Encouragement

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The shoe rack in my closet is filled with shoes; high heels, flats, wedgies, and sandals. Many I no longer wear because they don’t match any clothing items that also hang in that same closet. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not Imelda Marcos when it comes to shoes, but I do have several.
Reading in Deuteronomy 29:5, Moses exhorts the faultfinding Israelites, reminding them that for forty years their clothes and shoes did not wear out. They wandered in the wilderness during those years with no permanent home to live in, no shopping malls to buy clothes or a supermarket nearby to buy groceries. What they did possess lasted!
In these trouble times of banks folding, many have lost confidence in our government and financial institutions. Will I have to dip into my savings? Will I have a job next month? Questions! Questions, that we do not have answers for. Only God knows our future, and He alone – not our job, bank account or the stock market. Dwelling on these situations takes a toll not only on our health but also our spiritual walk – becoming unthankful.
The examples in the Bible of God’s goodness should encourage us, making us content with what we have. Why can’t we, as His children, trust Him to do for us what He did for the Israelites? Instead of wanting our cake and eating it too, we now must learn to appreciate what we do have and not always yearning for what we don’t have. In other words, learning to be thankful.
The Israelites shoes and clothes lasted – why? God’s hand was upon them. This illustration of God’s love makes it very clear that He will also do the same for you and me. Asking God to stretch a tank of gas or a paycheck to go farther than ever before may be new to us, but it is a perfectly fitting prayer.
We can stew over the price of gas or that the monies invested in the stock market are plummeting, complain over the price of school clothes and shoes, OR we can be content with what God has given us. If today’s chaotic world is taking a toll on your checkbook and/or your health, you can do something about it - take it to Jehovah Jirah, our Provider. He’ll cause what He gives you to last.

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