But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
Why are diamonds so valuable? In addition to their beauty, their value is a reflection of their scarcity: there are not many of them. It’s the same with gold, its scarcity is part of the reason why it is so valuable. There are many things in this world like that. If they are hard to find and are highly useful or ornamental, their value is high. Not so the riches of God! His treasures are no less valuable for being infinite. We can never imagine a limit to his bounty and provision. As Dr. S.M. Lockridge put it, ‘No far seeing telescope can bring into visibility the coastline of His shoreless supply’. And our text says that, out of those riches, God will provide for our needs.
One thing we need to be clear on it is God who determines our need. If it were up to us, we would heap a pile of wants and desires onto the list. We would also exercise our own faulty judgment about what we need. But God understands us better than we do, and He determines what is the most appropriate for us. This should give us comfort, as we consider His wisdom and care for us. God doesn’t forget about things, either, like we would do. For example, since you started reading this message, He has delivered to you several good breaths of fresh air. He has also distributed to you a few dozen heartbeats, all on schedule. The small things as well as the great are under His careful hand, temporal and spiritual, He knows and He will deliver.
The God whose rain falls on the just and the unjust has not made such a promise to the unconverted. All around us are the unsaved who have no claim on the riches of God, on the assurance of His perpetual care and provision. How sad to know that, with all that is available to them, they are relying on their own efforts, their own wisdom – or lack thereof – to meet their needs. Even worse, what they are gathering of this world is only for this world, and not for the world to come. What they receive will perish with them. But what God is supplying to His redeemed children is only part of what His great riches will unfold to us forever.
In a day of self-reliance and self-help, let us recognize that our supply is from God, not ourselves. Let us give thanks for His provision. -Jim MacIntosh