Provisions Under Pressure
“We missed our flight!” I was thoroughly exasperated on my phone call to a credit card company that had locked my card for security purposes. A few years ago, during the COVID era, we missed our connection from Munich, Germany to India because I didn’t have the correct paperwork uploaded to the Indian government website. Furthermore, when I tried to buy plane tickets to India for the next day, I was locked out of my credit card since I didn’t notify the credit card company that I was traveling internationally. The final straw for me was when I had to take a COVID test to enter the Munich hotel for an overnight stay, and the test malfunctioned.
In reflecting on this experience, it’s kind of funny now that I’m some years past the compounding stresses. At the time, however, there was nothing funny about it. I ran out of time trying to upload the appropriate government documents to the Indian website, and we missed our flight. I ran out of money when the credit card company locked my card, so I was out of money. And I was pretty much out of energy when my COVID test at the hotel was inaccurate. All of these pressures were far beyond my jet-lagged ability to navigate.
Thankfully, God helped me meet each of these challenges. When I called the credit card company and explained my travel, along with the correct answers to the security questions, they unlocked my card. When I took the second COVID test at the hotel, it came back negative so I could enter the hotel and settle into my room. After taking a walk and enjoying a nice meal, I was able to sort out the government paperwork for uploading the COVID documents so we could fly to India the next day.
We can experience immense stress when we run out of provisions (time, money, energy, etc.) Running out of provisions reminds me of several stories in the Bible when people experienced debilitating and even life-threatening lack. Consider these examples:
· The Widow at Zarephath – 1 Kings 17:12, “But she said, ‘As the Lord your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.’” This mother and her son are at the door of starvation when Elijah shows up and asks her to give him their last meal. Verse twelve is her reply, which expresses her desperate outlook. She gives her last meal to Elijah, nevertheless, and God supernaturally sustains her flour and oil so that it doesn’t run out. She and her son had a divine supply of food in a time of national famine.
· Abraham sacrificing Isaac – Genesis 22:7-8, “Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, ‘My father!’ And he said, ‘Here I am, my son.’ And he said, ‘Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’ Abraham said, ‘God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’ So the two of them walked on together.” A few verses after this conversation, Abraham is about to sacrifice Isaac when he’s interrupted by an angel. He discovers a ram in the thicket, which he sacrifices instead of Isaac. Abraham came to know God as his provider through this experience.
· Scarcity of food – Matt 14:15-16, “When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, ‘This place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ But Jesus said to them, ‘They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!’” More than 5,000 people were hungry at the end of the day, and Jesus’ disciples only had five loaves of bread and two fish. Such miniscule provision was nothing compared to the massive number of hungry people. Nonetheless, Jesus multiplied the miniscule so much that there was an abundance, including leftovers.
When we read these examples of God’s participation in human scarcity, we can be encouraged that He does provide for us. God’s provisions come in lots of different ways and with unexpected packaging. Sometimes God provides some extra money that we didn’t expect, like Abraham discovering the ram in the thicket. At other times, God stretches out what we have to make it last beyond what we thought was possible. God also can do the miraculous, like Jesus’ supernatural multiplication of the bread and fish.
Let’s remind ourselves in seasons of scarcity that God’s provisions and solutions can exceed our deficiency and problems!
