I am sure I'm not the only one who has noticed that God will sometimes use seasons of your life to teach you one or two very large, and sometimes very difficult lessons. That's not to say that you won't learn other smaller stuff too, but it just seems that sometimes life will have a bit of a theme to it, and I don't think for a second that it that way is by accident.
One of those major themes for me as of the past year or so, has been God's intent on teaching me a theology of His provision. This is not an uncommon thing for bible college students to learn, mind you! The first time you move out of your parent's home and begin a career and education in ministry you are bound to learn two things: 1st, that you have needs. A lot of them. 2nd, that God will provide for them. All of them.
However, while many of us have, at one time or another, heard teachings of the provision of God, I think it is still possible that our theology, in other words how we think about God's provision, could still be very flawed. Some people tend to think that God's provision is something that is accomplished through your own hard work. In other words, "God helps those who help themselves." I actually think this is not only wrong, but a low degree of blasphemy. Because when you take the credit for providing for yourself, you then assume (intentionally or not) the title of Provider, which does not belong to you. It is God's title, for He holds the universe together by the power of His Word, and not you. You could not even hold on to your own breath for more than a couple of minutes before you are forced to surrender it to Him, and beg for another.
So no, I am not excusing laziness, but yes, I am saying you can't take credit for your own success, for it either comes from God as a blessing, or from Satan as a distraction. Secondly, a common attitude I hear is, "God wants me to be wealthy." It is this attitude in particular I would like to go after tonight. While being a college student, as previously mentioned, I have learned that I have needs, and I am poor. I am often unable to provide for those needs myself, and I am forced to turn to others for aid, especially my parents who have been more help than I could ever say.
But It has been a constant theme in my life, that when I have a deficit of something, be it time, money, resources, what ever, God sends a person into my life with a surplus of that specific thing, in that specific quantity. He does not, however, give me the winning lottery numbers. Likewise, when I have found myself blessed beyond my needs in a specific area like time, money, etc, He will usually place someone in my life with a corresponding deficit in that specific area, and often in that specific amount. In other words, my excess is usually somebody else's enough, and visa versa.
For a biblical example of this, let's look back at the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000. When Jesus asked for food, the boy gave up his fish. After Christ divided and multiplied them, the boy did not ask for them back and immediately open up a 24-hour "fish and bread supermarket" in first century Palestine. He ended up with lunch, and no more, just like everybody else. Now here is where prosperity gospel preachers would jump up crying foul, with the question, "What about the twelve baskets left over?" as their reply, their tone smug enough to match their greedy, shiny smiles.
Well, depending on how many woman and children there were besides the 5,000 men, the crowd could have been as much as 20,000, conservatively speaking (allowing for one wife and two children, which is a ridiculously low estimate in that culture). Probably more like 25 to 30k or more. 12 baskets amongst a crowd that large is nothing. It's crumbs. Table scraps. It's one basket full (probably not a large basket either, because it was just the kind they had on hand with them in the desert) for every 2,000 people or more. In other words, they really had just enough. Most professional caterers couldn't get that close with portion sizes at an event that large even if they rationed it out.
I saw this play out on a much smaller scale at a youth event my church held recently. We bought pizza, and asked people to bring a suggested $2 donation for it. Several people couldn't pay however, and even with the $2 from everyone else, it woulda been short. Funny thing though, 1 person dropped a $20 in and two others dropped $5's, and it ended up just $4 short of the total cost of pizza for 30 people. At first I thought, "hmm, 4 bucks short. Dang." And then I realized that I and one other sponsor had pizza too. There was the missing $4. For me, it just further exemplifies the fact that God provides just enough. And on a small scale, it partially illustrates why I believe ministers should never be exempt from tithing. I'm the youth pastor, but even I should put the $2 bucks in to round out the number.
Going back to the story of the fish, if God could bless 5,000 with 5 loaves and two fish, imagine what he could do with the 12 basketfuls leftover? Simply put, I believe the excess belongs to God, and I believe that is the true spirit of tithing. You could enjoy the abundance of it, or somebody else could enjoy the sufficiency of it in fulfilling their needs, as opposed to it simply satisfying your desires.
Now if you want to get hung up on how small and possibly random that one isolated event was, that's cool. If you want to say I'm misinterpreting the passage, that's your prerogative. But if you do, be ready for me to spend an hour telling you more stories just like it. Talk to any pastor, I bet they've got em in even greater abundance than I do! Ultimately no, I'm not suggesting we base or entire theology of money on a youth group's pizza party. But what I am saying is that we should be exceedingly vigilant in our own lives to watch for the very specific provision of God, and the very ironic needs of those around us.Essentially, I do not believe God wants you or I to be wealthy. I believe He wants us to be generous. And in my experience, if I enjoy excess, it's almost always because I have ignored the immediate needs of someone around me to get it. The only thing I think the Christian should really have too much of is Joy. And the funny thing is, I'm finding that same Joy is often the result of giving away my own surplus to meet the needs of another.
