Thursday, October 30, 2014

The Prevenient One

Our beagle, Sparrow, loves to sit out in our front yard.  She just sits and watches the neighborhood pass by her.  Today I had a good bit of computer work to do, so I sat on the front porch so that she could enjoy herself outside.

As she was sitting in the yard, under the shade of our oak tree, a gust of wind came.  The gust caused a rain of acorns to fall into the yard.  Sparrow didn't seem too concerned about the acorn-shower, but it sparked my thoughts.

 The acorns, blown  by the wind, are falling just before winter.  The large population of squirrels in our neighborhood, which live in and play in the many oak trees, eat these acorns.  How prevenient of the Lord to provide the acorns just before the cold weather sets in.

I love that word, prevenient.  It means "preceding in time or order."  It comes from the Latin praevenient --meaning "coming before" and is the present participle of praevenire meaning "to anticipate."  

It is a divine grace which exists prior to and without anything we humans may have done.  It is the Lord anticipating our needs even before we know we will have that particular need.

The Scriptures tell us, "And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear, (Isaiah 65:24.)  The Lord knows our needs, He knows every aspect of every moment of our lives, better actually than we do.  More than that, it is His desire to meet those needs in a way that is in perfect accord with His eternal purpose in Christ Jesus.

If the Lord cares enough about the squirrels to provide acorns for them before winter, how much more does He care for His children who have put their faith and trust in Him?  We can be sure -- very sure -- it is the Lord's plan to provide for us even before we ask, as we trust Him by faith.




"But my God shall supply all your need 
according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:19

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