It seems that everyday we hear stories about how the Lord provides. A man praying for a hot meal has a random stranger hand him a big mac. Churches pray for the funds to expand their sanctuaries in order to accommodate their growing body and the Lord provides. It seems that we are bombarded from the left and right with amazing ways that the Lord is providing for the needs of his people. Which is really cool, but how often does it happen to us.
When I signed up for the Race I heard the stories. The blind receiving their sight; those who were paralyzed getting up and walking, and the Lord daily providing for the basic needs of the Racers, whether it is making the next financial deadline or finding clean water to drink. What I didn’t realize is that by accepting to walk in faith and reliance on the Lord I opened myself up to be provided for.
Today is the first of October and my Squad is leaving for Malaysia in about seven hours (it is currently midnight). My wonderful team has been selected to be the first to perform ATL. Simply stated, ATL (or Ask The Lord) is an entire month dedicated to looking for awesome people of God that are furthering the kingdom. We do not have an official ministry contact and are completely on our own as far as where we go, who we meet, where we sleep, and what we eat. In other words it is a month spent following the direction of the Lord.
Now is when we get to the cool part. Up until about 3 hours ago we did not know where we would be staying our second night. We had spent weeks praying for God to give us some direction as to where he wanted us to be and got nothing in response but “wait on me.” So we did. We waited, prayed, researched, and prayed some more for God to open doors for us in the nation. The longer we waited the more we were forced to trust.
Tonight we were praying out of desperation, begging for any clue. We had not heard back from possible contacts and had nowhere to go after the first night in Kuala Lumpur. Little did we know that at the very moment we were gathered in prayer, God was providing. After prayer and worship, there was not one but two messages bringing the information we had prayed for. We have a place to stay, not just for the first week but the entire month. It turns out that God was just waiting until the right moment before revealing his plan. He was waiting for us to be dependent on him, waiting for us to grow before lighting the path.
How often do we shut the door on God before he can provide for us. Trusting is difficult and it is often so much easier for us to take care of problems ourselves. Instead of waiting patiently, we rush headlong into taking care of ourselves; and in so doing, remove God, the ultimate provider from the picture. God takes delight in caring for his children, but because he trully desires what is best for us he often makes us wait. So I have one question; are you waiting on the Lord? Because if you do then not only will he bless you, but when he reveals your path it is a great excuse for a spontaneous dance party.
