I wonder if many people today really believe that God sees all their circumstances, their cares, and that He wants to provide for them?  So please take time to read Matthew 6:25-33 and Psalm 139.

      Do you believe that as our good shepherd He is there to guard, to protect, to make provisions for, and to save us from harm? 

      So very often when difficult circumstances arise we rush off to help ourselves and meet our own needs.  Many run from God, Our Father, seeking to save themselves.  And in so doing we often move from the only real source of help we have.  And then we wonder why things don’t work out. 

     We often find ourselves going to God in times of difficulty looking for help, but when we don’t get immediate relief, we decide that “God doesn’t care about this need.”

     How foolish we can be at times!  God knows what is best for us, and He knows that what is best often comes with time and patience and endurance.  God wants us for Himself.  Whatever our circumstances may be, He wants to use them to bring us closer to Himself.  We need to draw ever nearer to Him in times of danger, for He knows what we all need.

     Someone related a story to me that I would like to relate to you. Some years ago, he spent several weeks in England.  One afternoon he took a drive into the country.  A sudden storm came up, so he pulled off the road to wait it out.  In the distance he saw a man standing on a huge rock.  He had a large cloak on and a shepherd’s crook in his hand.  He was calling his sheep.  They came from different parts of the field.  The shepherd never moved in all that rain and lightning, but stood steady for his flock to gather around him.

     That shepherd didn’t leave them.  He didn’t abandon them.  He didn’t let them find refuge on their own.  But neither did he take them out of the storm.  Instead he bore the storm with them.  He provided them with safety and security by his presence. 

     So God desires to do the same for you and me.  In times of crisis, in the midst of a storm, let us not try to save ourselves.  Let us run quickly to the shelter of His loving arms, where we will truly find refuge, and stay there until the storm passes by.

     God knows us, and He truly knows all our needs.  He will provide in the midst of life’s storms.  The fruit of such faith is peace and confidence in a God who really and truly cares about each and every person.