Gratitude for His Provision

Many years ago I led a team of high school students on a missions trip to Jamaica where we worked with the Caribbean Christian Center for the Deaf. CCCD had recently started building the Jamaican Deaf Village where they planned to provide housing and employment opportunities for hundreds of hearing-impaired people. For two weeks our job was to help prepare a site for construction of an apartment building. A sizable hole had been dug where the building’s foundation would go. Inside the hole were many large rocks, some the size of small boulders. Our job was to break the big rocks into small rocks and then haul them out of the hole. It was hard tedious work.

As the backbreaking labor wore us down, several team members got sick. We were tired all the time. Our living conditions were difficult. There had been a drought and to conserve water our showers were limited to two minutes. And there was no hot water. We were crammed into too small dormitories at a nearby Christian college. After a few days team members were complaining about the work and the conditions and becoming easily angered with one another. We were not having a good time.

Many of us are not having a good time these days. Our incarcerated brothers and sisters are confined to cells and dorms, some confined to their bunks. Programs and visits have been curtailed. There is constant stress and tension. Out here in the free world many have lost jobs, are confined to their homes, and have loved ones who are sick. At least four of
my friends have had loved ones die from the virus. We have real fears and worry about health and finances. Like my missions team members we too may find
ourselves complaining and easily angered, unsettled and even fearful.

During one of our evening team meetings, as I listened to people grumble and snap at one another, I told the group I wanted each of them to think of one way that they had seen God provide that day. “What is one good thing you saw God do today?” I asked. It took a few minutes for people to think of something but soon everyone had shared. And, as I’d hoped, the mood of the whole group changed.

In Isaiah, the Lord compares his people to a vineyard and of that vineyard he says, “I am its keeper; every moment I water it…I keep it day and night” (Isaiah 27:3-4). One commentator said, “He provides for all of the needs of his people by his blessings and his steadfast protection.” The Lord is at work protecting you and providing for you. In these days of stress and fear, days of loss, sadness and grief, let us remember that there is never a moment when we are out of the Lord’s sight, out of is care, or out of his protection. We are his vineyard. Let us pray for the grace to see his provision. And in seeing his provision, pray too for the grace to be
grateful and to glorify him.

Much love, Barry