Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear. Is 65:24

I’ve said it; you have said it, “just when we thought we had extra money, something happens.”  Don’t you just love finding money in your pants pocket or getting an unexpected check in the mail?  That unexpected rebate from the insurance company or extra money after the bills are paid?  Our first reaction is “yeah!!!”  Our second reaction is often “what will we do with it?”  We all love it.  We throw all caution to the wind even though experience says soon and very soon we will also have an unexpected expense, a flat tire, a car repair, the hot water heater goes, we have to make an unexpected trip to see a sick relative.  It is so annoying. 

Why is it annoying?  Because we think it’s EXTRA money and it’s ours to spend.  Right? Recently I began to see unexpected money as God’s provision in advance.  God knows our needs before we do and He is the God of the previous.  How many times have we heard stories of how God answered a need on the exact day of the need through a series of circumstances that started weeks earlier?  Behind the scenes, God orchestrated events to provide for a need that hadn’t even been prayed for yet. 

Remember Abraham’s servant?  In Genesis 24, Abraham sends his oldest servant to the city of Nahor to get a wife for his son Isaac.  Upon arrival the servant prayed:

And he said, “O LORD, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham.  Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water.  Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’-let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.” Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her water jar on her shoulder. Genesis 24:12-15

I am assuming that Rebekah, who is the answer to the servant’s prayer, picked up her water jar and headed to the well before the servant even started to pray, but God coordinated the timing so that BEFORE HE (the servant) FINISHED Rebekah was there, the answer to his prayer. 

So you see that unexpected influx of money could very well be the provision of God, in advance, for a need you don’t even know about yet, but He does.  So rather than annoyance, perhaps we should be grateful for a God who knows and cares for us.  Before we even call, He is answering. 

Blessings,
Diane

Diane Hunt is part of the Development and Addiction Recovery teams at America’s Keswick.  In addition to being a Biblical Counselor, she is a Women’s speaker for retreats, conferences and events.  She is a regular writer for Victory Call and one of the authors of Crossing the Jordan Bible Study. She has been married to her husband John over 28 years.  She has 2 adult children and 3 grandchildren and 3 adult step-children with 7 grandchildren making 10 in all.  She delights reading and teaching, but mostly laughing at the funny things her grandchildren say and do.