Philippians 4:19“ And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”- ESV. We know that God cares about us enough to give up heaven to come to earth and die upon a cross for us. This act of love fulfills our greatest need; reconciliation with God. But that is simply God supplying a single need..
In the day to day grind of life where we get up and go to work and struggle to make enough money to provide for the needs of our families, we can quickly forget the third word of this verse. Rising health insurance costs, rising rents, increased taxes, additional expenses, higher car tab fees; and the list goes on, all making it harder to provide. But we forgot the third word of the verse.
The third word of the verse is, “God”. It says that “my God will supply every need of yours. . .” In other words, according to God’s word, we are not the ones responsible for providing for our needs. God is. It reminds me of my seven year old son, Cooper. He decided to start his own business where he takes care of people’s pets when they are gone on vacation. He is able to make a little bit of money doing that, but he can’t provide for himself. In his world, that is his father’s job. And because I make more money than my seven year old son, he thinks I am rich. It would be unwise and foolish for him to decide he is going to provide for himself at his current age and with his current skills.
We too are to recognize that even though we are adults, we are not our own provider. We can not guarantee we will have a job tomorrow. We do not have control of the universe. We do not hold the future in our hands. Our skills are nothing without the provision of a loving God who uses them on our behalf. In fact, it would be unwise and foolish for us to decide that we can provide for ourselves with the knowledge that providing for us is a God sized job. We just aren’t qualified.
Best of all, though our qualifications to provide are small according to our weakness and incompetence to the task, God provides for us, “according to his riches in glory in Jesus Christ.”
So why don’t we rest in the provision of our Father who has riches to spare instead of worrying and grinding to provide for ourselves. The answer is obviously pride. Being able to say to ourselves that we didn’t need any help makes us feel big and great and competent and . . . well. . . like God. Only God is self sufficient. Only God can truly provide. Only God has the world in His hands and can pull the strings to make things work out according to His plan.
To have peace in this area, we need to recognize God’s role as our provider and learn to not usurp that position in our heart. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,” Colossians 3:23 (NIV) We work for the Lord to fulfill the purpose that He has given to our lives. It is God who provides for our needs.
Dustin Largent is the Pastor of SonRise Bible Church in Atkinson, IL and the author of "The Christian Marriage Counseling Workbook" and “In Their Own Words: First Person Narratives from the Book of Genesis (Volume 1)