Trusting God with Your Resources - Crosswalk Couples Devotional - January 13
Trusting God with Your Resources
By: Amanda Idleman
Philippians 4:19: God promises to provide what we need.
God promises to provide what we need. That's a verse that we all should memorize! How often do we need to be reminded that God is our great provider? He is Jireh, which in Hebrew means God will provide!
Sometimes looking back is the best way to remind us that God is trustworthy and is faithful to provide what we need in every circumstance. We need to remember the ways he has been there for us. My husband and I married very young, still in college and with no money to our names. We waited tables and cut corners and somehow made it out of college and onto more secure jobs.
Each season in our lives together has been an invitation to trust God with our resources. When we decided to have kids, we felt led to live on only one full-time teacher's salary so we could be more involved in the care of our young ones. We pieced together part-time jobs and side gigs, bought a cheaper home, and God gave us just what we needed to give our kids the attention they needed.
When they got ready to head to school we felt called to homeschool, which meant more years with one primary income. We didn't know how we could raise these kids on such a limited salary, but we knew God had been with us up to this point; he would continue to provide. Not long after making this choice my husband got his first raise when God provided a job outside of the school system.
Since then we have added kids to our family through foster care and adoption. Each time we wondered how we could afford another child in our home. With each child, promotions have come, and unexpected support has come from loved ones. Our village has grown as our family has grown. God has always given us just what we needed to be faithful to the call he has placed on our family. He has never failed us!
This testimony assures me that I can trust him when he calls us to be generous, live in a counter-cultural way, and trust for all that we need. Take time to ponder and maybe write down your testimony regarding God's provision. Give thanks to him for all the ways he has faithfully given you what you need for every season. As you look forward, be reminded you are never alone.
Be faithful to follow his instructions which call us to live generous lives. We don't store up extra for our own good, we use what we have been given for his glory. It is not in man's systems that we have security; our identity as sons and daughters of God is what gives us assurance.
As we choose how to work, live, invest, and what matters most in our homes, let God's Kingdom guide us. We are not called to be successful in this life. We are called to be faithful. How can you be faithful with the resources God has given you?
Let's Pray
God, I thank you that you are a trustworthy God. You have blessed our home and provided for us in every season. Let me not forget all that you have done for us. I ask you to guide us when we make decisions about how to use what we have been given. Give us wisdom and let us always live with open hands. Let us cast down anxiety about what we need and embrace your peace. Let all we do be for your glory! Amen.
Related Resource: Engaging with God in a Technology-Saturated World
Many of us feel hurried, and hurry is costing us more than we realize. The Unhurried Living Podcast with Alan and Gem Fadling provides resources and training to help Christian leaders learn to live and lead from fullness rather than on empty. After realizing the toll technology had taken on his connection with God, his community, and even himself, Carlos Whitaker took radical steps to disconnect in order to reconnect. He spent nearly two months living screen-free at a monastery, an Amish farm, and his own home, experiencing profound transformation along the way. If this episode helps you recenter your work and life on God, be sure to subscribe to Unhurried Living on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an episode!
