God is Provider, Part 1
Characteristics of God, God is a Provider
As we transition from the story of Jacob to his son Joseph in our Bible Essentials study, I want to take a few weeks to look at another characteristic of God. This time, we’ll look at God as a provider. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, we see clear evidence of God providing for his creation. Sometimes the word “provide” or “provider” isn’t always used, but the stories and poetry describe how God provides.
We’ll look at God’s provision over the next four weeks:
This week, we will establish that God is a provider and look at other characteristics that support the characteristic of provider.
In week 3, we will investigate who God provides for when he provides.
God as Provider
First, we always need to establish that God is indeed a provider. Stories of God’s provision start all the way back in Genesis 1-2 when God provided everything needed for the earth to support life—plants, animals, and humans.
However, God as a provider was clearly established with Abraham. We learned about this in our Genesis 22 study. God asked Abraham to take his son Isaac, the one God had promised and whom Abraham waited 25 years for, and sacrifice him. As Abraham and Isaac were journeying to the sacrificial site, Isaac asked a very insightful question.
Genesis 22:6-8: 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
Abraham was sure of God’s provision, and that trust was well placed. We learn that just a few verses later.
Genesis 22:9-14: 9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
12 “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.”
13 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. 14 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.”
The Old Testament is filled with stories of God’s provision. We will look at some of these stories later. But what about the New Testament? Once Jesus came to earth, did God still provide in the same way? Yes, he did, and he still does. We see this in Acts 14:17:
“Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”
God not only provides physically, with rain to support life and food to give us energy, he also provides emotionally and spiritually by filling our hearts with joy.
Other Characteristics that Support God as Provider
When we read the Bible in the context of looking for the characteristics of God, we can learn more deeply who God is. When reading about God as provider, the other characteristics of God associated with his characteristic of provider gives us a more complete picture about what that provision looks like.
God and the Israelites
The story of the Israelites in the wilderness is a great picture of God’s provision. When God delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, he provided a cloud by day and fire by night to guide them. This indicates that God’s provision and God’s guidance go together. It also shows us that God is with us. God remained with his people through their entire journey to the Promised Land, and he is with us today through the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Genesis 13:21-22: 21 By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.
When the people were on their way to the Promised Land, they grumbled because they didn’t have any food. God heard their grumbling, and he provided by sending manna and quail.
Exodus 16:1-18: 16 The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. 2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”
4 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. 5 On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”
6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?” 8 Moses also said, “You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord.”
9 Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’”
10 While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud.
11 The Lord said to Moses, 12 “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’”
13 That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was.
Moses said to them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. 16 This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.’”
17 The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. 18 And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.
This story points out several things about God’s provision. First, God hears us. God heard the Israelites grumbling, and he responded by sending manna and quail. Second, he is all knowing, or omniscient. God knew that the Israelites would need food to eat on their journey, and he had a plan to provide that food to them. He knew their needs before they even did. Third, God’s provision sustains us. The Israelites needed a lot of energy not just for walking from Egypt to the Promised Land but also to carry all their possessions as they walked. God’s provision of food sustained them for the journey.
(God did the same thing when the people grumbled about not having water. He provided water out of a rock, of all things! You can find these stories in Exodus 17 and Numbers 20.)
Jesus Feeding the Crowds
God provided in the Old Testament, and he did the same in the New Testament. Let’s look at one of the stories of Jesus feeding the crowds to find other characteristics associated with God’s provision.
Mark 8:1-10: 8 During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 2 “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”
4 His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?”
5 “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.
“Seven,” they replied.
6 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people, and they did so. 7 They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. 8 The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 9 About four thousand were present. After he had sent them away, 10 he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.
What characteristics do we see associated with Jesus providing food for the people? First, he had compassion on them. God’s provision is associated with his characteristic of compassion. This is what prompts him to provide in the first place. Once he decides to provide, God provides generously. The people didn’t each have a snack, or a small bite. They ate until they were satisfied, and then there was some left over. This brings us to the result of God’s provision – we are satisfied. God is a God who satisfies. His provision doesn’t just tie us over until we can find something else. He fully satisfies us.
Conclusion
The Bible associates other characteristics of God with his role as provider as well, which we won’t discuss in depth here. But I will mention then. God provides for people because he loves them and is good and kind. He provides through blessing people, like we’ve seen in the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God provides because he is faithful to his promises, and he has promised to provide for us. When needed, God can also provide refuge for his people. And finally, God provided by sending a Redeemer who would save us from our sins. This is the greatest provision of all.
Premium Resources
Each individual characteristic of God study will come with two resources: a word search just for fun (including an answer key), and a list of verses for if you want to investigate that individual characteristic of God more completely.
You can access these resources by clicking here: God Is Provider Resources
Or you can download them here:
