“When God gives a vision, He makes provision.”- Mark Batterson
Mark Batterson begins Chapter 10 (“The Cattle on a Thousand Hills”) of The Circle Maker by acknowledging that the time lapse between our prayer requests and God’s answers often is longer than we would like. Mark believes God must love the game of Chicken because He has the habit of waiting until the absolute last moment to answer our request to see if we’ll chicken out or pray (emphasis author’s).
As Pastor Batterson reads Scripture, he has come to the conclusion that God loves to show up in unexpected ways at unexpected times. And God’s provision seems to be just enough just in time. That was the case when God provided miraculous manna for the Israelites during their wilderness wandering. God’s daily provision of manna was a reminder of the Israelites’ daily dependence on God.
Mark notes we’d all be more comfortable with a weekly, monthly, or yearly supply of God’s provision. But we would lose our spiritual hunger if He provided too much too soon. We’d stop trusting our Provider and begin trusting our provision. While we crave self-sufficiency, Mark cautions that self-sufficiency does not equate with spiritual maturity:
“One of our fundamental misunderstandings of spiritual maturity is thinking that it should result in self-sufficiency. It’s the exact opposite. The goal isn’t dependence; the goal is codependence on God. Our desire for self-sufficiency is . . . a desire to get to a place where we don’t need God, don’t need faith, and don’t need to pray. We want God to provide more so we need Him less.”
Today’s question: When did God make provision for you just enough just in time? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Holy complications”
