Numbers 18:30 Therefore you shall say to them: ‘When you have lifted up the best of it, then the rest shall be accounted to the Levites as the produce of the threshing floor and as the produce of the winepress.
In this chapter God reminds the priesthood of Israel that there are both rewards and responsibilities when operating in God’s calling. God reminds them that He has not only called them to serve as priests but He also equipped them and He will takes care of them as they do so. God always provides.
God will not lead you into anything and leave you to fend for yourself. God will provide on the front end, allowing you to get where He wants you to go. God will provide on the back end, allowing you to serve Him where He leads you. But understand that God is not always going to drop solutions into your lap. He gave all of us the ability to make decisions and He gave us His Word so that we can make wise decisions. He gave all of us the ability to work in some capacity, and He gave us His Word so that we can know how to work in a way that is glorifying to Him. I love the saying that “where God guides, He provides.” But what tends to be forgotten is that God doesn’t only provide money, but He also gives us ability, circumstance and setting. Abilities, meaning that which you are capable of doing with the skills and the body God gave you. Circumstance, meaning the moments that God sends our way for our learning, discipline and growth. Setting, meaning the place He has us at right now, including the people in our lives and our physical location, whether that’s school, work, neighborhood or church.
But there is another gift from God and that is our past which may have been far from glorifying to God, but He is able to redeem our past so that it glorifies Him in the future. So, yes, where God guides, He provides, and sometimes part of that provision may come out of what we did in the past, such as learned skills or discovered talents. So don’t write off your past nor should you look back. Instead, facing forward, follow Jesus and allow God to redeem your past as according to His will.
“Where God guides, He provides.” You’ve probably heard this before now. We tend to think of His provision being money that we can use to pay bills or something along those lines. Consider, however, that sometimes His provision is the place He guides you to in order that you might use something He has already provided. That may not be a place you really wanted to go or ever imagined you would be, and it may be a place that is far from where you dreamed you’d be at this stage of your life. Sometimes faith is not a step. Sometimes faith is staying put. You may not understand why God has you where you are, but be willing to serve Him where He has you.
So, that is four provisions from God that are often overlooked by Christians because we expect following God to be like following a treasure map, 13 paces this way and then 50 paces that way, and all the landmarks on the map are clearly visible until they end with an X marking the buried treasure. But scripture says we walk by faith and not by sight. If we are evaluating God’s leading and His provision according to what our eyes see, then we will soon lose heart. If we are going to trust in God, then we will have to trust in God even when blind. And that’s our fifth provision from God so that we can go as God guides faith. That’s right, faith is not self generated; God gives us faith. But what is faith? In Hebrews 11:1 we read a Biblical definition of faith: “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen”. This verse tells us that faith is a conviction that we have regarding something that allows us to be able to act on it as if it were assured of happening. That’s not to say, however, that faith is some crepuscular or shadowy thing that is impossible to quantify or recognize. Faith is not a leap in the dark. God has never asked us to do anything foolishly. God asks us to believe that which is good and solid. Romans 10:17 says, “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” God’s Word is solid and when we act on His word we are taking wise steps. Quite simply, faith is confidence in God to take Him at His word.
The Bible says that Jesus is the Author and Perfecter of faith and as we just observed faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So, faith is a provision from God. If faith originated with ourselves, then salvation would be based on something we are able to create ourselves, rather than by grace and not of works.
Romans 12:3 (NKJV) For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
God has given all believers a measure of faith, not that that measure differs from believer to believer, for God detests differing weights and He does not show favoritism (Romans 2:11). So, how is it then that some believers seem to have more faith than others? Elementary, my dear reader, some people exercise faith more than others. If you want more faith, then have faith more. It’s not a riddle, it’s just like saying if you want more strength, then use the strength you’ve got … exercise!
Finally, in our list of provisions from God that believers often overlook or take for granted, is stewardship. But isn’t stewardship something that we do when we have something to be stewards of? Well, yes. But stewardship is not only financial, it extends into every facet of our life. In fact, the book of Proverbs often ties wisdom together with stewardship. We are all accountable to God as stewards, because there is no believer whom God has not given stewardship over something. Stewardship is forward thinking. It’s not being a tightwad, it’s being a good manager with a mind to the future. This is why we should be good stewards now, the Kingdom of God is at hand. And, again, it’s not only financial, it’s being a good steward of our national freedom, learning how we can preserve our freedoms in this nation even as our government attempts to erode them. It’s being a good steward of our liberty in Christ. It’s abiding in Christ rather than trying to earn salvation by works. It’s being a good steward of friendships, being a good steward of family, being a good steward of words, being a good steward of the gospel.
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