Due to the nature of our family’s ministry, we have much interaction with cross-cultural missionaries serving Christ around the globe. One of my favorite things to do is to fellowship with a missionary who has served Christ for many years. I love to ask them questions like this: “What is one of the main lessons that God has taught you over the course of your ministry?” Or “What is something that the Lord has taught you deeply over the years?”
The most common response I have received when asking this question is, “God is faithful.” Recently I asked this question of a man who has served around 65 years as a missionary in South Korea, and this was his response as well. As is often true, when he gave this answer, the look on his face showed that he was thinking back to times when God proved Himself true. Sometimes when I ask this question, testimonies start coming!
God’s Faithfulness
God is faithful. If we put our trust in Him, no matter the circumstance, He proves Himself faithful. He is worthy of our trust. His steadfast love endures forever.[1] He does not change.[2] His promises are sure.[3] His presence with us is guaranteed.[4] This theme about God’s character and the need to actively trust Him every day is found everywhere from Genesis through to Revelation.[5] He truly is our faithful Shepherd.[6]
Knowledge of God’s faithfulness is what gives us the liberty to step out in faith and do hard things for Him. As we step out in faith to do His will, He proves to us His faithfulness. Each time He does so, He strengthens our conviction. If we don’t step out in faith because of fear, we don’t have opportunity to see God work and provide.
Lord, We Need Cash
When Jennifer and I began traveling to raise support to serve as missionaries to Cambodia, we were completely broke. We had no money to start with. We lived from love offerings given by churches we visited. When we got married, we made a commitment to the Lord: we would never buy daily necessities on credit. This commitment forced us to trust the Lord to provide while working hard ourselves. The Lord has always taken care of us.
One Sunday we had a meeting in the Indianapolis area. We had no money in the bank and no cash on hand. In those days, you could not deposit a check immediately through an app. You had to physically cash the check at the bank or mail the check deposit by post. I prayed and reminded the Lord of our need. We did not have enough money for gas to get to the church and back. We had no money for food. I asked the Lord to move upon the heart of the pastor to not give us a love offering in the form of a check, but rather cash, so that we could use it immediately. I asked the Lord to help me not to think about money at all during that time at the church. God blessed us with a good meeting there.
After church, as we were walking to our car, the pastor walked up with an envelope containing our love offering. It was a check! I smiled and thanked the pastor, wondering what the Lord would do. If I remember correctly, Monday was a holiday, so I could not cash the check until Tuesday.
No, You Don’t Need Cash
The pastor then told us that we would be having lunch at his son’s home across town. He asked us to follow the family down the interstate about 20 minutes to get to their house. We had a dilemma—our gas level in the tank was at the bottom of the empty level. Our family probably barely made it to the church service to begin with. Now, we had to drive at high speeds on the interstate on fumes, since I had no available cash to use for gas.
As we pulled out of the parking lot and headed for the interstate, we prayed much. My prayer was for the Lord to bring glory to Himself by getting us to this family’s home. I pled with the Lord not to dishonor His name by having our car run out of gas, for we trusted Him to meet our needs. We drive what seemed to be hundreds of miles.
We arrived at the family’s home, the car still running. Before I could turn off the car, the husband ran up to the driver’s side window and said, “How much gas do you have in your tank?” To which I replied, “I am almost completely out.” He said, “See the gas station next door? Pull over there and I will fill up your tank. This is something we like to do to help missionaries.” You can imagine our relief and joy in how God answered our prayer. Leaving the driveway, I asked the Lord to get us all the way to the pump!
Slow to learn
After a wonderful time of fellowship, we prepared to leave. The thought came to me: “We still don’t have cash, Lord. What is our family going to do for food tonight? Tomorrow?” As we were about to go out the door, the wife called us and gave us a large basket full of sandwiches and snacks! We were amazed. We told God that He had to provide us with cash. He did provide for us, but He did so with a tank of gas and basket of food instead. We rejoiced greatly in God’s provision. God is faithful.
As is often said, “Where God guides, God provides.” It is so.
“This God—his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him” (Psalm 18:30)[7].
(This is a revision of the article first published on Gospel Fellowship Association’s blog, Commissioned: gods-provision-gods-way.)
[1] Psalm 136
[2] Hebrews 13:8
[3] 2 Corinthians 1:20
[4] Psalm 139
[5] Proverbs 3:5-6; Hebrews 11
[6] Psalm 23
[7] All Scripture quotations are in the ESV unless otherwise noted.
