Worry/Needs/Gifts

Romans 8:32, "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all -- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"

For what does he have to give us that would be greater than his own son? And because of that, all other things are easy for him. Whatever else we need, is nowhere near the magnitude of Jesus Christ, God literally with us.

And yet despite the verses of promise in the bible that tell me that God will provide, I still worry sometimes. As I've wrestled with this issue I've learned some lessons from God about worrying over my needs. Worry, for me, comes from the realization that although God will provide what I need, what I need is a great deal less than what I have. So I worry over whether God will supply what I know myself that I don't need. Realistically, what does it take to survive? Some water, some food, some clothing. All I have to do is think about the poor, homeless, and starving people to realize how little I really could exist on.

So a lot of my worry stems from wanting to be well provided for. In real terms, God can be counted on to keep me alive, but it's my job to make it an enjoyable alive. That's a flimsy trust. And a flimsy trust does not last for long. In the last few months, I've learned a greater truth. Something that was always taught, but never clearly manifested in my brain with confidence.

James 1:16-17, "Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."

This greater truth, God does not simply pop in once in a while and give a gift. Doesn't simply "help out". Everything I have is from him. It's a liberating truth, like so many others I have learned about him. If it were not for God, I would have nothing. Instead, while I rejected him and chose the broad path to hell, he chose me in his mercy. God has provided me with the truest need I never new I needed. Worry has no place to grow it's roots when everything is a gift, including life itself. If everything has been given to me, what is there that I can do to increase what has been given?

Here's one last passage to consider. Matthew 7:7-11, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks you for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!