Provision:

3. Stores provided; stock; as provision of victuals; provision of materials.

4. Victuals; food; provender; all manner of eatables for man and beast; as provisions for the table or for the family; provisions for an army

 

yesterday i commented to my daughter that i’m writing for 31 days on provision and i haven’t even talked about money yet.

but today i paid some bills and updated our excel spreadsheet budget.

so money is on the brain.

 truth be that i’d rather not talk about money at all-it’s not the easiest thing to talk on.  But it is a significant part of daily living-so…these are some things i’ve learned about myself along the way.

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to me money is right there with food.  meaning i can’t just flee from it, i have to learn how to live with it.  and if i have a money issue-i have a heart issue.  and it really doesn’t matter if i’m functioning with the issue (living within my means) or not functioning with the issue(living outside of my means).  the Lord does not look on the outward appearances-He looks on the heart. 

like so many things provided-the path leads towards life or death. 

for a while i worked really hard to get it all right with the management of our money.  that was idolitry.

now i have a different heart towards the matter.  i still budget-i still pay attention to what is coming in and what is going out.  we wait and we wait and we wait some more for things.  we splurge and buy things just for the sake of our delight.

but now i understand it’s the Master’s money. 

all. of. it.

and so real wisdom in it comes from knowing the Master’s heart.  the more i understand His heart, the more i understand what to do with my allotment of money. 

He’s creative-lavishing beauty in fields with wildflowers.
He’s generous-lavishing His children with romance and grace.
He’s purposeful-providing specifically to accomplish specific things…in my heart and in this world.
He’s surprising-i may have a plan, or know some conventional wisdom to apply-but He surprises me often with what He says to do. 

Sometimes He let’s me go hungry, and sometimes He feeds me with abundance and sometimes it’s the same manna day after day after day…and i start to crave meat.  But always it keeps me on my knees praying for contentment, wisdom, generosity, and help….

to find satisfaction in the God who provides the money above and over the provision itself. 

 “All that we call human history–money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery–[is] the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.”

― C.S. LewisMere Christianity

this is part of a 31 day series on Provision.  To see the first post in the series click here.  To read the entire series click here and read backwards (the first post is listed last, the latest post is listed first-i don’t know how to change that. thank you for grace.)