Philippians 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

This verse gets quoted a great deal, both appropriately and inappropriately. The big sticking point is the simple word, need. We have a lot of trouble distinguishing between our needs and our wants. However, God has no such difficulty! That can apply to minor things as well as major. We may want a snack, but God knows we need nutrition. We have a responsibility to recognize His provision in that area, and not let our wants ultimately do us harm. Likewise, we may want the “latest and greatest” in cars, but God knows we need reliable transportation. Sometimes our wants and needs coincide perfectly, and God delights us with blessing, and sometimes He pours far more out on us than we had even dreamed of. The problem comes when we demand, even emotionally, that last scenario, instead of trusting our heavenly Father to know what we actually need. God has different paths for each of His children, and some of those require more material resources than others. The thing is, everything we have is ultimately from Him, and we are accountable as stewards for the use we make of it, from the small to the great. The minute our focus goes to the resource itself, rather than to the One who provides it, we lay ourselves open for all sorts of deception, error, and heartache. God is indeed Yahweh Yireh (Jehovah Jireh), the Lord our Provider, and we need to trust and obey Him.

As I was writing the above, a particular memory kept coming to mind. Back in 1969 I wanted a girlfriend, but God knew I needed a life partner, and He provided magnificently. That was certainly a case of His doing “more than I could ask or imagine!” (Ephesians 3:20) In the years since then we have had financially tight times, and financially abundant times. Both have been blessings. God has known, and continues to know, what we need, and we have learned to submit our wants to Him. We don’t know what our remaining earthly years will hold, but we can have complete peace and assurance that our needs will be met, and we need to be good stewards of all of His blessings, both tangible and intangible.

Father, thank You for Your incredible grace. I was talking to a friend last night who said that the abundance of Your grace scares him, because he knows he doesn’t deserve it. I reminded him that’s the definition of grace! May I be a good steward of Your grace on all levels, for Your will to be done for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!