“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” James 1:17…………….
“Every time you need something, you come to Mommy,” I told paralyzed dog Mr. Simeon one day. “You definitely know who your provider is.”
Sure enough, after years of being in my care, my sweet beloved paralyzed dog Mr. Simeon knows everything he needs he can get from me. And he uses his face, his facial expressions, his paws, and his “talking” (I tell people he “talks” rather than howls or barks, and I’m convinced of this!) to tell me what he needs when he needs it. He doesn’t look to anyone or anything else for his needs to be met. Even when others are around, over the years people have remarked that his attention is focused on me. Even when I walk away and leave him in his wheelchair standing with someone for a few minutes, his gaze shifts not to anything or anyone around him but to me. And he will so much as start “talking” to let me know he expects me to come back and take care of him.
I can’t tell you how often through the years I have said something aloud to the very special rescued dogs in my care and heard in the words I have spoken a message, a lesson from the Lord, a conviction from His Spirit, a parallel to something in my own life, a need I have to make a change, an example of something we all need to do, an inspiration in the context of following Jesus, etc. Just like this time.
The Lord provides for His children, and everything we need comes from Him. Love, mercy, forgiveness, hope, peace, grace, and all the spiritual blessings, and all the physical needs we have comes from Him, from shelter to food and clothing to medical care, and all the relationships we are blessed with come from Him, and the truth is absolutely every single thing we need on this earth that is good for us, nourishing, helpful, healthy, life-giving, life-changing, every blessing, every gift, every good thing, absolutely everything, and even everyone with whom He blesses us throughout our lives, every direction we need, every instruction, all wisdom, guidance, answers, comfort, compassion, even that which comes through people and from this earth, it all originates in God almighty through Christ.
The trouble is we aren’t always so good at looking to the Lord for our provision, nor are we always so good at thanking God for our provision.
That day, the Lord used paralyzed dog Mr. Simeon to remind me, and I hope now to help you to see, and to remind you, that we MUST look to the Lord, we must keep our focus on Him, we must seek Him, we must return our focus to Him when it falls away, we must reach out to Him, cry out to Him, we must set our hearts upon Him and His Word, and thank Him, for every good thing, for every beautiful blessing, for all that we need, most importantly the need we have for the most important thing, for the most important one, for the most important blessing of all, the Lord Himself!
Look to the Lord! Look to the Lord! Oh, look to Him!