“O fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.” - Psalm 34:9-10
The children of Israel, recently escaped from the clutches of their slaveholders in Egypt, had made it all the way to the banks of the Jordan River. There they waited forty days for the spies to return to tell about the land God had promised them. They washed their clothes in the river while their children swam and played. But they didn’t cross the river into the land that had been promised them for generations; just a few days later they turned around and marched the other direction. Why? Because they feared the walled cities and mighty armies in the land more than they trusted in God, and their minds and hearts turned back to the “security” of Egypt (Numbers chapters 13 and 14). God was “grieved with this generation.” (Psalm 95:10)
Some may read this story and marvel at how ridiculous these people were for not trusting God after all He had done for them, but do we trust God when the road ahead looks hard, even terrifying? Do we fear when we face uncertainty in our job and finances? Has your mind or heart turned back to the things you laid down at the altar? Let’s not be found speaking of faith in Jesus, and living just as faithless as the citizens of the world around us! Surrender your fears and temptations to God, and find your refuge and strength in Him! Through prayer, through study of His Word, and through consecration (laying down our will in exchange for His), you will find the courage you need to press forward in holiness with confidence.
Take heart friends, the Lord is our shepherd! We shall not want! He will lead us in good paths, He will provide all we need. It is up to us to follow Him in everything we do, to simply trust that He will provide. There is freedom and power in surrendering our feeling of need to provide for our own future, and to place all in Jesus’s hands.
“Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him, how I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, oh for grace to trust Him more.” - Louisa M. R. Stead
