By Nina Page, IOC
Scripture Reference:
“Therefore I say to you, do not worry 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, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore, do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:25–34).
Devotional:
Well, the evening had finally arrived. All day I’d had the cares of the moment, world, and work on my mind. As I walked across the Mercy Ships campus, God drew my eyes to the ground where one of the first daffodils of spring had sprouted. The daffodil was so lovely. It was pale yellow, delicately formed. It moved gently with the breeze. I marveled at its appearance, beautiful and sufficient. Here was a mere flower, standing tall one minute, perhaps trampled under someone’s foot the next. Wow! The daffodil, like the lilies of the field alluded to in Matthew 6, was His creation. My mind moved to the thought that God made me. He had provided clothing, shelter, work, friends, coworkers and food. Why did I ever worry about my life, what I would drink or eat, what I’d put on for clothing? God knows my needs, and He will provide.
The above are questions that often plague us. What are we to do in order to fix our focus on Him? I suppose the key is found in verse 33 of Matthew 6. In this passage, we read the directive to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to us. As with all aspects of our Christian walk, we are not able to do this in our own strength. Rather, it is via His Holy Spirit, which He has freely given us that we are able to ponder how much God loves and cares for us. Ask the Lord to grant you His eyes to look past your current concerns to view your particular situation through His eyes, actually seeing God’s provision for you today. Focus on today, not tomorrow, next year, or the distant future. Ask God to enable you to see your situation differently, in a new way.
Prayer Points:
* Pray God will grant you wisdom to see your daily stresses and strains through His eyes.
* Pray God will help the crews of the Anastasis and Africa Mercy to look to Him in a new way as they transition to new experiences and different places.
* Pray God will grant peace to those of us at the IOC and national offices as we act to support the progress of the developments on the mercy ships, Anastasis and Africa Mercy.
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