God Always Provides For His Own. Always.

God always provides for those who are His own.

Always.

Not long after Laurie and I were married, the Lord called me to a small town in central Washington state. We had no idea where we would live. Housing choices were very slim. When we were talking to one of the ladies in the church-to-be, she told us she couldn’t think of any place for us to live except perhaps a chicken coop. We couldn’t believe she was serious, although she said it without a smile, without a hint she was joking.

Needless to say, it was not encouraging.

But when the Lord calls you to a place, He will without doubt provide somewhere to live.

Which He did.

I should add that we were, by cultural measures, kinda low on funds.

It turned out that a lawyer who was packing to go where the fields were more productive, let us rent the house until it sold. The place had heated, smooth polished concrete flooring. One could slide in his stocking feet from the front door halfway back to the bedrooms. (If a man of my dignity and standing would ever consider doing such a thing.) There were two dining rooms. A huge living room. It was an amazing house, but sparsely furnished with our few pieces of garage sale furniture. Before we’d learned about it, Laurie had told the Lord that she would like two sinks in the bathroom.

Bingo.

A year and a few months later the house sold, so were on the hunt again for a home. Once more, the Lord provided. It was quite small (nine hundred square feet) compared to the previous house, but it had three bedrooms for us and the kids; and it was ours.

And so, it continued. The Lord called us to a church in another town with a parsonage attached. That solved the housing problem. Then, when I was hired to be an assistant pastor in a large church, we found a nice house which we didn’t think we could afford but were able to after all. Five years later, the Lord called us to be missionaries. He provided two apartments in two different cities in an Asian country where we taught English. They were not luxurious by any means, but the lack of creature comforts didn’t bother us. Then we served in Papua New Guinea, right up next to a jungle. Our place was simple, but we loved living there. In Israel and Mexico, Laurie “just happened” to find apartments in safe locations. In India, one of the elders in the church we were working with had an apartment that “just happened” to be vacant when we needed one. After we left the mission field, we returned to the States and bought a small condo shortly before real estate prices skyrocketed. It is right across the street from a community garden, and we can walk to various stores and the library. We could not afford this place today. I should add that the Lord also provided financially in all the years of our ministry, both at home and abroad.

The Lord always provides for His people. There will come a time when Christians will live in homes that the Lord has provided in heaven.

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:1–3).¹

We will be sons of God in an eternal kingdom. I think that might just be a wondrous place to live forever, don’t you?

Thank You, Father for Your provision for us throughout our lives. We look forward to living with You, time without end.

¹All Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (2016). Crossway Bibles.

Gif courtesy giphy.