Provision in jars of clay

“May all of your expectations be frustrated. May all of your plans be thwarted. May all of your desires be withered into nothingness, that you may experience the powerlessness and poverty of a child and sing and dance in the love of God who is Father, Son and Spirit.” – Larry Hein

Intention, expectation and entitlement can rule our lives and our responses to the world around us. As we experience the wonder of our voyage on the good ship earth, we become accustomed to forming goals for ourselves and pursuing them through a variety of disciplines. A detailed schedule, action items, an extensive plan of attack, hyper-management of people and circumstances or a calculated response to a presented situation; we have constructed a number of complex systems of achieving the agendas of our purposes and realizing our purpose through achievement. This extends to even a passive drive in many people, as the focus upon themselves mixes the intention, expectation and entitlement of their agenda with a lack of action; which responds a level of bitterness in lieu of the “rights” or level of preferential treatment which they desire or feel are deserved. When we struggle through our experience of desire and circumstances, the essence of our humanity gives us the emotional support of through a self-centered ideal, and in this we interpret our reality in light of ourselves. This, at times, causes a daily, hourly or minute by minute battle within our hearts of having to manage or manufacture the significant agents of change or control on our own. When we find ourselves amidst the details of the difficult, overwhelmed by the demands which require us to take control of every situation, or spread thin as the balls we keep in the air seem to drop all around us; we must remember and retain our utmost confidence in God, who is in control of all that surrounds us. His provision is that which is carrying us through. When the instances and interactions of our surroundings keep us in the anxiety of accomplishing and overwhelm our senses to the point of managing it all on our own, we must pause to find the solace of the Great Provider, and seek Him in our hour of need.

As we read in Proverbs 16, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” As we come into the interactions of submitting ourselves to God amidst our circumstances, we find a balance of obedience, action, faith, trust understanding who we are in Christ and knowing Him as the Sovereign God of the universe. In our intention, we must focus our hearts on obedience in seeking Him through prayer and submitting our actions to the responses of the Spirit. As we engage our expectation, we must be full of the faith and love which can only be secure in the one who created and controls all the circumstances in the entire world, and rules and overrules in all the lives of his creation. In these truths of his power, we must trust that his intention and timing of fruition are perfect; ideal for his purpose, flawless in his sustenance of our hearts through all things and absolute in exact execution which is only possible from a perfect Heavenly Father. As we battle our entitlement as fallen humans in the hands of the Living God, we must be sharply aware of our existence as adopted princes and princesses of the High King of Heaven – that we might recognize the favor He holds for us, and recall that the omnipotent Lord is infinitely aware and acting in every facet of every life of every one of his children. We must balance these truths with the grace of a Father who abundantly gives, that we might use the abundance to know Him. This is the determining of the Lord; that our steps would lead us to trust his provision and focus our hearts on his desires.

As we shift our focus amidst our circumstances from ourselves onto Him, we feel the calming truth of a right heart attuned to that of the Father’s. We come to understand that whatever we do or do not do, HE is the agent of change in every avenue of existence. His provision is not small, lacking or one-sided; He knows the depths of your need, in your heart, and is taking you through circumstances to the good of his purpose – which is to preserve you and provide for the objects of his heart’s delight and affection. After all, this is the God who sustained his people with bread from heaven and water from rocks while they wandered in a barren desert for 40 years; the Name above all Names who provided Isaac to a laughing 100 year old Abraham; the Sovereign Lord who gave unmatched abundance to a restored Job; the Rock of Ages who took a scared and stuttering Moses and made the word of the Lord echo through his mouth, his pen and his leadership to God’s chosen people; the Lion of Judah who kept Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego alive in the fiery furnace – the Lord has reserved nothing from his creation, not even sparing his only Son’s torment and death for the partition of sins. He longs for his children to know Him and the splendor of his holiness as He provides for their every need.

The truth of the experience in having our expectations, plans and desires crumble is that it can be an overwhelming and soul stretching to the utmost extents. Realistically, to pray that people’s worlds come crashing down is not the longing for us in the heart of the Father, though we must understand that men, women and governments who choose to stand in opposition or indifference of the God of the universe are bound to come crashing down in their stubborn pride. God created humans to enjoy his glory and seek Him first. In light of this interaction, a radical perception alteration and a change of internal and external focus is required as we remove the self-centered view of life and replace it with a Christ-centered view. He longs for us to be lavished in the abundance which comes from the changing of our hearts to a child-like powerlessness and poverty of reliance on the his provision. The unfortunate reality of circumstances is that too often, the only way we come to know this dependence in all things is through the crumbling of certain aspects of our worlds and agendas. He gives us the comfort of his Spirit and his Word in the journey to complete reliance on his provision for our needs. Though we are called to seek Him, we still seem to struggle with the surrendering of our efforts at control. And while we should not be surprised by it, in the fight to do our will instead of God’s, He always wins. To relinquish ourselves as the focus of our own security and sustenance and exact the glory of the Creator instead, can be a lesson we continue through for years. Fortunately for us, the Lord of Hosts is the most gracious being in all existence. God’s desire is to preserve and provide for us. His plan in our hearts is for reconciliation and restoration to his. This is why we are given the promise of 2 Corinthians 4:

“For we do not lose heart, for we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ, and ourselves for Jesus’ sake. We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard-pressed on every side, but we are not crushed; we are perplexed, but not driven to despair; we are persecuted, but are never abandoned by God; we are struck down, but not destroyed; through the suffering we experience we continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may be seen in our lives. All of this is for our benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. So we fix our eyes, not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

As the intentions, expectations and entitlement of our interactions come into the experiences of our lives, we focus our hearts and response on the Father who gives all things. Through the change in our perception, our plans are aligned to the steps of the Father’s intent and we come to know contentment in the abundance of the Lord’s provision. He is restoring our hearts to his purpose in every situation of our lives. He is the source of our strength. Through Him we have provision; He is our treasure in jars of clay. He is the only agent of change who is empowering us to be restored in his perfect timing. Let us sing and dance in his love and preservation as we glorify Father, Son and Spirit. Let us know that his provision is abundant and satisfying, that He is glorified in sustaining us and that his determined steps are taking you to a place of eternal glory with Him.