REMEMBER GOD’S PAST FAITHFULNESS
You sent Your good Spirit to instruct them, and You did not stop giving them manna from heaven or water for their thirst. For forty years You sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell!
Nehemiah 9:20-21 (NLT)
When Jesus speaks about worry during the Sermon on the Mount, He specifically calls attention to three areas that can create anxiety: what you will eat, what you will drink, and what you will wear (Matthew 6:31). When He spoke into these stressors, He did so with full authority because He miraculously provided these exact things for forty years while His people wandered in the wilderness.
God met the Israelites' need for food with bread from heaven. Morning by morning, He covered the ground with a fine, flake-like substance that Exodus 16:31 describes as tasting like wafers made with honey. Each morning’s portion proved sufficient for their daily needs. When His people thirsted for water, the Lord brought water out of a rock (Exodus 17:1-7). And God amazingly preserved their clothing and sandals for four decades!
So, when Jesus says, Do not worry about these things, you can take Him at His word. The same God who cared for the Israelites cares for you. He has the same power and authority to meet your physical needs as He’s done in past generations. Not only that, but Jesus also provides for your spiritual hunger and thirst as the bread of life and the living water, and He clothes you with his righteousness to cover your spiritual nakedness.
Remembering and reflecting upon who God is and what He has done in the past will move your heart from worry towards faith in His full capacity to sustain you in your present moment.
APPLICATION: The Bible is filled with accounts of God consistently coming through for His people, and there are likely moments in your life, or the life of your family, where you’ve experienced God’s unique provision. Spend some time reflecting on one of those moments and allow God’s past provision to fuel your faith and confidence in His ability to provide for your present and future.
PRAYER: Father, when I start to worry about my daily needs, encourage my heart with reminders of Your faithful provisions in the past. You are the same yesterday, today and forever. Help me trust You to take care of me. Amen.
“… Our Father in heaven…” Matthew 6:9b (NLT)
- What do You want to say to me today as my Father?
“… may Your name be kept holy.” Matthew 6:9c (NLT)
- What do You want to reveal to me about Your power today?
“May Your Kingdom come soon.” Matthew 6:10a (NLT)
- Help me make Your priorities my priorities today.
“Give us today the food we need,” Matthew 6:11 (NLT)
- Is there anything specific You want me to do with my time or the people I’m around today?
“and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us” Matthew 6:12 (NLT)
- Reveal to me anyone I need to forgive or ask for forgiveness.
“And don’t let us yield to temptation…” Matthew 6:13a (NLT)
- Is there anywhere I’m vulnerable to temptation?