Photo: Raphael Rychetsky / Unsplash
Anxiety is a big deal in our culture today. In one recent national survey, 33% of adults in Great Britain recently reported high levels of anxiety.1 Young people are most affected: In the same survey 43% of people aged 16–29 reported high anxiety levels. And of course Christians are not immune to anxiety.
There’s a great deal to be anxious about: You might be struggling to make ends meet; worried about rising prices; anxious about not finding work, or losing work; about a health issue or a relationship. You might have made a decision to step out in faith to serve God in some way, but not know what the outcome will be. Moving from the individual level to the Church level: We might be wondering whether we can afford to pay all the bills, or whether we have the people to do what we believe God is calling us to do.
This post is part of a series exploring ‘Truths to Live By’ and focuses on a wonderful biblical reality that can help us with anxiety: God will provide.
The Bible’s Teaching
Old Testament
The theme runs through the whole Bible, beginning after the Fall when God provides for the man and woman immediately:
The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
Genesis 3:21
Perhaps the most significant early example is in Genesis 22. God has made promises to Abraham which when fulfilled will reverse the terrible effects of the Fall. These promises depend on Abraham having a descendant – Isaac – but now God has commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son:
Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.
Genesis 22:2
Abraham sets out to obey God. When he arrives at Mount Moriah he gets everything ready, but at the last moment God intervenes:
Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.
Genesis 22:12
God had been testing Abraham – that his hope and trust was in God rather than in Isaac, God’s gift to him. But how could Abraham now make the sacrifice God had called him to make?
Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
Genesis 22:13-14
This name – Jehovah Jireh – is one of the names given to God in the Bible. What does it tell us about God? In his book ‘Incomparable’ Andrew Wilson writes this:
Providing is part of God’s nature. It is not just something he does, it is part of who he is… God cannot be anything other than a provider. He will always provide, wherever he is, and whatever situation we are in. He does this because he always knows what we need well before we do. Think about it, the ram was in the thicket already! God knew Abraham would need it, and had already made provision for him.
Andrew Wilson, Incomparable, page 102
Wilson goes on to explain that the Hebrew word ‘jireh’ has the sense of ‘seeing to’ something. God see what we will need before we get there, and so he sees to it, providing for us in advance.
I hope you find it encouraging that whatever you’re facing at the moment that has potential to cause you anxiety: God has already seen it; and he’s already provided the means by which that need will be provided for!
A few hundred years later, God has rescued his people from Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. They have no food, but God miraculously provides manna for them. Each morning when they wake up there is a layer of dew around the camp, and when the dew clears there are thin flakes for the people to gather, which they can eat. Again, we’re told the Lord did this to test the people:
Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.”
Exodus 16:4
God makes use of this situation to provide for them, and while doing so to test whether the people will trust him and obey him.
We could give many more examples from the Old Testament of God providing for his people. But here is one of the most well known:
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.Psalm 23:1-3
What a wonderful picture of God’s provision! The writer – King David – faced many trials and hardships; but his testimony is that God is like a shepherd, providing for him so that he lacks nothing. David is like a sheep, lying down and satisfied. God sustains him, gives him rest and guidance, is with him even in the darkest valley, and his eternal future is secure.
Jesus
As we come to the New Testament, we experience Jesus – God made flesh – providing. Perhaps most famously, Jesus provides miraculously by feeding a crowd of 5000 men, plus women and children – perhaps 15,000 in total – with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. (Matthew 14:13-21.)
And the climax of God’s provision comes as Jesus dies on the cross. As he dies he is shown to be not just physical bread, but the bread of life; not just a dying figure, but the sacrificial Lamb of God. Jesus dies on the cross to provide life to those who couldn’t provide for themselves; he is the fulfilment of the ram who was sacrificed on Mount Moriah. He died so that Isaac, and all the other people of God through the centuries, didn’t have to. Jesus’s death is the ultimate fulfilment of ‘The Lord will provide.’
Objection – Unanswered prayer
Of course, all of us have experienced occasions when we’ve prayed for things we thought we needed and found that God hasn’t provided them. If that thought has been plaguing you as you’ve been reading I would suggest visiting this post, where I explore that question.
You might also like to consider these words from Andrew Wilson, on Genesis 22:
There are two things about God’s provision in this story that I have seen repeated time and again in everyday life. One is that God often waits until the last possible moment before providing for us. This is not just for fun; he does it to teach us to rely on him completely… Second, God often gives to us as we give to him. As Abraham gave up his most precious possession, his son, God gave back to him…
Incomparable, pages 103-104
So what?
How should we respond to these things?
1, God gives as we give to him
First, reflect on those words “God often gives as we give to him.” The promise that God will provide starts with a person turning to God and giving themselves to him in faith. In other words, the promise isn’t made to everyone indiscriminately; it’s made to those who belong to God through following Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. It may be that you’re aware you haven’t done that yet. If not, today would be a great day to do so! Do visit your local church, or email me, or visit this link to find out more about how you can do that.
2, Be convinced that God is a good and loving Father who will provide
The fight against anxiety often starts in the mind, with what we believe: as we are persuaded that God is good and loving and will provide, we will be more thankful and less anxious. As we engage in the means of grace we will be increasingly convinced of these things.
3, Bring your needs before God
God already knows what we need, but he still wants us to come to him and present our needs to him:
“You do not have because you do not ask God”; “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
James 4:2; Matthew 7:7
Our Father wants us to bring our needs to him. There’s no set form of words – we simply talk to him honestly, open about all our rawness and weakness.
4, Seek first his kingdom and righteousness
In his famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches about the attitude that his followers should have:
So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
Matthew 6:31-32
Jesus assumes the things we’ve already seen: Our Father is good, he knows what we need, he will give us what we need – so we don’t need to worry but can trust him to provide for us.
Jesus then goes a stage further: Given that we trust our Father to provide for us, we can have different priorities – his priorities.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Matthew 6:33
Our focus should be the advance of God’s kingdom; and the spread of God’s holiness in the world. As we say in the Lord’s prayer, “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as in heaven.” This is what we should be most concerned about – in our own lives, our prayer life, the church and the surrounding community.
And as we seek God’s kingdom and his righteousness, trusting him – so he will provide all that we need as well.
What does this feel like? About a year ago, I made a conscious decision not to worry about money. There were challenges for us as a church, and also for us as a family. And it had been causing some anxiety. But God led me to decide to leave those things in his hands, and to focus on his work and his priorities. And it’s worth saying you do have to make a conscious decision to do that – it doesn’t just happen automatically, it’s a choice. But having made the decision it was incredibly liberating. I could focus on what God wanted me to do. And I could entrust the finances to him. And when worries about money came back to me, I simply handed them back to him again.
Note
1 – Public Opinions and Social Trends 2026 – ONS
