Miracles of provision

The love of money is the root of all sorts of evil (1 Timothy 6:10).  Those who want to get rich fall into many temptations (1 Timothy 6:9).  Some see 'godliness' as a means of financial gain (1 Timothy (6:5).  This is why the 'prosperity-gospel' (which encourages people to use God as a means of getting rich) is such a distortion of Christianity, and gives television evangelists such a terrible name.

But our generous God provides for his people (Philippians 4:19).  Indeed sometimes that provision comes miraculously.  One person who experienced that provision on many occasions was George Muller of Bristol, who ran orphanages in the nineteenth century.

I read an example of such miraculous provision in the book, 'The Night the Angels Came'.  Chrissie Chapman was serving in Burundi.  It was the 1990s.  It was a time of great turmoil.

One day she was walking past a row of large houses, when a lady came out to greet them.  Chrissie recognized this woman from the English-speaking church.  The woman told her that they were leaving and that the house would be coming available to rent.  The woman mentioned that they were paying $1,200 a month.  Chrissie was renting for $250 a month at the time.

When Chrissie went into the house she felt a sense of peace that God was going to make a way for her to have it.  She asked her friends to pray, but she mentioned nothing about costs.  She approached the landlord and explained that she could only afford $400 a month (and she didn't even know how she could afford $400).  Amazingly, the landlord agreed to it.  He drew up a one-year contract.  

When she rang her friends to tell them that she had got the house one friend told her that her boss agreed to help.  This friend worked with an aid agency that helped with vulnerable children.  Her boss realized that Chrissie was doing a work that complimented theirs, and so offered to cover Chrissie's rent for one year at $400 a month.  Chrissie was amazed that God had provided the exact amount.

We should not demand signs (1 Corinthians 1:22) nor put God to the test (Luke 4:12), but we are told to ask God for our daily bread (Matthew 6:11).  We are also act believing that our God has the ability to provide (Matthew 21;22)., and be confident that he knows how to give good gifts to his children (Matthew 7:11).