From God
There's a reality that we often fail to realize; that is, we fail to comprehend that all that we have comes from above, from God. So easily we think that what we have we have gained on our own. Our flesh is quick to think much of itself. The Lord has ways of reminding us though, that all we have, even our very breathe and every movement is something that He alone is providing. The Lord God created and the Lord God sustains and moves forward all of creation.
It happened one morning this week while I was walking with a co-laborer for the Gospel in Italy, Lorenzo. We were walking into the town square with our Book Table and our books and equipment for offering free Bibles and Christian books; it's an evangelistic effort. While walking I mentioned to Lorenzo:
"Early this morning in prayer it came to mind that I should bring a string for us to attach our evangelistic banner to the pole in this piazza."
We need a string because the wind easily blows it over if we don't fix it to something. Five seconds later a pigeon passed by above my head with a plastic string in his mouth; the kind that's used for binding newspaper bundles. I watched as he landed on top of the apartment building where I presume he has a nest. The moment he landed the plastic string fell from his mouth and floated gently to the ground as the wind blew.
Lorenzo looked at me. I looked at Lorenzo. "Should I get?" he said. "I think so. I see no crime in stealing it from the bird. Actually, there are no coincidences with God which means God just sent us this string by means of a bird from above!" I replied awestruck by the reality of this perfectly timed act of God.
That day we had a particularly good morning of sowing and evangelizing in the town square! Glory to God alone.
The next morning in my prayer time as I was reflecting on this event the Lord took me to the words of John the Baptist recorded in John 3: 27 -
John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.
I thought to myself that I ought to write on that plastic string (we've now preserved it for regular use and to remind us of God's providence in providing all our needs) "from God". Then it became a little more clear to me that in reality all that we have, all that we possess has also come to us from above, from God. In reality I ought to write "from God" on everything we have! So easily we forget that it's God who gives us all we have. Oh how we ought to remind ourselves more of God our Provider who is constantly at work to get us what we need; especially when we involve ourselves in what matters in life, His mission!
Trust Him. Thank Him. He saved your soul from all your sin; surely He will provide what you need as you risk your life to serve Him. amen.
UPDATE JANUARY 2016:
A deaf girl we met this day, turned out to have ears to hear and is now saved and in church.
