“I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread” (Psalm 37:25 ESV).
Like the psalmist David, I can make the same observation. For I have never seen the righteous forsaken. Whether David meant this as a promise or a general rule, I’m not sure. For there might be the instance where a righteous man falls into poverty and his children suffer along with him. However David said that even as an old man, he had never seen the righteous forsaken in his entire life.
We’ve had some really lean years along the way as we planted Eastgate Church and labored in the Lord to see it grow. I was in my early 30s and my children in single digits when we started. There were times that we couldn’t pay the mortgage on our home, nor put gas in the car. On several occasions I drove the old Suburu to seminary with the gas gauge on “E.” But never ran out of gas along the way. Sometimes our cupboard was empty, but our stomachs never were. Because someone would show up at our door with groceries, or stick a “twenty” under the windshield wiper of the car. My wife and I often felt anxious, but if you ask our grown children about it today, they always thought we were rich.
For the Lord did not forsake us and our children were never hungry. The lean times taught us to trust the Lord as Provider above all others. Those times taught us to be thankful and rely on God in all things.
PRAYER: Dear Father, we have seen Your faithfulness to us. For You have promised never to leave nor forsake us. And You have kept that promise. Thank You. Now take away any anxiety we may have about provision or future concerns and replace it with Your peace and contentment. We put our trust in You. In Jesus’ name, amen.