God – Our Source of Supply

GOD – OUR SOURCE OF SUPPLY

In the day and time in which we live, it is comforting to know that God the Father is watching over us and desires to be the Source of our supply. It is so thrilling to be a part of the family of God and to know that even when the world is in the midst of lack and shortage, He meets all our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Those of you who spend a great amount of time in God’s Word will agree that God has always desired to be the Provider for mankind. In the very beginning when He created man, He immediately began to bless and care for him. In Genesis 1:29 we find, And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

From this we see God becoming the Provider for man’s need for food. In chapter 2, verses 22-24, God became the Provider for man’s need for a helpmate and companion. As long as man kept God’s Word, his every need was supplied regardless of the level of the need.

When man committed high treason, he shut the door on God and accepted a new provider. Man’s new source (satan) supplied him with pain, sickness, hunger, fear, poverty, lack and want. God no longer had the right to be man’s Provider. In order to legally regain this position, He established a contract or covenant with a man named Abram, whose name was later changed to Abraham. Notice the conversation which took place between God and Abraham from Genesis 17:1-2: And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. ²And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.

In the original Hebrew text it reads, And God said, I am El Shaddai, which literally means the Breasty One or the Provider of All. God is actually saying, I’ll be your Provider of All. In Deuteronomy 28:2, God makes this statement, And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. God had promised to be Provider of every need spiritually, physically, mentally, socially, and financially. When Abraham accepted this contract, he gave God an avenue by which He could once again become the Provider. Throughout the Old Testament, you see God providing for His people even in what appeared to be hard times.

When the children of Israel went into bondage in Egypt, He provided deliverance through a man named Moses. In Exodus chapters 16 and 17, you see that while they were in the wilderness, He provided them with bread from heaven and even provided water from a rock.

In 1 Kings 17, when there had been no rainfall upon the earth, He sent Elijah to the brook Cherith and commanded the ravens to bring him bread and flesh. When Elijah could no longer drink water from the brook, God sent him to a widow woman’s house whose barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail (1 Kings 17:16). Praise God! Here you see the God of Abundance in action. Remember what the psalmist said:

I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

Psalm 37:25

Some of you may be saying, “Yes, but that was what God did in the Old Testament. How does that affect me today?” Through Jesus, God became even more personally involved with the needs of man. During the earthly ministry of Jesus, He was continually moved with compassion toward humanity. We see in Luke 9:10-17 when humanity had need of food, Jesus became their Provider and fed 5,000 men plus women and children with only five loaves and two fishes.

It is important that you realize that Jesus is still moved with compassion, and He is just as eager to meet your needs today as He was while on the earth. Read from Psalm 145:8-19:

⁸The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. ⁹The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. ¹⁰All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom and talk of thy power; ¹²to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. ¹³Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. ¹⁴The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down. ¹⁵The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. ¹⁶Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing. ¹⁷The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. ¹⁸The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. ¹⁹He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry and will save them.

In this psalm, we have a revelation of God’s willingness to meet our every need. So many Christians have missed out on the blessings of God simply because of a lack of understanding as to God’s willingness and eagerness to fulfill the desire of every living thing. Nearly every Christian will agree that God is able, but so few will dare confess He will!

A revelation of God’s ability alone, however, is not sufficient enough to secure His blessings; you must also know that He will in order to build a solid foundation for faith. This can be seen very clearly from Mark 1:40-42:

⁴⁰And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. ⁴¹And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. ⁴²And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed.

Did you notice that the leper knew that Jesus could make him clean? The problem was that he doubted Jesus’ willingness to make him clean. Jesus revealed to him His willingness and eagerness to meet his need by saying two very simple but powerful words, I will. Now, the man not only knew that Jesus could, but also that He would, and therefore was cleansed.

The Bible tells us in Hebrews 13:8, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. If He said I will to the leper, then I’m convinced that is the same answer we will receive from Him today. In Hebrews 11:6, we are told, But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

You not only must believe that He is able to reward you, but also that He will reward you when you diligently seek Him. It is not so much what God can do but what we know He will do that inspires the kind of faith that pleases Him.

God is love more than He is anything. There is no greater revelation of the character of God that will inspire faith than that of His compassion. When God’s compassion becomes a revelation to you, then your faith will begin to run high. Don’t allow Satan to hide this glorious truth from you by convincing you that God may or may not meet your need. His Word says in Philippians 4:19, But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Even modern theology has helped to enforce Satan’s plan to hide this truth by magnifying the power of God rather than His compassion. The Bible does not say that God is power. It does, however, say that God is love (1 John 4:8). The Bible magnifies God’s willingness to use His power rather than the power itself. Because He is love, He will use His power when necessary to meet and fulfill your need.

You remember we read the LORD is gracious. This literally means He is disposed to show favors. In Micah 7:18, we find that He delighteth in mercy. God actually gets great pleasure in meeting your needs and being compassionate toward you. The Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:20, Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.

You enter the family of God by confessing the Lordship of Jesus according to Romans 10:9-10. Lordship really means the Provider, the one who sustains, protects, and cares for. The moment you allow Jesus to become your Lord, He immediately assumes the responsibility of Bread Provider. Jesus illustrated His ability to do this from His teachings in Matthew 6:24-34 (author’s paraphrase). He said, Therefore take no thought, saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal shall we be clothed? But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness: and all these things shall be added unto you.

Praise the Lord! Jesus, my Provider, has said that our days of worrying are over for He shall be our source of supply!

The key to partaking of this phase of His Lordship is found in John 14:23, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. You see, we must assume the responsibility of keeping the Word (as outlined in Proverbs 4:20-24), and then

Jesus and the Father will assume the responsibility of being our Bread Provider.