Category: 2020

God Will Supply Our Need

One of the daily devotionals we like to read to get closer to God is “Our Daily Bread.” Recently this devotional published a reading that gave us great inspiration and strength. It shared the story of a woman and her family that had just moved. After the move, life only seemed to get harder and harder with every turn. The woman wrote:

“Physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted, I curled up in my recliner. Our family had followed God’s leading and had moved from California to Wisconsin. After we arrived, our car broke down and left us without a vehicle for two months. Meanwhile, my husband’s limited mobility after an unexpected back surgery and my chronic pain complicated our unpacking. We uncovered costly problems with our new-to-us, old home. Our senior dog suffered with health issues. And though our new pup brought great joy, raising a furry ball of energy was far more work than anticipated. My attitude soured. How was I supposed to have unshakable faith while traveling on a bumpy road of hardships?”

Maybe you have felt this way lately, finding yourself up against obstacles and hardship in your life. In the face of all these feelings and tears, the woman from the story above turned to the Lord in prayer. At times, doing this may seem like a hopeless exercise when all else seems to be failing. Can anything change? Can it possibly get better? But God has a way of reaching us when we look to him for strength. The woman shared that as she prayed, she was reminded of the psalmist David whose praise did not depend on his circumstances. God was speaking to her. He was reminding her that just as He was faithful to David, He was and would be faithful to her; just as David found strength in Him, so could she as well. 

David’s life is a textbook example of someone who had a pretty bad day, and then much worse. Early on in his life David found his life in danger. King Saul pursued David and tried to take David’s life several times (1 Samuel 19-26). Later, David’s own men blamed him for the loss of their family members, and they talked about stoning him (1 Samuel 30:4). Then, David’s son Absalom stole the throne from his father David, and David had to flee to protect his own life (2 Samuel 15:14). The man truly knew what he was talking about when he said, “a mighty army surrounds me” (Psalm 27:3). 

But in the face of fear and certain danger, David turned to God. The Lord was his rock when all else around him was changing and falling apart. He wrote, “Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge” (Psalm 16:1). David heard the rumors against his life all around him, yet he said, “But I trust in you, Lord. I say, ‘You are my God.’” (Psalm 31:14). 

One of the most striking things David said about the Lord was this:  “Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup” (Psalm 16:5). For an Israelite like David, one’s portion was another way of referring to one’s inheritance. God gave each of the tribes of Israel a “portion” of land to inherit when they entered the promised land (see Joshua 13-21). While some might have said their greatest treasure and security was their land and their wealth, David instead said, “Lord, you alone are my portion.” It was true in the good times and especially true in the bad. Everything would be taken from David — his land, his reputation, his family. But there was something that could never be taken from him, and that was his God. God still remained with David when all else was failing. When all else was against him, even his closest companions, the Bible gives us an everlasting testimony from David when it tells us, “But David found strength in the Lord his God” (1 Samuel 30:6).

In the face of adversity and hardship in life, it can feel like there’s nothing left and no hope, but God offers to be our portion, to be our everything. Let us learn from the example of David who found all that he needed in the Lord. 

God bless you all, 

Pastors Garritt and Sanette