God Will Take Care of You

“The hay appeareth,
and the tender grass sheweth itself,
and herbs of the mountains are gathered.
The lambs are for thy clothing,
and the goats are the price of the field.
And thou shalt have goats’ milk enough for thy food,
for the food of thy household,
and for the maintenance for thy maidens” (Prov 27:25–27).

Since last August, we have been slowly working our way through Proverbs 27. This is the final installment of that chapter. In these three verses, we see a promise of blessing. In Solomon’s day, people practiced subsistence farming; that is, they raised crops, not to sell, but to feed themselves. The same was true with livestock: they raised animals to drink their milk, to use their wool or hides for clothing, to eat their eggs, and eventually to slaughter and eat them.
In these verses, we find a promise of provision. What is interesting is that nowhere does it say that God will provide for our needs. However, the means by which the needs are met imply that God is the one who provides. The proverb says that there will be hay, grass, and herbs to feed the livestock. Who is able to produce hay? Can you make hay grow? Ultimately, God is one who provides the sun, the rain, and the nutrients to make grasses grow.
The hay and grass feed the animals, which in turn, provide food and clothing for man. These provisions make possible the hiring of servants to continue to produce food and clothing from the animals. But where does this process start?
It begins with God’s providential care. When we speak of God’s providential care, we mean that God provides for our needs through ordinary or non-miraculous means. Could God not perform a miracle of nature so that our clothes never wear out? Of course he could—and in fact, he did that for children of Israel (Deut 29:5)! Could God not speak the word and make food fall from heaven? Of course he could—and he did that for Israel as well (Exod 16:14–21)!
God can perform miracles to provide for us, but he generally chooses to work through normal, everyday means. For example, God takes care of your needs through your parents. Your parents have jobs and make money. They use that money to take care of your needs. But does not that provision come from God? Where did your parents get the skills, intelligence, health, and strength to do those jobs? God has providentially blessed you and taken care of your needs.
Could not God make money miraculously appear in our wallets or purses? Of course he could—he created the entire universe out of nothing, so he could certainly do that. But remember the time when Jesus and Peter needed money to pay their annual temple tax (Matt 17:24–27)? Jesus told Peter to go and catch a fish, look in its mouth, and there would be exactly the money they needed to pay their tax. How did the coin get into that fish’s mouth? Somebody probably dropped it and it rolled into the water, where a fish swallowed it and swam around until Peter caught him. But God sovereignly orchestrated all of these seemingly “normal” events to provide in a special way for Peter.
Could God “zap” you one night and make you smart enough to pass all your classes at school? I’m sure he could, but the way he will help you get through school is by you studying the material and using the mind and intellect he has given you. Could God have somebody show up and write you a huge check to get through college? He certainly could, and some people give testimony to this very thing. But we shouldn’t wait around, twiddling our thumbs until the big check arrives in the mail. Rather, we should get a job, save our money, and consider that God will providentially provide for our needs.
God always takes care of us. Sometimes he gives us what we need in a way that is mind-boggling. Other times he helps us realize we don’t really need all that we thought we did. Still other times he takes care of us in normal, “boring” ways—but it is still God’s provision and care for us.