that David is offering this as an encouragement that the righteous can depend upon God to care for them. Our Lord spoke to this assurance in the Sermon on the Mount, when He taught, “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?" (Matt. 6:26) The implication is that we are of greater importance than the birds of the air. Therefore, we can trust that God will take care of us as He cares for the birds.
God Can and Should Be trusted to Provide for Our Spiritual Needs!
We can trust that God will provide for our spiritual needs, and the greatest need we have is for salvation. Man is lost in sin and is totally lacking in the means of saving himself. When Adam and Eve sinned they were separated from God. They were dead spiritually and they had no idea of how they could ever have their sin removed and fellowship with God restored. But what man could not do, God has done for us. For instance Paul told his young friend Timothy, “Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (II Tim. 2:10).
God has provided salvation for us in His Son. When Jesus died on the cross He was making the perfect sacrifice that has the power to remove all sin and thus save man from his sins. Not only has God provided for our salvation. He has also provided for all our other spiritual needs. Paul told the brethren at Ephesus, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3). All of these spiritual blessings are only “in Christ”. They are promised only to those who have been baptized into Christ. Louisa Stead was right. It truly is so sweet to trust in Jesus.
- Tim D. Shoemaker
Roebuck Parkway
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