What is Gods Provision For Man?

In our study, "What Is My Purpose In Life", we were looking at the purpose with which God created man and we saw that man was created to reflect God's image and to be a ruler and he was created with a body made of dust, but a spirit which could respond to God. And whether we fulfill the purpose with which God created us or not, depends on which of these pulls we respond to. An animal responds only to the pull of his body. All he's interested in is food, sleep, sex, and taking care of his little ones when they're born. And when a man is interested only in food, sleep, sex, and taking care of his family, such a man is not doing anything more than any animal does for his family. It's when a man responds to the spirit, to the voice of his conscience, to the voice of God, speaking in his conscience that he rises above the level of animals and lives as a son of God. As God intended them to be. Why is it that so many Christians don't respond to the call of God in their life to be what God wants them to be, to surrender their lives to him?

It's because they feel that if they do their own will, and please themselves, and respond just to the desires of their own body, they can live a happier life. This is the great deception of Satan.

He's portrayed God as someone who's come to spoil our lives like a spoilsport who doesn't want us to have any fun or enjoyment. Which is not true. Jesus tried to remove that wrong image of God from the people in his time.

Throughout history, one of Satan's greatest weapons has been to portray a wrong image of God before people so that they will not surrender their life to Him, so that we'll hold back something in our lives. And if God can be portrayed as someone who's out to make you unhappy or miserable, then he succeeded in preventing man from surrendering himself to such a God. And I tell you, most Christians I met, and this is true even in people in other religions, have a feeling that God is not someone you can be very friendly with. God is not someone who is out to do you good. He's out to make your life miserable and this is a lie. And when we are called to be ambassadors of Christ, part of our calling is to show forth this lie of the devil.

God intends the very best for you.

Whenever he tells you not to do something, it's for your good. We may not realize it.

A little one year old child, or two year old child doesn't understand why you tell him not to play around with a snake or with a knife or with fire. We know that that's harmful for that child. He doesn't know how to use a knife or fire. That child can hurt themselves. But do you think those little children understand that? They burn themselves in the fire, they cut themselves with a blade or a knife, because they disobeyed. Man is exactly like that. When God tells us not to do something it is because he knows that that particular thing will destroy us. There may be a temporary pleasure we get out of doing it, but in the long run it destroys us. And that's why he tells us not to do something, and that's why God told Adam in Genesis chapter two not to eat from a particular tree.

Now there's more than one reason for God telling Adam not to eat from that tree which we can look at. In one way, God was testing him. God was testing him to see whether he would respond to God. You see,

God can never make a man holy without that person choosing to be holy.

God doesn't force us to be holy. He was not going to force Adam to be holy if he didn't want to be holy.

So if God had sent him out into the garden of Eden and said, you do whatever you like, eat whatever you like, I'm not going to place any restrictions on you. There would be no opportunity for Adam to make a choice. And when he doesn't have to make a choice, he cannot be holy. It's when God gives us the opportunity to choose, that we can become holy.

What was the choice that confronted Adam? It is very similar to what we were considering in our last study. There was something God had created. There was a very beautiful tree with very beautiful fruit and that was on one side. On the other side was God himself and his command not to take part of that. So when Adam and Eve stood before that tree, they were standing between that which was created and their Creator. And they had to make a choice. God was saying, Which do you want now? Do you want what's created? Or do you want God himself? And you know what Adam chose? He chose what was created. And that was the origin of sin in the human race. And the devil tempted him just to choose that which was just created.

The devil didn't tempt Eve to kill her husband or slap him or any such thing or even not to be submissive to him. He just tempted her to choose that which was created over the Creator. He knew that that would be enough to destroy her. And when she offered the fruit to Adam, he also faced that choice. "Shall I choose the one who created me or should I choose this lovely thing that is created", and he chose the lovely thing that was created and he destroyed his life as well.

Now, today we face the same choice...every one of us. There are many, many attractive things that God has created, but some of those things are also forbidden.

For example, God has not given every woman for you to lust after or commit adultery with or to have sex with. He gives you a wife. But when you want something which God has forbidden, someone other than your wife, and you want to, in a wrong way enjoy her sexually, you're choosing something created, rejecting the commandment of God. It's exactly the same choice that Eve made when she chose something attractive that God created and rejected God. It could be money. Money is something very attractive God has created. But he never intended that man should live for it or worship it or choose that above God.

