God Will Provide - Really?

I found the discussion fascinating. I expected it to be boring, a rehash of things I already knew, but the variety of people and experiences made it everything but.

The setting was a monthly meeting of United Methodist clergy. The subject was (stay with me here) stewardship. Often that means, here’s how to get people to give money to the church. But this was very different.

It started in the plenary session when Chris, the leader, read from Mark 7 where Jesus castigates the temple leaders for their concern with worldly acclaim, then points out the widow who put her last pennies into the temple offering. I have always heard this held up as an example of great faith on the part of the widow, but Chris read an interpretation saying the real point is the scurrilous scribes who are living high on the backs of the gullible poor. Then someone referred to a news story about a church that was being sued - the pastor promised that if people gave money to the church, God would double it for them in nine months, and it didn’t happen.

We moved into smaller groups and continued the discussion. How do you preach about money when people are losing their jobs and their homes? How do you expect people to think about spiritual things when money is such a real and pressing issue? What does it mean to trust God to take care of us?

One African-American pastor told of being a poor seminary student in Mississippi. He had almost nothing, but his pastor had asked everyone to contribute $100 towards missions work. About the only thing he owned was his clothes – a few casual clothes, and (as required by the church culture) four suits. He privately determined to sell two of his suits to raise the $100 to give to the church. Just then he received a letter. A couple in his church had been praying, and this pastor had arisen in their hearts. They had talked about it and decided to do something to help him out. Enclosed with the letter was $500.

I told a similar, though less dramatic, story of a time in seminary when someone brought my family a bag of groceries at a crucial time. Several others agreed that God always comes through.

But another pastor told of a church she served in Appalachia where families were struggling to live on $12,000 a year. She told of several women who would faithfully put money in the church offering plate every Sunday, only to see their children go without food for one or two days each week because the money was all gone. She said there was no question of the faith of these women, or their genuine love for God. So why was God allowing their children to suffer from malnutrition?

Other questions came up along the way. Is giving out of gratitude for God’s gifts the only really spiritual motivation for giving? Is it wrong to expect something from God in return? Is tithing a legalistic Old Testament relic or mandatory for Christians or somewhere in between?

We didn’t arrive at a clear agreement on any of these points. Some felt that preaching tithing to poor people drives them further into poverty, while others agreed with my experience that tithing has proven to be my lifeline out of deep financial distress. Some felt that we give as a response to what God has given us, while others said that we have to give first, as you have to plant a seed before you can expect a harvest.

I had never heard of God failing to come through for people who were genuinely trying to put him first, as in the case of the poor women who couldn’t feed their children, and I said so. A couple others agreed with me. It really caused me to think. And here’s what I think.

God does his work through his people. The church is the body of Christ, and Jesus is the head. A head can’t get anything done if the body doesn’t cooperate. If that couple had not listened to God and followed through by sending something to that poor seminary student, he would have had to sell his suits. If the people that brought my family a bag of groceries had failed to listen to God and obey him, we would have been pretty hungry.

Does God provide for his people? Absolutely. But he does it through other members of the family of God. And we haven’t always come through very well. May God have mercy on us all.