Thank God for Your Provisions
We’resurrounded by blind people everywhere. Not the kind who can’t see light and thecolorful world around them, but the kind who can’t see God.
Why can’t theysee God? Well, not because there’s nothing to see. To be sure, no one can seeGod directly (John 1:18; 1 John 4:12). But anyone can see the evidence of Godthrough the world he has made all around them.
King David saidthat “the heavens declare the glory of God” and “the skies proclaim the work ofhis hands” (Psa 19:1). Many years later, the apostle Paul said that “hisinvisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that aremade, even his eternal power and Godhead.” (Rom 1:20).
Here’s thepoint. Though a person can’t “see God,” they can see that he is there and whathe is like. His power and existence as God over all things is obvious. Thereality of God is all around us, yet we still can’t see him.
That’s why Paulsaid that “although [people] knew God, they did not glorify him as God, norwere thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heartswere darkened” (Rom 1:21).
The word glorifymeans “to magnify something,” “to make something obvious and easy to see,” “tomake a big deal about something.”
Is that whatyou’re doing? Are you magnifying God? Are you making him obvious and easy tosee? Are you making a big deal about him?
How can we dothis? You probably think I’m going to say, “Be a witness who talks about Jesusand the gospel.” That’s a good answer, but that’s not what I’m going to say. Myanswer is simpler than that and it’s something everyone can do.
Are you readyfor this? You need to be thankful. And not just that, but you need to talk toGod and say, “Thank you.”
Here’s what youneed to understand. Giving thanks to God is not just a polite thing to do or ahabit you need to have to “be a good Christian.” When you know what you’redoing and you do it from the heart, giving thanks to God can be a very powerfulmoment in your life – every single time.
When you give thanks to God, you uncover his greatness and goodness. You expose how good God really is – to yourself and to those who are around you.
Through thisthree-part series called Hiding God, I want to uncover God for you in abigger way so that you can expose him to blind people around you who are livingin the spiritual dark.
For $300, youcan sponsor a one-time procedure that gives sight to blind children in India.But at no cost to you, you can help people see the greatness and goodness ofGod every single day of your life.
Here’s thefirst way you can uncover God – by thanking him for your provisions.
Here’s what theBible has to say about this. In three of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke),we read that Jesus did something interesting. When he was eating the Passovermeal with his disciples, he blessed the bread before they ate it and he gavethanks for the juice before they drank it (Matt 26:26-27; Mark 14:22-23; Luke22:19-20).
We see thiskind of thing happening again in the book of Acts, which describes howChristians lived those first years after Jesus rose again and returned toheaven. At one point, Paul was on Roman ship which had been battered badly by astorm. Before it wrecked on an island, he and some passengers on the boat atesome of the food that was onboard. Can you guess what he did? Before they atethe bread, he “gave thanks to God in the presence of them all” (Acts 27:35).
Later on, Paulwrote a letter to a pastor named Timothy. Through this letter, he taught thisman how to be a good pastor. Funny at it may sound, one of the things he toldTimothy to teach people in the church was how to eat food (1 Tim 4:4). In fact,right after he wrote about that, he said that Timothy would be “a good ministerof Jesus Christ” (1 Tim 4:6).
You see, somepeople back then taught that it was good to eat some foods and bad to eatothers. In fact, there’s a fascinating history to this discussion.
- Inthe beginning God told people to eat only plants (Gen 1:29; 2:16).
- Afterthe Flood he permitted them to eat any of the animals also (Gen 9:3-4).
- Stilllater he restricted the kinds of animals that Jewish people could eat (Lev 11).
- Todayhe lets us eat anything he’s created as food, plant or animal (1 Tim 4:4-5).
This openallowance comes with one condition – that we eat with thanksgiving. That’s whatPaul did on the shipwrecked boat and that’s what you and I should do today.
Some peoplecall this “saying grace.” Others call it “praying for the food.” Whatever youcall it, it’s a good thing to do – and you should do it, for EVERYTHING you eatand drink.
What should you say?
You should “bless God” and “give thanks.” You should not do this mindlessly, but thoughtfully and from your heart, fully aware of whom you are speaking to and what you are saying.
“Giving thanks”means “to express gratitude.” There are all kinds of ways to do that. “Thankyou for this food.” “I am so grateful for this food.” “I appreciate what you’vedone by providing this food for me.” “I don’t deserve this food, but I’m soglad you’ve given it to me.”
There are somany ways to say this, so don’t settle in and say it the same way all the time.If you say the same thing every time, then you run the risk of what Jesuscalled “vain repetitions,” which means “saying the same thing over and overagain.”
“Blessing God”means “to express God’s magnificence and exalted status” as the one who is thesource of all blessing and goodness, greatness and honor. It is alsorecognizing some amazement that he has chosen to share some of his goodnesswith you by providing you with the food that you’re about to eat.
How can youexpress this in words? “You are such a good God.” “You have been so good tome.” “As I think about your greatness…” “You are the source of all blessing.”“Everything that I have comes from you.” And so on.
In the end,what you need to do is say things that transform the food in front of you intoa moment that shines the spotlight on God so that you can uncover his greatnessand goodness, as a reminder to you and a reminder to others.
Sometimes wetake the opportunity to say all sorts of other things, turning the mealtimeprayer into an extended prayer meeting, with a thanks for the food tacked on atthe end. This isn’t a bad thing to do, but it’s not necessary either.
Sometimes wepray for everything else, but we never actually get around to thanking God forthe food!
Sometimes wesay something like, “Bless the hands that prepared this food.” That’s nice too,but are you really thinking about what it means? Whose hands prepared thatfood? Was it just your mother who put the casserole on the table?
