If you live in any of over 120 of the developed nations of the world, Amazon will deliver products to you. Every day from Cameroon to Columbia, Sri Lanka to Slovakia and over a hundred other nations; packages from Amazon arrive at the doors of homes and businesses. In the US, getting fresh, hot food from any of your favorite restaurants is as easy as asking Uber Eats, Door Dash or a host of others to bring it to you. In the UK, Just Eat is at your beck and call, as 67% of Her Majesty’s subjects know all too well. In Tel Aviv, Mishlohof let’s you order snacks, fruit and even ice cold beer for delivery to your beach chair. (Nope, I’m not making that one up! Folks on electric bikes do the drop off wherever you’re soaking up the sun and sand.)
As any user of Amazon knows, not only can you receive packages at your home or office, but you can send them to others as well. Need to send a birthday gift to one of the three folk who live in Warm River, Wyoming? No problem! Amazon has you covered. Is your auntie one of the nine folk living in McMullen, Alabama? Your Christmas gift gets there with time to spare.
Here’s what I find to be the most amazing part of this illustration — I can get stuff TODAY that I order today. Now when you’re talking about pizza, delivery has been a part of the picture since I was in college. But there are literally thousands of items that Amazon can have at my door in hours. I’m not talking about groceries, mind you; but things like a six-pack of aromatherapy shower steamers or a pocket pack of mint dental floss toothpicks. Who gets something stuck in their teeth and thinks, “I wonder if I can get mint dental floss toothpicks from Amazon today?” instead of grabbing their toothbrush?
Well, it’s about to get crazier as we look at the bible. So let me introduce you to today’s verse, and then blow your mind:
GOD WILL GENEROUSLY SUPPLY ALL YOU NEED
That verse will trigger several different reactions among the readers of this devotional. They’ll span the spectrum from “Of course!” to “Yah, right!” and everything in between. But whichever category you find yourself in, your faith will surely be built up by hearing the things I’m about to share. But there’s a chain that runs through all of the events I’m about to recount, and it goes like this. An impossible need is responded to by an act of faith, obedience and trust – and God does the unthinkable.
Have you ever heard of George Mueller? He started an orphanage in Bristol England in the early 1800’s, and committed that he’d never ask man to provide for the children God brought to his children’s homes. He was convinced that, if God was truly calling him to care for these children, God was well able to provide for all their needs. And God regularly and miraculously did so, because Mueller responded to impossible needs (100 hungry children and no food) with an act of faith (asking God to provide).
Mueller recounts in his autobiography that one night his wife came into his study and reported that they had no milk for the children’s breakfast. George called in two of the orphanage employees, then the four of them asked God to provide for the tiny, helpless mouths that needed to be fed. After they had prayed, he told his wife and staff, “Be assured, if you walk with Him and look to Him and expect help from Him, He will never fail you.”
Just as he finished his encouragement, there was a knock on the front door. Someone delivered an envelope filled with more than enough cash to buy the needed milk for a hundred children. Within minutes, two more letters arrived. More money, and pledges to continue giving. And you thought Door Dash was fast !!!!
That sort of answer to prayer happened regularly and repeatedly.
On another occasion, one of the house mothers came to Mueller and told him, “The children are dressed and ready for school. But there is no food for them to eat.” George instructed her to take the children – now 300 of them – into the dining room and have them sit down for breakfast. Then, as was his custom, he led the children in a prayer of thanksgiving for the meal they were about to receive. Mueller knew there was no food. But He also knew the God he served would provide food for the children as He always did. So he thanked God for His provision, and then stood in the dining room with the children … and waited.
Just then the local baker knocked on the door. “Mr. Mueller,” he said, “last night I could not sleep. Somehow I knew that you would need bread this morning. I got up and baked three batches for you. I will bring it in.” As they were bringing in the bread, the cart the local dairy used to deliver milk to its customers broke down – directly in front of the orphanage. Since the milk would spoil by the time the wheel was fixed, the driver asked George if he could use some free milk. George smiled as the milkman brought in ten large cans of milk. It was just enough for the 300 thirsty children. Talk about getting stuff today that you order today!!
GOD WILL GENEROUSLY SUPPLY ALL YOU NEED
It is far too easy to get caught up in being our own source of provision. But Mueller knew who his provider was, and was convinced that God was far more capable of meeting the need of the children than he was.
God wants us to learn to trust Him. He is faithful, and He knows precisely what we need. In fact, He knows MUCH better than we know. And THAT is what He wants you to come to accept and believe.
When we learn to TRUST His voice, we can learn to OBEY His voice. As you obey and step out in faith to DO what God has instructed you to do, as impossible needs are responded to by YOUR act of faith, obedience and trust – God does the unthinkable.
When there was no food for 300 children’s breakfast, Mueller would never have thought to himself, “OK, let’s pray for a baker to deliver bread and a milk wagon to break down.” The actual solution was much more simple than that. God knew the BEST solution; Mueller knew God. So Mueller prayed, and trusted, and waited. God delivered.
As we step out into this walk of faith, we will make mistakes. Thankfully, God is bigger than our mistakes! We need God to supply our faith, so we are willing to step out. And we need God to supply wisdom, so we know HOW to step out. We need God to supply courage, so that our fear doesn’t stop us from stepping out.
GOD WILL GENEROUSLY SUPPLY ALL YOU NEED
Lest you think that God only provides food and drink, or that He “used to do things like that” but has stopped doing that in this modern age, let me disabuse you of that misunderstanding.
Have you ever heard of Dr. Chauncey Crandall? He’s a Yale-educated cardiologist, and his practice in southern Florida serves some of the most powerful people in the United States.
On October 20, 2006, a middle-aged auto mechanic named Jeff Markin walked into the emergency room at the Palm Beach Gardens Hospital and collapsed from a massive heart attack. He was without oxygen for over 30 minutes while a hospital ER team performed CPR and shocked him seven times without a positive response. Forty minutes after he had arrived, as his body turned black from cyanosis, Jeff was pronounced dead by Dr. Chauncey Crandall, the supervising cardiologist. After filling out his final report, Dr. Crandall started out of the room.
“Before I crossed its threshold, however, I sensed God was telling me to turn around and pray for the patient,” Crandall explained.
So Dr. Crandall went over to the body and prayed for him to be raised from the dead in Jesus’ name! With that prayer and Dr. Crandall’s instruction to give the man what seemed one more useless shock from the defibrillator, Jeff Markin came back to life–and remains alive and well today. An impossible need is responded to by an act of faith, obedience and trust – and God does the unthinkable.
Even in 2006 the mainstream media didn’t cover stories like this. (Imagine my shock!!!) Dr. Crandall ended up writing a book entitled “Raising the Dead: A Doctor Encounters the Miraculous” to tell the story. Yeah, it’s on Amazon, too.
Here’s my final challenge: I encourage you to STEP OUT IN FAITH. What needs can you see that need God’s loving touch? And what would He have YOU do as part of His process?
Impossible needs responded to by YOUR act of faith, obedience and trust open the door for you to participate when God does the unthinkable.
GOD WILL GENEROUSLY SUPPLY ALL YOU NEED
