God provides for all our needs

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

WE should never forget this most important truth of our faith. Especially in our most difficult moments, when we find ourselves helpless and on the verge of discouragement, we should remember that God who is our Creator, and more than that, a loving Father to all of us, is always there to provide what we need. His ways may not exactly be what we want, but he is always around to help us.

We are reminded of this truth of our faith in that gospel episode where a centurion begged Christ to cure his paralytic servant. (cfr. Lk 8,5-11) And when Christ told him that he was going to his house, Christ was amazed at how the centurion reacted that showed his great faith in Christ.

This was the reply of the centurion: “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.’” Of course, the centurion got what he requested.

As long as our faith is strong, deep and abiding, there is nothing in our life, no matter how difficult and humanly unsolvable, that cannot be taken care of by Christ. Thus, in our moments of helplessness, we should just ask God for help and abandon ourselves in his hands.

Let’s always remember that God is with us all the time. He can never stay away from us. As our Creator and Father, he will never abandon us no matter how estranged we might be from him, since he is at the very core of our existence itself. Our life is actually his life first of all. He shares his life and nature with us. That is what is meant by being the image and likeness of God that we are.

Ours is simply to live our life with God, always following his will and ways. We are simply stewards of our own life. God is its owner, and so, we are answerable to him as to how we manage it according to his will and ways.

And as an omnipotent owner of our life, he provides us with everything that we need. He always has all the solutions to our problems, giving us relief in our difficulties, challenges and trials, and assuring us of final victory irrespective of how the drama of our life goes, as long as we remain faithful to him.

And so, when we are faced with our limitations and a state of helplessness, we should just be ready for them and know not only how to deal with them but also how to derive something good from them. In these instances of the hard predicaments, for example, when we seem to be at a loss as to what to do, we should just see at what God does, after we have done all things possible to solve our problems.

We need to trust in God’s providence and mercy. We have to learn to live a spirit of abandonment in the hands of God. Yes, if we have faith in God, in his wisdom and mercy, in his unfailing love for us, we know that everything will always work out for the good. If we are with God, we can always dominate whatever suffering can come our way in the same manner that Christ absorbed all his passion and death on the cross.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com