Would It Spoil Some Vast Eternal Plan

I've been thinking.

I can quite possibly spend up to an hour a day just checking over my bank account, making sure everything is going OK. Making sure all the Direct Debits have gone of the account without incident. Finding alternative ways of getting a quart out of a pint pot. Working out how to afford good things for the family. You know the routine. I doubt if I am alone at the moment, in the current economic climate...

I know I'm not particularly gifted in finances, but it never fails to amaze me when I reach the end of the month and realise that all the bills got paid.

I give all the credit to my Father in Heaven for his mercies here. Answered prayer, indeed.

However, it got me thinking... Why are things this way? Surely I could be so much more effective in my daily life if I didn't have to spend so much time trying to reason out how to make it work... And what about the things I'd love to do - places I'd love to go - but I simply don't have the disposable income.

What about that, Lord?

I keep coming back to the lyrics of "If I Were a Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof (written by Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock). In the film version, Reb Tevye (Topol, pictured above) talks to God about his dreams for a more comfortable life. His heart's desire to spend more time studying God's word, which in his words, would be "the greatest thing of all". Can't disagree with that. Of course, it's really tough to come up with many examples of any 'rich men' who spend their time in scriptural study. I think most of their time is spent in shareholder meetings, in estates management. Those kinds of distraction.

I would like to think that I could do so much more if I had more resources available to me. I could provide for my family much better. I could give much more to my favourite causes. Give it away to comfort the poor and the needy. Make the world a better place.

And yet - my Father in Heaven has "decreed I should be what I am". He has placed me in one of the richest countries in the world; therefore I will never know real poverty. He regularly challenges my thinking, teaches me about the truths of scripture, shows me 'the pearl of great price'. He reminds me that I am a work in progress. And that His provision in my life may be seen as much by what He doesn't give me than by what He does.