These Things Will Be Provided

“And all these things will be provided to you as well” (Matthew 6:33)

The Father cares for the wildflowers in the field. Jesus tells us so. He gives them soil to grow in. He waters them and shines on them. He fills them with life and makes them beautiful.

He cares for the sparrows, even as they fall. He does not give them up to death, but holds them in life.

God cares for them, and he cares for us even more.

All suffering is an encounter with death. When a friend ghosts us, that is death. When we lose a job, that is death. When we hate ourselves, that is death.

All loss is death. All pain is death. All evil is death.

Just as the Father remains with the sparrow, he remains with us in every encounter with death. He is present, infusing us with life.

However bad external reality is, there is an internal reality just as real and more real—the reality of God’s presence and our ability to turn to him.

But what makes this real? What makes internal reality real is that it transforms external reality. Jesus promises that if we turn to life inwardly, our external necessities will be provided. Anyone can put this into practice and find out for themselves whether it is true.

Does that mean a godly person will never die, suffer, or experience injustice? No. The sparrow falls. The flowers of the field are thrown into the furnace. Jesus was crucified. We too inevitably will meet our end. Death will have its seeming victory. The external conditions of life will run out.

That is all the more reason to turn to life. Those who turn to life have their necessities provided for not only here in the midst of death, but also there, on the other side of death’s hollow victory.