Provider v. Provision

Genesis 22:14, "Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh; as it is said to this day, 'In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.'"


I have recently embarked on a journey to discover God as Jehovah-jireh, My Provider. And leave it to God to take a good, godly, spiritual desire and turn it into a lesson of a lifetime. Yes, as Christian we should be completely dependent upon Him for provision and everything else life entails. But I dare say few fully achieve the fullness of faith this concept entails.


My expectation going is was that needs would be met in a timely, predictable manner to the degree I could truly believe, or otherwise convince myself that God is my provider. And yet the experience in reality on the surface appears to be the exact opposite. After all, if I am believing and praying and trying to understand and have faith that God is my Provider, then how on earth could my income in April be $0?


Yep... $0.00 Doesn't God My Provider know I have a mortgage payment, lights, food, etc. How can a $0 month in anyway demonstrate God as a Provider. (ENTER MY FAITH COACH) His name is Jim. :-)


In a moment of being complete real I expressed my concern of this lesson. I expressed the frustration and the fear. And my faith coach (at least that what he is to me) said something to the effect, there is a distinction between Provider and Provision. God is your Provision. Wow! It can be said a thousand ways, but until you live it, a complete understanding is impossible. Some might say this as: look to the face of God not His hand. Or look at the Bless-er, not the bless-ing. Christ said it this way in Matthew 4:4. "...Man shall not live by bread alone, but by ever word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Here was Jesus, starving and yet He found God's word to be more than enough PROVISION even at the point of death by physical starvation.


At the end of the day my lights are on, there is food in the refrigerator, sure the mortgage is late, but they have not come to take my house. It is teaching, and I am learning that God is my provision. He is enough.  And even more so, He confirms that this is a good lesson, and that I am on the right path. Unfortunately for her, my wife Jamie has to walk it with me, even though we did not purposefully set out to do this together. She too is frustrated and expresses it. Yet God in His way reminded her too that He is our provision in a miraculously independent way.


I can summarize the entire experience with this. The Provider is our Provision and the Provision is our Provider. Let the stress of life's bills go and relax in the provision of God's presence.