Do you know how much God cares about you? I mean, how much He cares about you personally, and not just as part of the world He created?
I was thinking this morning about how God cares for us so much, He anticipates our needs even before we ask (Matthew 6:8). Sometimes He sends the answer before we even pray! David observed (in Psalm 139) that God knows our thoughts from afar. Before we speak, He already knows what we’re going to say.
Long before the days of TSA and tight airport security, I was on my way to visit the young woman who would later become my wife. I carried a big bouquet of roses, plus glass vials to hydrate them in for the trip. But on the way to the airport, I realized I had no way to cut the stems before putting them in the water-filled vials. I said nothing, but simply had a fleeting thought of that insignificant need as I looked out the window.
Walking through a lonely security station at the airport, I was greatly puzzled when the X-ray machine operator handed me a pocketknife after scanning my carry-on. “This isn’t mine,” I remarked. He firmly replied, “Yes it is.” No one had passed immediately before me, so I was a little confused as I protested, “No, this isn’t mine.” With the biggest white smile against his dark skin, he insisted, “Oh, yes it is!” There was no use arguing. And as I walked away with this gift, I realized God had just supernaturally supplied the means to cut my rose stems for maximum freshness!
Not convinced? Here’s another example. Yesterday and the day before, Carrie and I were discussing the little seedling nursery growing in our basement in anticipation of gardening this summer. We thought it would be cool to have a little portable greenhouse to extend our growing season.
When I went outside to get the mail after work today, I struck up a short conversation with my next-door neighbor. He hesitated, then said, “I don’t know if you’d want this, but could you use something we were just going to get rid of? I don’t mean to dump anything on you…” He led me to his garage…to a portable greenhouse with shelves! “As a matter of fact, I would love it!” I exclaimed. I didn’t even ask God for this—He just knew we’d enjoy it, so in His great love, He provided!
I could tell similar story after story, and I bet you might even have a few yourself. Those who don’t know the goodness of God call such events “amazing coincidences.” But we know better, don’t we? We know we have an amazing God.
Sometimes the answer to someone’s prayer intersects them right afterward. But it had to have been put in motion beforehand. I think of the fish Peter caught with tax money in its mouth, and much later, God preparing Peter minutes before the arrival of Cornelius’s emissaries (Matthew 17, Acts 10).
Rest easy and smile! God has already put in your future everything you will need when you get there!
