Your Father Knows

Matthew 6:25–34 ESV

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Find something to write on and write down the things that represent your greatest needs. They could be physical needs, emotional needs.

Now, how many of those needs can be achieved by your own hands?

We forget about God until the very moment we realize we cannot live without His help.

You cannot serve two masters

Sowing and reaping is the principle of the kingdom

Four “how” questions arise from Jesus’ discussion of prayer in Matthew 6:5-15: How often should we pray? Where should we pray? Should we use patterned prayers? And what should we pray for?

Why does Jesus tell us that God knows what we need even before we pray to Him? For at least one very simple reason, I think: Jesus wants to assure us that God always has our best interests in mind.

Jesus must mean that God’s knowing is accompanied by his desiring to meet our need.

Add to that, his huge eagerness to meet their needs (the “much more” of Matt. 6:30). Add to that his complete ability to do what he is eager to do  (he feeds billions of birds hourly, Matt. 6:26).

But we all have a Father who is strong and ever-present and who does not disappoint us.

you don’t check on a seed by digging up the seedling every day to see if the seed took, you have to wait.

So join me and my children in trusting the promise of Jesus to meet our needs. That’s what Jesus is calling for when he says, “Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.”