Let’s sayyou’re giving thanks for the world’s simplest meal – a PBJ. Three ingredients –peanut butter, grape jelly, white bread. How simple is that? Well, not sosimple, actually.
Each of theseingredients was:
- Placedon a shelf by a grocery store employee.
- Deliveredto the store by a truck driver.
- Packagedby factory workers running various machines.
- Processedby some other factory workers running some other machines.
- Deliveredto the factory by another truck driver who brought the peanuts and wheat grainfrom the fields and the grapes from the vineyards.
Before that, somefarmers and other employees planted the seeds and cared for the fields andvineyards to get the peanuts, grapes, and wheat grain to grow.
This simplesummary doesn’t even begin to explore who owns and manages the fields, thefactories, and the stores, or who made the trucks and maintains them, who madethe machines and maintains them, who inspected the food, and so on. In reality,when you say, “Bless the hands that prepared this food,” you’re praying forhundreds of people or more – just for a single PBJ.
Now think aboutthis, in a typical Thanksgiving meal, you have roast turkey, stuffing, mashedpotatoes, gravy, green beans, corn, dinner rolls, cranberry sauce and pumpkinpie. And don’t forget the whipped cream, butter, salt, pepper, and whateversmaller ingredients it took to make all this food. The hands that prepared thisfood certainly number in the thousands.
So here’s thebig question. Where does the sun, rain, and nutrient-rich soil come from? Wheredo the grape seeds, wheat kernels, and peanut seeds come from? Where do the peoplethroughout this process come from? How do they get their energy and skill to dothe work? How do they get the money, resources, and equipment to do their jobs?How do they get the breath, health, and food to be alive? The answer to this is– God.
The food on your table or in your lunch bag is always from God. He provides, sustains, and enables all the science, health, personnel, and resources needed to get that food to your table. When you consider all God does to give you food, you should be amazed by your peanut butter sandwich. More importantly, you should be in awe of how God who provided it.
When you consider all God does to give you food, you should be amazed by your peanut butter sandwich.
Whether you’reeating bananas or apples, mangos or cabbage, green beans or corn … whetheryou’re eating chicken, hamburger, ham, shrimp, or Spam … whether you’redrinking cider, grape juice, soda, or chocolate milk – give thanks to God. Nomatter how you look at it, God gave you that food and you should eat it withthanksgiving.
When should you do it?
Saying thanks to God is so important that you should do it, like Paul, even in a shipwreck and even in the presence of nonbelievers.
In a shipwreck?Well that’s when it’s not convenient. In the presence of nonbelievers? Wellthat’s when you’re with people who don’t also believe on Jesus and who don’thave this habit. If they permit you to do so, you can lead them in the prayerwith you. If they do not, then you can bow your head and do so by yourself.
Don’t worryabout offending the people around you. Don’t worry about your food gettingcold. Just take a moment to thank God for the food he’s given and mention hisgoodness for doing so.
Why should you say it?
Because thanking God for your food exposes you and others to the greatness and goodness of God.
You could arguethat the food itself is enough evidence for the greatness and goodness of God,and it is! But why don’t you walk away from every meal amazed by the incrediblegoodness and greatness of God – whether a PBJ or a Thanksgiving dinner? And whydon’t other people in your family and your life do the same? Perhaps becauseyou didn’t pause to recognize God as the founder of the feast, as the one whoprovided that food in the first place. You go on and eat the meal like you’reblind.
When you fail to thank God for the food you eat, you slowly lose touch with the amazing provision that’s sitting right before you. He did all that was necessary to get that food to your table? And he did all that for you? He did, and that’s amazing!
When you fail to thank God for the food you eat, you slowly lose touch with the amazing provision that’s sitting right before you.
What’s more,you rob the people around you of a chance to see God. When you have the perfectmoment to uncover his greatness to people whose minds may be a million milesaway, you hide him instead. They go on with their meal like a blind man walksthrough Times Square, surrounded by all sorts of things, but not able to seethem and not even aware of what’s there.
If you couldoffer the gift of sight to a child born blind, would you do it? Or would you beafraid of offending them?
If you couldoffer the gift of helping a person see the greatness and goodness of God byoffering a prayer of thanks for his provision, would you do it? Or would you beafraid to bring God up? To make a big deal about him – the only thing, the onlyone who really IS a BIG DEAL.
Did you know that some people around you won’t think about God if they don’t see and hear you thank God for your food? Your child or spouse. Your co-worker or colleague. Your roommate or waiter. That random person sitting across the cafeteria or restaurant from you who’s blind to the things of God may suddenly think about God when they see you pray! When you thank God for your food, you uncover his greatness and goodness to others.
Some people around you won’t think about God if they don’t see and hear you thank God for your food?
Let’s pause fora moment to imagine something special together. Imagine that you and everyoneelse who is listening to this message decides to do this. We decide to thankGod before every meal – even when we’re in a rush or when nonbelievers are nearby.We decide to say fresh things every time that acknowledge the greatness andgoodness of God and we decide to express our thankfulness with words that comefrom our hearts.
What will bethe result if we do? We will “eat and drink to the glory of God” (1 Cor 10:31).We will transform our eating into moments that uncover the greatness andgoodness of God. We expose the people around us to the truth of God’s existenceand of his involvement in their lives.
More peoplewill be aware of God to a greater degree than they would have been otherwise –and that’s a great way to start the month of November as we look ahead toThanksgiving. If we all take this step together, we’ll stop hiding God and givehim more of the attention that he deserves to receive. Let’s do it.