Do you know the number of people, even among believers, Clergy, and Pastors who have chosen money above God? This tremendous attractiveness in wealth? Why has he made it so attractive? Why did God make the tree of knowledge of good and evil so attractive?

If all that God wanted was to prevent Adam from ever partaking of that tree. All he had to do was make the tree very ugly, repulsive, smelly, full of thorns or something like that and Adam and Eve would never have gone anywhere near it. But then they wouldn't have been tested. If something God has created was ugly and repulsive and smelly, the fact that you reject that and chose God doesn't prove anything.

The test is that when God makes something really attractive, and your whole being rises up in response to that attraction, and when you say no to that and you choose God,....then you're on the pathway of holiness.

No Man can be holy without his making that choice. Which choice? The choice that I want my creator more than what he created.

What does a young man look for as they grow up? They want a job, they want a home and they want a marriage partner. These are the main things young people look for as they grow up, and get into their twenties. Think about Adam. Did God provide? Did He make some provision for Adam in these three areas? He certainly did. We read there that before God made Adam, he had already made this beautiful garden as a home. God had made a wonderful home called the garden of Eden and then he made man.

Employment? God had already planned an employment for Adam as the gardener in this garden. A marriage partner? God, had already planned to create a woman to be his wife. Adam didn't even have to go to God and tell him I need something here.

That's what we see right at the beginning of the Bible. We see that God knew Adam's need and provided for it. Even before Adam asked Him, God provided a home for him, he provided a job for him, and he provided a marriage partner for him. God is a good God. He's just the same today. He provides for his children in exactly the same way, if we trusts him. And understand that what He provides is absolutely the best.

The Bible says that when God wanted to provide a partner for Adam, He said, “I want to make someone suitable for him. I'll make him a helper suitable for him.” That means someone that exactly fits with his temperament and his nature according to his need. God said, “I will create a wife who will be exactly suited for him.”

Do you believe that God loves you just as much as he loved Adam? If you honor God and you seek him and choose the Creator above the created, and don't grab for yourself, you'll find that he does that for you as well. He'll provide you a place to live, he'll provide you a job, he'll provide you a partner, exactly suited for you. You couldn't find a better one yourself, you couldn't find a better job or a better house, a better partner. So that's what we see here. God, intends to provide man his needs. The Bible says, in Philippians 4:19 “that my God will supply all your need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” He doesn't give us all that we want. Only a foolish father would give his children everything they ask for.

You think it's wise to give your children everything they ask for? That would destroy them. A wise father gives his children everything they need, not everything they ask for.

God is a much wiser father. He doesn't give us everything we ask. When we pray, he doesn't always answer yes. He doesn't always grant our desires. His answer is sometimes “no”. Just like a good father sometimes, many times, has to tell his children no. “I'm sorry, my son my daughter, I can't give you that. I won't permit that.” But everything that we need, God had already made provision for, before He created them. That's the wonderful thing. It's not that God created Adam and then said, “Hey! I've got to look around for a place for him to stay and I've got to look around and make a wife for him. The wife that God had planned for Adam was planned before he created Adam. Eve was created later, but she was planned even before. Because before God, made Adam himself, He says, “let us make man in our image according to our likeness.” And so Adam and Eve were planned before they were created. So we see that God had planned everything for Adam before he was created, and it's a wonderful thing to believe that.

Many a time when we face situations in life where we can wonder, has God made some provision for this particular situation that I'm facing right now? It's wonderful to go back to Genesis and to see that before a need arises, God has already made a plan for it. It's a very wonderful thing to be a child of God because God provides everything that we need. Whatever it is, spiritual, physical, material.

You know, every single person on earth should want to be a child of God. Why is it that people don't want this wonderful life? Because the devil has somehow portrayed God, before people, that He is a hard, demanding taskmaster. "Don't yield your life to Jesus." Satan will say. "You can be a much happier person if you live on your own." That's a lie. And I believe that's one of the things that we need to emphasize to Christians. It's a lie to imagine that you can live a better life out there on your own without consulting God about His will. The happiest Christians on earth are the ones who have decided, I don't want to plan my own life. I want God to plan my life and I want to fulfill his will completely. If you know God's nature as a loving father who cares for you, you'll gladly say that.

Let's get rid of this wrong concept of God, that the devil's portrayed before people, and let us recognize God wants the very best for you. So surrender unto Him and say, "Lord, I want your will for my life. I want to completely and totally surrender my life to Thee.