Does the Bible Really Promise God will Supply All Our Needs?

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   Phillipians 4:19 tells us, “But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”  Mark 11:34 says says, “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive, and ye shall have them.”
   I have heard it said that, yes, God will supply all our “needs” but not all our “greeds.” In other words, God promises to take care of our needs that are within His will.  God may well deny us some of the things we ask for -- for our own good.  As one song lyric I heard a while back reminds us, “thank God for unanswered prayer.”
   In my own life there have been many times that God unexpectedly provided a need that just about blew us away.  Now I’d like to share one of those experiences. In my younger days, before I was married, I owned a Taxidermy business. That’s kind of a business where we try to make a dead animal look “alive”  -- deer heads, etc.  In a way, that’s kind of what pastors do too only they try to help their congregations “look alive.”  Anyway, I had hired another young man to help with my taxidermy work. I had a large display of mounted animals and birds and fish in my workshop as examples of my work for my customers to see. We were pretty much dependant on the people picking up and paying for their work to pay our bills and expenses and at times things could get financially tight if our customers delayed picking up their trophies. I was a Christian, but my helper at the time was not.  We were having one of those months that folks delayed coming to get their mounts... the usual excuses: kids sick, car broke down, unexpected doctor bills, and the list goes on.  But we had bills and expenses too.  How would we meet our own needs? We were “busted” -- “broke” -- and didn’t know when things might get better.  How does one tell the electric company that we can’t pay the bill because one of my customers had car repairs to pay so he couldn’t pay us and now we can’t pay our bill? 
   My helper and I were quite frustrated. As we sat down to lunch one afternoon as I prayed before the meal, I suggested to my non-Christian helper that we should just pray about it and see what God might do for us. So I said a little prayer about our finances along with saying grace and left it at that.  
   What happened next was absolutely incredible.  Before we finished eating our lunch, two large buses pulled into our parking lot.  On the side of the buses was signage for a Christian School from Missouri.  Both buses were pulling storage trailors as welI.  I greeted the folks and learned they were just returning home from a camping trip.  It was the school principal, the pastor and his wife along with several teachers and the students.  They just happened to see my Taxidermy Shop sign as they travelled down the highway and they were wondering if I might have some taxidermy kritters I might be willing to sell to them -- seems they were starting a wildlife museum as part of their school.
   I took them into my workshop and wildlife display and they purchased in the neighborhood of $800.00 worth of taxidermy mounts just like that.  
   After they loaded up their treasures and left I turned to my non-Christian helper and asked him “so....how long after we prayed that little prayer at lunch ‘til God answered?” His reply: “about 5 minutes,” he said.  And then I said, “probably just a co-incidence huh?!”  And my non-believing friend said “That weren’t no co-incidence....that was God!” 
   And through that incredible answer to prayer I was able to effectively share Christ with him.  What an awesome God we serve.  He even used Christian brothers and sisters to answer our need.  Sadly, sometimes even we as Christians will pray, and when God answers, we tend to write it off as co-incidence instead of giving credit to our prayer.
   The next time you pray and God answers your prayer, give the credit where the credit is due -- give God the Honor and the Praise and the Glory.  Amen!

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