Some months ago I found myself getting into a possibly desperate situation. To plan a rescue, I started to envision and develop an easy escape route. Things started to roll as per the plan. On the other hand, prayers started to pour in from dear ones close to us. As we approached a critical juncture regarding the final decision, I was prompted to open a book- A devotional from Proverbs. I had this book with me for sometimes though haven’t felt an interest to read until then. In the first chapter of that book itself, I had a timely answer from the Lord for the decision we needed to make.
It read…
“Instead of waiting on our Lord to solve our dilemma in His own way and in His own time, we usually step in and begin manipulating a quick, painless escape.”
And
“Horizontal solutions give us the illusion of greater security and pleasure, so we tend to either reject or ignore vertical remedies to our challenges.”
That evening we decided to not take the easy route. It was tempting to get out of the problems when life gets hard without waiting patiently. Lord has a way of beautifully guiding and meeting the needs in His ways and at His time. The coming months have proved it was the right decision. My point here is not to say God is going to meet all that we desire. But rather He knows what we need even when the cloud of darkness overwhelms us. God blesses us with the timely bread appropriate for the situations we are in and guides us to the place He wants us to move.
Sometime later I remember the busyness of life and work was pressing me hard. So many things and changes were happening almost on a day-by-day basis. There was a fight in the mind about what to do and where to focus. A few weeks around that I had been gifted with another book from the same author. To my surprise, this time also there was timely guidance in the first chapter itself. Guess what was its title?
“Priorities”
Charles Swindoll in this chapter wrote about the struggle of choosing when life presents with so many choices and possibilities, and I add demands. However, he quickly turned side to point out that “we aren’t left with numerous possibilities.” The timely bread was that our priority is “seeking God’s kingdom and His righteousness” (Matt 6:35).
Are you in a struggle of chasing after the wrong priorities and demands? Is it the struggle to please someone around? It is a rare sight to see someone sweating it out for the Kingdom work. Yet that is what the Lord wants us to do first.
I can’t stop without writing another recent encouragement. This time the pressures of life were rolling that I was hardly spending any quality time with the Word of the Lord. As part of the work, I was at an event where Homeless individuals are supported. As we were wrapping up to leave, a woman who I haven’t seen at all in the event came near and gifted me a book. Guess what was its name?
“Our Daily Bread”
Though I have heard stories of so many who are blessed through the reading of this daily short devotional I have never read this until then. Since then, I have been enjoying reading it and has been a timely blessing in my following days.
The Lord has His ways and means to provide you with His timely bread. Perhaps it is already near you to find. Perhaps you are not seeking Him at all. Pray to the Lord to meet your needs and keep your eyes open to see the Lord doing His wonderful works. The Lord already knows your situation and you are in His thoughts! The sufficiency of God adequately supplies our needs, spiritual, emotional, or physical.
