Poverty

         I think that poverty comes in degrees. I never told myself that we were poor when I was growing up. I never had to miss a meal and my grandmother taught me how to make pancakes when my mother was sick. I basically had a mountain of flour, snow cap the mountain with baking powder, run a river of salt from the top of the mountain to the edge of the bowl. Add milk, stir and cook. They must have had some shortening in it somewhere. They may have not been the best of pancakes but did the job in those days anyway. I also recall eating bread with ketchup and mustard and sugar sandwiches if we had the bread. I got enough to eat and I had clothes to wear. I was barefoot most of the summer which meant you ran fast across the asphalt highway to get to the other side before it burned your feet. God indeed took care of us even when we didn't know about it. God knew me before I knew Him. Matthew 6:31-32 says, “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.”     

          The basic necessities of life are still the main needs of many people in the world including believers. The lesson in the passage above is that if God takes care of the lilies and the sparrows surely He will take care of us. The lesson for us attacks our feelings of anxiety. We have a tendency to be concerned about the days coming up and fear that we will not have the things that we need to get by. My Mother and Father went through the depression and had a lot of unpleasant stories of events during those days. I was peeling potatoes one day and kept peeling over the dents until it was smooth. My Father reminded me that the peeler had a tip that would remove the dent without wasting so much of the potato. They wasted nothing and used everything that they could. We never through out watermelon rinds as Mom would make them into preserves for the coming year. You and I may have some concerns today about the provision of the things that we need even before that day gets here. We sometimes need to realize that we had that fear yesterday and God still provided today. It may not have been lobster but we had enough to eat and drink. God does redistribute many of the things in this world to those who are in need. We were at an orphanage in Argentina with the Navy and the Nuns opened up the storehouse for us to see the sacks of grain supplied by the U. S. A. for the people that were at that facility. It was a provision by God for them and it had been supplied by those who had more than enough for themselves. We still have anxieties however even as many in history have had the same thoughts. The Israelites were concerned about the manna in the wilderness and some tried to get more than a days supply for fear that it would not be there the next morning. The result of the excess was that it spoiled. It was only good for one day, except on the day before the Sabbath, when a two day supply could be gathered and it would not spoil on the Sabbath. You know God had to do that. Yes, God supplies our needs in even miraculous ways, just ask George Mueller as he would pray before an empty table, thanking God for the food they would receive and then finding it on the front steps. God blessed us all yesterday and surely He will bless us today and in the days to come. The future blessings will be the greatest of all. Don't be anxious for today but rest in what God has in “store” for you. Praise God for His continual supply of blessings beyond our expectations.