Dear Family,   

Today is Tuesday, May 12, 2020; and, it is Day 31 in our Counting toward Pentecost. This is the 3rd day of Week 5.  

Is anything too hard for God?  NO!  Not even water from a solid rock.  What a fantastic miracle to behold!   Water gushing from a rock in the desert.  God was wooing Israel into a covenant relationship with Him.  He was going to be Israel’s Husband.  He was demonstrating His capacity to provide and protect.  Yet, Israel was not buying!  

God’s provision for us is always on His terms and in His own way.  He sets the standards and procedures for any relationship with Him.  Brethren, God cannot demonstrate to us His incredible capacities and abilities to abundantly provide for us if we do not cooperate by exercising faith and trust.  Without our part; the faith and trust; God would just be pouring His goodness into something of a black hole.  

When there is lack of faith toward God, then, people misunderstand what is going on, even in times of God’s outpouring of goodness. Compare the verse in James 1:17 with Deuteronomy 8:17. God gives every good gift.  Still, Israel tends to discount God and claim benefits from the work of their own hands.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Deuteronomy 8:17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.  

Humans must make the connections between God and His good gifts.  When God is testing, we must know it.  When God is providing, we must know it.  We must have eyes to see His benefits and hearts to respond to His generosity appropriately.

May God bless you as you grow in faith and trust in Him.  May He fill your life with His physical and spiritual treasures.  And, may you KNOW these are His gifts.

Ben Faulkner
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