God’s Provisions are made in the dark.

God’s word emphatically declares that which God has prepared, is not made visible in the realm of the natural. Its input is beyond audible realities and its expanse transcends human comprehension.

1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

Most often a walk which can be explained within the confinements of promise and faith defies human reasoning. It seemingly negates the laws of common sense and abandons the sojourner of faith to a life style of apparent contradictions.

How can one find comfort in those times when all that is present is a sense of uncertainty that infringes upon the promise of God itself? Is there any established process by which we can derive a sense of stability?

Let me help you find an answer outside the scope of existing circumstances and unsteady emotions, one that which is fixed on Gods word.

Before we proceed, make note:

“The big catch of fish provided in the unseen deep must become the big catch of fish in the boat for all to see”

Using the story of Peter and his miraculous catch of fish in the Gospel of Luke 5: 1-11, I want to make the case that preparation, provision & possession are interconnected and not to be treated in isolation. As a matter of divine insight, I submit ‘provision’ must be seen as a point of convergence where ‘preparation’ leads into it and ‘possession’ leads out of it. This truth can be procured from any story in the bible in which providence plays a key role.

‘Preparation’ is when God by His sovereign and providential act makes each situation work together to form the pathway to provision. Let’s look at the events in peter’s life from this perspective. The admission of peter that he caught nothing after such strenuous effort through the night clearly indicates the supernatural hand of God. He hid the fishes in some deep cavern of the sea far from the reach of peter’s net. It is either that or the fish were naturally prevented from entering the nets of these future disciples of Jesus Christ. Whatever that might be, it’s clear that a divine mandate is in operation in this case.

It is similar to the story of Hannah where it says ‘God had shut her womb’.God by his wisdom shuts the possibilities in the natural in order to post His ‘welcome to the supernatural’ sign. Most of the time a shutting, a closing or a preventing is God’s way of preparing us to encounter the richness of His ‘provision’.

What to do in such situation? Do what Peter did.

1. In spite of the painful uncertainties, disappointing realities and discouraging outcome, Peter still chose to give his boat for Jesus to minister. Instead of getting paralyzed by what we don’t have, let us surrender all that we have in serving our master. Just know when Jesus is in our boat it is the most filled, blessed and rich boat ever.
2. Break into your rantings of failure and disappointment by a determined & contrasting declaration of your loyalty to God’s word. Peter’s ‘nevertheless at your word’ not only defeated the onslaught of discouragement but placed the situation within the domain of the all powerful ‘spoken word of God’. The seemingly foolishness of giving any credence to such a ‘word’ is overcome by the simplicity of peter’s faith when he said ‘your word’. It is not any word but the word of the Creator, the miracle worker who is the ‘All sufficient one’.

Yes we have to redeem our situations from the domain of fleeting circumstances and evil designs and forcefully transfer it to the purview of the all possible ‘word of God’

The preparation phase includes:

1. Depleted and non-existing human possibilities
2. Giving what we have to the Lord with all sincerity and leave the ‘what we don’t have’ to him.
3. Forcefully placing every situation under the power of God’s word. Yes! Exalt his word.

Provision

Provision even if it requires a miracle is too easy a task for our Lord. He summoned the hiding fishes to congregate back again and they did. His word brings your healing, deliverance, break through, salvation and anything you need.

However here is the most important truth, the fishes are still in the deep and they are unseen. I am afraid this is where many children of God get struck. They are halted between their provision and possession of it. The most powerful miraculous provision is useless if it is not dragged out of the invisible to the visible, from the womb of the sea to the hold of the boat.

Let me point out two keys that would essentially take us to the place where we can actually appropriate the hidden provisions of God.

1. Wait for the timing of God. It says ‘after Jesus had finished speaking’. It means he ceased speaking. God always has a cessation before an action. Something will stop and others begin.
2. It’s always ‘Action, Action, Action’. God’s word from being a ‘declarative word’ becomes a demonstrable word and instead of demanding ‘assent’ from us it will demand an action.  We are going to see the word go from just ‘exciting’ to ‘executable’.

The tiring hands of the disciples must row back to the deep sea and the washed nets must be re-used. This is nothing but the demonstration of faith which is now represented by sheer and full ‘obedience’. When He speaks act and act with diligence and act as if God’s word is true and the result is this.

‘ And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink’. (Luke 5:6,7)

Remember, the greatest provision of heaven became a reality in flesh when one young virgin believed God’s word and said ‘be it unto me according to thy word’.