Supernatural provision isn’t a revelation of my own goodness, but a revelation of His grace. I believe we desperately need to reconcile this truth within our own experiences. Certainly we are to partner with the Lord in our economic obligation to give.
I want to briefly look at a well known incident in the life of the prophet Elijah. Although the prophet’s task was extremely confrontational, his primary task was to reconcile the nation of Israel back to God. Yet after a great victory at Mt. Carmel and the answer to prayer for rain, we find the prophet in a place where none of us should be. He felt threatened by a wicked Queens words and when any of us feel unsafe, like Elijah, we naturally find somewhere where we can regain some kind of control.
What happened afterwards is, this powerful prophet isolated himself from anyone who would have stood with him and the Lord. When we disconnect from the very people we are supposed to reconcile, we can easily develop thoughts that are inconsistent from who we are and who the Lord is. This makes us victims to our own self loathing. We have no one to champion us because we have cut ourselves off.
The problem with the prophet was that he took everything personally, which in turn left his soul very fragile. When he did that, the message of reconciliation was replaced by a message of self centeredness. Yet, in all that the Lord graciously provided for him, by giving him food when the prophet desired to die. Twice the angel of the Lord fed the prophet when the prophet was pleading to take his life. The next thing we find is him in a cave and the Lord asking Elijah “what are you doing here?” What’s amazing here is that the Lords sovereignty provided the food and strength to get there and then asked “why is he there?”
I believe there’s something we can learn from the prophet’s experience, and that’s yes, the Lord does provide, but provision isn’t always the endorsement upon our lives that we are in the right place. Provision is an endorsement from the loving care of a good Father, not necessarily our obedience.
As a father and grandfather, I give my children their necessities unconditionally, because I deeply desire to care for them. What kind of father would withhold the basic needs to sustain life? Elijah teaches us a valuable lesson of how we are to hear the Lord’s voice. Not just in how blessed we are by supernatural economic breakthroughs, but how obedient we are to reconcile nations, cities, and families back to a loving Father.
I’m certainly not going to disregard the wonderful support that the Lord has provided even when we were spiritually and emotionally weak. However, I want to learn to find His voice in the right place, not the wrong place. I want to see many come out of the cave of deception and feel the freedom of being loved by God.
Sincerely,
John Harke Team