I've Got You Covered

W

hen I was sixteen years old, my parents allowed me to get a job and earn my own money.  For the first time, I could buy something I wanted with my own money and it was very exciting.  However, it also proved to be very challenging because I had to decide between what I could afford and what I couldn't.  Furthermore, I had to evaluate all my purchases in terms of needs or wants.  It is so easy to spend someone else's money; but when you go to spend your own, you become very cautious and your approach to owning things takes on a different perspective.

Like most sixteen-year-olds, I had a desire for a car.  Most of my friends had one and, using teenage logic, that justified my having one as well.  My mom and dad got me a car, but told me I would be paying for it.  It was the smartest thing they ever did for me, although at the time I didn't always agree with this idea.  Car ownership was fun so long as I could make the payments and have everything I wanted.  However, when I wanted to purchase something and couldn't because I had a payment due, the car became more of a burden than a joy.  My parents were giving me a good lesson in the reality of life, that you can't have everything you want, and that the privilege of ownership comes with a price.

But it was also a good lesson about having my needs met.  Just before school started, mom and I went shopping at a local store.  I needed clothes in the worst way for school.  Problem was, I couldn't afford to buy them due to the fact my car payment was due for the month.  My job at the local hospital provided me enough cash to pay for the car and the gas to run it.  There was very little left over for entertainment or purchasing necessary items, like clothes.  So, mom and I went shopping, although I had absolutely no idea how I was going to pay for them.

At the store, we picked out several shirts, pants, a new belt, and a new pair of shoes.  As we approached the counter, my mind was filled with questions, well just one question, "How would I pay for it?"  When we got to the register, the clerk ran the total and mom opened her checkbook, wrote a check, and looked at me and said, "Let's go!"  I remember standing there in disbelief.  Mom had never intended for me to buy my clothes, she just needed me there to try them on. It was always her intent to buy the clothes for me.  She never meant for me to worry about having clothes nor did she mean for me to be concerned with paying for them.  As a parent, providing clothes for me was her and dad's responsibility and when the time came to buy them, she wrote the check, she had me covered.

This is the great truth the Apostle Paul was expressing in Philippians 4:19. The members of the church at Philippi sent Paul a gift, perhaps money or provisions he needed.  Paul accepted the gift with gratitude and used their expression of love as an illustration of a great spiritual truth.  Paul writes, "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."  The Philippians had met a real need in Paul's life.  Perhaps he was concerned about money for his journey.  It is possible he needed food and clothing.  Whatever the precise need, the gift from the church at Philippi adequately addressed it.

Paul realized that God uses various situations and people to meet our needs.  Paul also knew that we are never able to meet our own needs.  We are spiritually poor, lacking the funding to adequately provide for ourselves.  We consistently fall short of the mark and we find ourselves in constant need.  This is where God meets us.  He knows our needs, even before we do (Matthew 6:8), and he stands ready to meet them.  God never expects us to "pay" him for meeting our needs.  As our parent, God is responsible for providing for our necessities, and he takes that responsibility seriously.  The death of Jesus is proof of God meeting the ultimate need.  We cannot provide our own salvation.  We can never work enough, never attend enough church meetings, never give enough food to needy families, never spend enough money on the new church building, never pray enough, never visit the sick enough, etc.  We simply don't have the necessary funds to cover the cost of salvation.  But God does!!  He opens his checkbook, he takes out his pen, he writes the check, and says to us, "I've got you covered, let's go home."

Today as you spend time with God, thank him for meeting your needs.  God's promise is that he will meet all our needs, and he means all of them.  What we need to do is distinguish between our needs and our wants, which is something we find so very difficult to do.  God is not responsible for our wants; but he is responsible for our needs and he takes that responsibility seriously.  The infinite riches he has in Jesus Christ are more than adequate to provide for any need you have today.  Please don't worry about having your needs met today.  God understands, he is aware, and he will provide.  Hey, he's got you covered!