The Lord Provides

This month we will start with Joshua 5:8-9, “Now when they had finished circumcising all the nation, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day.” The sense here is that formerly, other nations scoffed at this bunch of runaway slaves but now, by the power of the Almighty Jehovah, the nations trembled in awe of Israel and their God. Look at verse 1 of chapter 6, “Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel; no one went out and no one came in.” From our studies in ancient history we know that the Canaanites were acquainted with invading armies and so we see that they were taking this threat seriously – not casually setting a few guards to fend off a group of escaped domestic servants!

In verse 10, “While the sons of Israel camped at Gilgal they observed the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the desert plains of Jericho.” They were now fairly close to one of the major fortified cities in the land of Canaan; they had been circumcised in obedience to the law; they are now properly prepared to observe the Passover. Also, the narrative states that they “ate some of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain.” By that we can assume that by now they had occupied not a few of the surrounding Canaanite farms and, naturally, a number of Canaanite grain silos. They now are able to feed themselves – and in the next verse we read, “The manna ceased on the day after …”

From this narrative we see two sides of the same coin of God’s provision: first, the Lord will always provide that which His people need, for example food to feed the multitude during those 40 years wandering in the desert. Secondly, that the Lord expects us to feed ourselves if it is in our power to do so. Another way to put this is that the Lord gives us the grace to do what must be done, but only when we need that grace. The Israelites were unable to feed themselves in the desert – the Lord provided food. By God’s grace, the Israelites now had food available from a ‘natural’ source and therefore were responsible to gather and distribute that food. God provides in either circumstance, the difference is that in one case His people were unable to till the land and grow their own food in the desert, and in the other case His people have the food of the land available and have only to gather that which He has provided.

You may ask, ‘Robin, what is your point?’ Well, first the Lord will always give us the grace to endure when we need that grace, not before, or not when we already have the means to accomplish that which needs to be done. As the provider for our family we may become unemployed – we know that the Lord will provide for our family however if we are able to work but unwilling to work we have no grounds for blaming God when we can’t feed our family.

Are there cases where believers cannot support their families? Yes, and the church has a command to provide for the truly poor. The ‘Lord’s Poor’ don’t need ‘manna’ from heaven to feed their families – He has instituted and commissioned the church as the ‘means’ (through the office of deacon) whereby the Lord provides for His people. Nevertheless, the truly poor must also be willing to work, if able.

Did you know there are three kind of poor? The first kind of poor is those who are able bodied and healthy but too lazy to work. They may be called the ‘World’s Poor.’ The second kind may be called the ‘Devil’s Poor’ because they are in bondage to their master the devil and spend their money in gambling, drinking, and ‘lewd’ houses. The third kind of poor we may call the ‘Lord’s Poor’ who are professing believers and members of a local church; brothers and sisters in Christ who work hard and are carefully living within their budget, but are still living in need. The first two have the means to come out of poverty but are unwilling to do what is required – the third, the ‘Lord’s Poor’, are unable … but will receive the provision of the Lord – if the church is obedient to its directive to love one another. The ‘World’s Poor’ and the ‘Devil’s Poor’ are in need of the gospel – the church has already been commissioned to get the gospel to them - but what they do not need is cash! I’m not saying that we can never give material things to the ‘World’s Poor’ or the ‘Devil’s Poor’ but only after the ‘Lord’s Poor’ have been cared for, and only if we require a hearing of the gospel in all cases.

(I give credit to Rev. T. Rhodes for this view of ‘the poor’ written in a Circular Letter to The Georgia Association of Baptist Churches, 1808. When asked whether we should use the ‘Church’s bounty’ to help all the poor, Rev. Rhodes replied, “Let the World take care of theirs; the Devil of his; the covetuous, ambitious, rich man of his; and the Church of the Lord’s”)

Another and more common situation where the Lord provides what we need when and how we need it is where we have to make a major decision. We may properly ask the Lord for guidance but ought we expect a supernatural ‘voice’ from heaven giving us direction? Or are we responsible for using that which He has already provided for our comfort and direction? Why do we need extra-biblical information to help when He has given us the Bible in our own language – the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience? It’s like asking for supernatural ‘manna’ when we have a grain silo full of the richest food imaginable at our disposal!

The narrative here in Joshua 5 seems so natural - the manna ceased and the people ate of the produce of the land. So too, we also pick up what the Lord has provided and not wait for some sort of ‘miraculous’ event to take action. We know what the Lord wants - we do not need extra information or some sort of extra ‘feeling’ to move forward. Next month we will look at Jericho and the ‘Captain of the Lord’s Host.’

Robin