Will God Provide for All the Needs of All His People?

4:19 "And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."

In one sense the answer to the title question is easy. Yes, He will. But does this mean that His promise to provide for the generous is equal to His promise to provide for the stingy? Not at all.

If God’s promise to provide for the ungenerous is the same as His promise to provide for the generous, then all of the promises that say "He who is generous will be blessed" (Prov.22:9) are meaningless.

On the other hand, in light of the fact that all things have been given to those who are in Christ (Rom.8:32; 1Cor.3:21–22; 2Cor.6:10), we cannot conclude that God withholds anything at all from His children.

There must be some way to understand and uphold each of these truths without compromising the other. And, of course, there is.

God promises to give His children everything they need. But those who are generous are promised that all their material needs will be met. The needs of those who are not generous will be met also. But often their need is for a good spanking. God knows that what the stingy need is often a taste of their own medicine. He does not do this out of spite, but out of love:

"The Lord disciplines those he loves, and he spanks everyone he accepts as a son." (Heb.12:6)

You see, God provides for our REAL needs, not necessarily what we think of as our needs. One way God spanks us is through the devourer, who depletes the resources of those who will not yield their money to God:

"You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it... You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away... Because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands." (Haggai 1:6-11)

Notice from this passage that this devouring is something GOD does. But again, this is not something God does to "get" us. Rather, He loves us so much that He will not withhold any good thing from us. And when we are stingy, a spanking is a very good thing.

For those of us who have withheld our money from God, He promises that if we repent and give: "Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes." (Malachi 3:11)

Dear Father, forgive me that I have been more concerned about protecting and preserving what I have than loving the people you have called me to love. Forgive me for thinking so much about myself and so little of others. Forgive me for not believing Your promise that You will more than repay those who give generously. O Lord, in the years I have left in my life, please help me to pour out everything I have for the sake of others, as Christ has done for me.