Boy, I don't know about you, but I often feel like I have way more needs than I do supplies! In fact, most of life can seem that way...not enough money to pay bills, no patience with a demanding boss or needy children. Or how about your mate? Been needing more than you think you'll ever get (or give)? I sometimes feel like a dried up river...I have nothing more to give, yet I still need tons of life-giving water! As you know, my personal struggle is chronic illness and the complex ways it has changed me and my life. But within that larger issue is the very pressing panic (hopelessness, helplessness, despair, fear, anger,etc) that comes from unremitting PAIN! Just like a broken heart overwhelms your mind, body and soul, pain often threatens to swamp and sink my boat. I'm not talking about a sinus headache, either. I mean severe pain that defeats sleeping pills, infusions and even the very powerful narcotic, fentanyl. When my pain ramps up from moderate and moves toward the severe level, I can literally have the compulsion to RUN, because it triggers the "fight or flight" response!
However, my gracious Savior has been teaching me a new principle, lately...the one of need and supply. Often, I see no way to bear the pain, I just endure it as it rips me to shreds. But a verse in Isaiah 45 (v.3) says that God will give me the treasures from secret places so that I can further understand that He is GOD and the only one capable of meeting my needs. In other words, He has the "supply" before I ever even have the "need". God always works like that: He made air before He made a single air breather, water before thirst existed, light before one eye was made and a redemption plan before there was a single human being! I don't mean He's a huge "off" switch for my pain, though I have experienced that many times. What I mean is that He has whatever I need to cope with and rise above the pain...the supply of power to withstand the destructive force of pain. It's just a matter of calling on Him so He can "show me great and mighty things", things that are not temporal but eternal. But I have to choose to call out to Him AND trust Him.
I encourage you to reflect on this truth of the vast supply of ANYTHING you need. My pain and your need is no surprise to God, even if it is to us. He is always ready and willing to meet us at our point of need...after all, He said He'd supply all my needs, so why am I so slow to ask Him to? Well, I intend to learn to have faith in the secret treasures of God's supply...how about you????
