“The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in due time.”

Welcome to week three of our “Who is God?” devo series! Today’s verse speaks to the provision of God, and how He cares for all those who look to Him. There are some key things I want us to look at in today’s verse:

First, King David, the author of this psalm, says that the eyes of all look to God. The word translated “look” can also mean to wait or to hope. So, this “looking” that David describes is not just a passing glance. It is the turning of one’s eyes toward God in hopeful expectation. It denotes this posture of surrender and reliance on God. What a beautiful picture!

The second thing I want us to notice today is the latter half of this verse. “You give them their food in due time.” Now this verse is not just talking about literal food, though that is part of it. But the “food” in this verse really represents all the needs of the person who has turned to God. I love that when David wrote this psalm, he wrote this line in full assurance of the provision of God.  

When you look at David’s life, you see times of plenty and times of want, times when he is safe and times of peril, times of comfort and times of distress. David certainly did not have a perfect life filled with ease and comfort at every turn. He knew what it meant to live in fear, desperation, hunger, and want. And yet, he writes these lines, that God supplies our needs. Not that he hopes God will or that sometimes God does. But with total certainty that God is the supplier of our needs. Period.

And notice thirdly that David writes “in due season”. This phrase literally means the fitting time, or the proper time. It’s the idea that what God provides is given exactly when it is supposed to come. God is never early, and He is never late. He never forgets or fails to recognize the need. He is passionate about His children and meets their needs EXACTLY when they need them. We can trust that if God seems to tarry in His provision, it is for a good reason and our ultimate best.  

I don’t know about you, but there have been times in my life when I have been tempted to doubt the truth of this verse. I remember a particularly hard season in the life of my family. We had left full time active duty to pursue my husband’s master’s degree. We had started out with a solid plan, money in savings, tons of ideas of how this season would go, and confidence of the road we had before us. We were hopeful and eager for this new season in our life.  

But along the way, the plan blew up and we found ourselves in a very lean season, unsure how we would make it through. My health was failing, our marriage was struggling, and our finances were dismal. We had gotten to the point of needing major help and were facing bankruptcy full in the face. I remember crying out to God and wondering why He wasn’t coming through. I was frustrated that it seemed like we could never catch a break and though we tried and tried to do our part, the details were just not working out. We weren’t sure how we would make it through the upcoming few months.  

Then I filed our taxes and realized that we had calculated our deductions poorly. We owed $500 to our taxes. But at that point it might as well have been 5 million. We had no way to pay that money and we worried that would be the final straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak. We looked at our finances and were very tempted to stop tithing to the church for a few months to try and make up the money we needed for the taxes.  

But God spoke to our hearts and firmly whispered that we needed to remain faithful to Him, trust that He would provide, and honor Him with our tithe. So, reluctantly, I pulled the cash for the tithe, and we prayerfully (and painfully) gave. We hadn’t told anyone about our predicament. We felt defeated and shameful. We had resigned ourselves to the inevitable snowball effect we knew was coming. But then, later that week, I was home with my kiddos, when an envelope slid under our front door. I picked it up, unsure what could be in it.  

I opened the envelope to find five one-hundred-dollar bills and a note that read, “We don’t know why God put it on our hearts to give this to you. We pray it blesses you. It’s all His!” The note was anonymous and to this day we still do not know who put it under our door. But God moved in miraculous ways! I remember sinking to the floor in tears! God had come through and provided what we needed in due time. We were able to pay the tax bill with the money given.  

God continued to provide for our needs through the amazing generosity of others, in one miraculous provision after another. And a few months later my husband was offered an amazing job in Alaska. We sold all our belongings and packed the kids, the dogs, and a few keepsakes and clothes into our truck and set out across the country to a new beginning that God would use to take our family from desperation into an amazing 6 years of healing, growth, and eventually being called into full time ministry.

I share this story not because I want to glorify us or our actions. Lord knows if it hadn’t been for the incredibly strong conviction of the Spirit, we wouldn’t have remained faithful like we did. But I tell you this to encourage you. And the amazing thing is this is not the only story like this I could share with you. Over and over, God has shown up and provided! Wherever you are at, whether in plenty or in want, God sees your need and He is faithful to provide in due season. He will care for you. He is faithful even when we are not. Trust Him. He is good!

Heavenly Father,

I praise You for being our ultimate provider and lover of our souls. You never turn away and You are never late. Thank You that You know exactly what we need- not just for our physical bodies but for our entire being as a whole. Thank You that You are always faithful and loving. I trust You and I will continue to trust You all the days of my life.

In the name of Jesus Christ,

Amen