“Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” Psalm 50:14-15
“He who created nature sustains it; nature is so constituted that its Maker is its Protector for ever. Without Him nature could not have begun to be; without Him it could not subsist at all. That we might not be ignorant of this, or vainly attribute to ourselves the beneficence of our Creator, God has determined in the depths of His wise counsel that we should be subject to tribulations. So when man’s strength fails and God comes to his aid, it is meet and right that man, rescued by God’s hand, should glorify Him, as it is written, ‘Call upon Me in the time of trouble; so will I hear thee, and thou shalt praise Me’ (Ps. 50.15). In such wise man, animal and carnal by nature, and loving only himself, begins to love God by reason of that very self-love; since he learns that in God he can accomplish all things that are good, and that without God he can do nothing.”
Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), excerpt from Chapter Eight in his classic work: On Loving God.
Have you experienced times of plenty as well as lean times?
In times or plenty we must remain thankful, and in lean times we must not fear or worry. We must follow the example of the psalmist and sacrifice thank offerings while fulfilling our vows. That means we do our part and trust God to be our Protector and Sustainer.
I feel like I experiencing such times right now.
I am praying for God’s provision for GTP. We have hired new staff with dedicated funding but lacking supply for our core operations. I thank God for His faithful provision over more than 3.5 years and pray He will continue to supply through His people. Click here to give.
For my part, I am mapping my faithful work this week related to this and trusting God.
If you serve in a leadership position of a ministry, you can probably relate to this. I pray today’s post encourages you to remain faithful in your work while trusting God in your real time of need. May He deliver and sustain us and be the object of our praise, both in times of plenty and lean times.