Faithful to Provide

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Southeast Christian Church

Dec 22, 2021

If I raise my tithe, how will I pay my mortgage? If I invest in my small group outside of student ministry, how will I have time to myself? If I quit my job, how will I support my family? We’ve most likely all asked similar questions as we’ve been confronted with God’s command to sacrifice. But if I sacrifice this, what will happen? How? When? Where? What? We want to know that we will still be taken care of if we make the sacrifice God is asking, but part of the sacrifice is trusting in God’s character. He promises to equip us, provide for us, and strengthen us, so that we have all we need to accomplish his purpose.

We want our decisions to be logical, strategic, and planned. So does God! But his logic, strategy, and plan will often look vastly different than what our human minds can conceive. We almost want to bargain with God: “Okay, I’ll sacrifice this, but you need to pay me back because if you don’t, I can’t buy groceries for my family this week.” We are worried that God will forget about us, leave us empty-handed, or watch us fall flat on our faces. While God doesn’t promise those things won’t happen, he does promise to provide what we need, when we need it.

When God asks us to engage in his work, he isn’t asking us to go alone. He’s asking to go where he’s already gone ahead. He’s asking us to join him where he already is. God is faithful in keeping his promises. If he is asking us to sacrifice, he will provide what we need. It may not look like what we expected or even hoped, but the question we must wrestle with is this: Do you trust that Christ is enough?

DISCUSSION/REFLECTION QUESTIONS: How have you seen God provide for you in times of need throughout your life?

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