A Prayer To God Our Provider In Time of Need

 Last week both the government of Canada and our provincial government brought down new budgets with lots of new spending to try to support the economy going forward to the rest of the time of the pandemic and beyond.  The amount of deficit they are going to wrack up in the short term is mind-boggling.  We used to talk about balanced budgets and a billion or two in deficit was a problem.  Last year Canada ran up a deficit or more than $350 billion  and will add another $100 billion to that this year. 

So much money. So much spending. So much debt to be repaid going forward. We can only pray that they are making the best decisions at this time for the impact show me the longer-term.

I am encouraged by some things Jesus tells us. One day as Jesus taught He was reminding the people around him of a time when they felt like they had no food no water and didn’t know what the future was going to look like.  The history of their ancestors in the wilderness after leaving Egypt was well known to all  of them. 

The people spoke about how Moses gave them bread in the desert and Jesus clarified the situation this way when he said, “Very truly I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven but it is my father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world .... I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.“. John 6:32-33, 35

What are we relying on today as we look to the future? Our governments?  They’ll be able to do some help and we hope not more harm in the process  We do pray for our governments today but I believe God encourages us to even more lift our hearts and eyes up  see his generous heart for us and his desire to provide for us.

Loving God, we thank you today that you are with us and know everything that’s going on around us. We do want to bring our governments to you in prayer. They have had many complicated and challenging decisions to make, and there are still many more discussions about conflicting needs and then decisions to follow. We pray that you will keep their hearts fixed on what’s best for the greater good rather than for political expediency. We pray that you will keep them strong in choosing to do the best available in the middle of many loud and strident calls for needs in every sector of society. Give them your grace. Give them your wisdom.

And so we also pray that we will all keep a clear perspective and lift our hearts and minds to you our provider, our loving father, the one who gives us the bread of life that satisfies us and the water of life that quenches our thirst. We pray Lord Jesus that we will listen to your words and really learn what it means today to open our lives so that we can enjoy the true bread from heaven that God is giving us. 

Your Word tells us:

This same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Philippians 4:19, 6

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.  Hebrews 4:16

So our prayer today God, is that we would pray and tell You our needs trusting in Your care for us, Your generous heart that is willing to pour out generously into our lives with what we need, when we need it most.  Give us faith to trust Your goodness and humility to seek Your provision rather than living in the insecurity of what the local economy or temporary government measures can do.  Amen

Well, I trust You will have peace of mind and heart in these days of vaccinations and virus variants that threaten.  God is with us.  Let’s lean back in His care today and have a great day.