God provides
SITTING near a large apple tree, I watched a bee buzzing from blossom to blossom. Thousands of pink and white flowers offered him an abundance of pollen. There were few bees on the big old tree, so he was free to choosen the best blooms.
Watching the bee reminded me of the wonderful way that God, divine Love, provides for all His children. His giving is abundant. Whatever our need, God is constantly present, and we can confidently look to Him for help.
That's a nice theory, you may say. Yet here I am, without any money in the house. There are bills to be paid, essentials to be bought, and nothing with which to buy food for tomorrow. Can God really help? Yes, He can.
We can start by turning to God in prayer, remembering He is our Father-Mother , who loves and tenderly cares for all His offspring. This is the spiritual truth of being, though it sometimes seems hidden from human view because God's care isn't widely enough understood. Yet because He is Love and because that Love is all-powerful, we can trust Him completely to provide for our every need. The Bible tells us, "I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee." n1
n1 Isaiah 41:13.
Because man is the image of God, we don't, in one sense, have to getm an abundance of life, joy, peace, prosperity. We already include these. Our true being is the constant reflection of God. Just as the reflection of a beautiful flowering shrub, mirrored in a lake, exactly expresses its original, so man is the complete reflection of his Maker.
Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, had to prove many times that God supplies our every need. There were times when she knew lack and experienced the bitter necessity of borrowing money and even selling personal possessions in order to raise money. Still she could write: "Never ask for to-morrow: it is enough that divine Love is an ever-present help; and if you wait, never doubting, you will have all you need every moment." n2 Following Christ Jesus' example, Mrs. Eddy proved many times that God amply provides for man.
n2 Miscellaneous Writings,m p. 307.
A young woman was able to prove God's care when she found she had insufficient money to buy a rail pass needed to take her to work each day. She had three days to get the pass, or, as she put it, "I had three days to pray." As she prayed, she asked God to show her that her needs could be met if she trusted in Him. She began to gain a warm sense of His love and nearness and an assurance that all would be well. She continued to study the Bible and to pray. On the third day a friend walked into the office where she worked and handed her a considerable sum of money, which he had owed her for several years. During that time she had not seen him and had no idea where he was or what he was doing. He said he had felt impelled to find her and pay his debt, and had stuck to his resolution even though he had to trace her through her parents and then through her landlady. She never saw him again. The money he repaid was far more than needed for the rail pass.
God's abundant care does not stop with the individual. Our prayers can and must include those in need around the world. Areas of drought and famine in Africa come immediately to mind. It's difficult to predict how such dire needs can be met, but the power of prayer can open the door for the healing of lack on an increasingly wider scale. If each one reading this article spent time today in prayer, affirming God's love, power, and abundant provision for allm those in need, an irresistible influence for good would be launched against poverty.
That bee in the apple tree had an abundance of blossoms to draw on. God's unlimited provision is available to us and to all the world. DAILY BIBLE VERSE When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. . . . that they may see, and know, and con- sider, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.
