God is Good Even When Life Is Not: How God Provides in Loss

I remember years ago, I was sitting on the beige carpet in my home office, tissues in hand, crying with the Lord about our long wait for children.

At the time Seth and I were pastoring the young adult group at our church. He spoke to me and said, “What is in front of you right now? You have a whole group of young people needing a spiritual mama. Give them your full attention. You can wake up in the night when they call on the phone in distress as if they were your ‘baby.’ Take the time and energy you have to be a mom, and give it to the young people. Let them be your focus.”

Somehow that encouragement from God empowered me to turn my mothering energy toward something that was beneficial: both for the young adults in our church, and for my heart. My husband and I had something to give and a place for our giving to land. We made the conscious decision to intentionally give what we had to people who would receive it.

Trusting God to Provide Even In Lack

Of course, pastoring adults doesn’t replace having a family of children all your own. But at the time that was what was in front of me and it did give me an outlet for the mother that was inside of me all along. I look back on those years and reflect on the beauty and the difficulties and I’m so grateful for the growth in all of it. 

What has followed since that decision has been an unimaginable increase. In those years we were pastoring 30-40 young people in our spare time. Now our full time jobs are focused on pastoring 70 new people every year. Between the two of us we have pastored around 570 students in the last 5 years. That’s a lot of love we’ve been able to give and it is such a joy!

As I reflect on God speaking to me and our intentional decision to invest our parenting into the people around us, I see clearly that He had so much more in mind then we knew at the time. Our decision to listen to Him and pour out our lives for those young people turned into so much more. The lessons learned were irreplaceable and the parenting and pastoral hearts that were developed in us established who we are today. We were faithful with the little and He gave the increase. 

God Is Good Even When Life Is Not

Here’s the thing. God is a provider. Plain and simple. God provides. I’ve never been more aware of that than I have in the last couple of years. He takes care of His kids (that’s me!). Where there is lack, He makes up the slack. In Genesis 22 Abraham calls Him “Jehovah Jireh”, meaning, “the Lord will provide.” He can’t be anything but His name, so who He is as Provider comes to us in all forms. We normally think of His financial blessing or provision when we think of Jehovah Jireh, but His provision in our lives comes into any area where there is lack. This truth is all over the Bible. 

Psalm 23:1-6: The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 

Isaiah 41:17: When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them.

If there is any lack in our lives there is usually a disconnect with the truth of Him as provider. The more you are convinced that He provides, that He has resources and wants to give to you, the more you will see His provision in your life. This might sound like crazy talk but it’s how faith operates. Hebrews 11:1 says that “faith is the substance of what is hoped for”!

Where I’ve had disappointment and heartache in not being able to be a parent He has provided the ability to spiritually “parent” more people than I thought was ever possible. 

I began to see what God was like when I read the Bible all the way through a few times. In the culture of Biblical times, the father was the breadwinner and women were seen as property, not able to earn an income. If a woman’s husband died, she would have no source of income unless she remarried or family would take care of her needs. Children who had no father would also be in the same position.  As I read, I noticed how many times He instructed the Israelites to take care of the widow and orphan. God’s intention is for all of His children to have all their needs met. 

The whole of Matthew 6 is incredible, but Jesus’s rant about His kids not needing to worry because He takes care of His kids needs is quite the adamant statement:  

Matthew 6:31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  

It’s as if He’s talking to people who don’t believe it. Matthew 6 is still speaking the truth 2000 years after He said it and we still worry! He is a provider. He can’t be anything but a provider. His provision reaches into every facet of our lives if we will let it. 

In the Bible God Communicates His Provision For Those in Loss

Check out His relentless care about His widows and orphans:

James 1:27  Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.

Psalm 68:5 Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.

Deuteronomy 10:18 He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.

He gets real serious on this one. This scripture reveals the heart of a parent who loves His kids so much that He won’t let anyone mess with them:

Exodus 22:21-24 “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.”

Daaaaang.

Seeing God Provide in Loss in My Own Life

We can see that God instructs and trains His people to think and behave like He thinks. He wants us to provide for others because that’s what He is like. But we first need to experience who He is as our Provider. This provision is not limited to “widows” and “orphans,” although I do believe we need to give abundantly to help them. It also reveals the heart of a Father who provides for anyone in any loss. He makes up the difference. When I began to realize who God was as Provider I began to look for it in my own life. I was first convinced of who He was and then I began to look for the evidence. I asked Him to open my eyes to see where He was providing and where He has provided for me in the past that I haven’t even realized yet. That is when I started seeing how He has provided opportunity for “parenting” while we didn’t have children. That’s when I began seeing how He has been providing mothering in the heartbreaking loss of my mom. And on and on. 

But pain will blind you. If I was only focused on the loss and the disappointment then I would be blind to seeing His provision. This is one of the reasons why intentionally processing our pain is so important. It’s in facing the pain and connecting to God’s comfort that gives us the ability to see Him for who He truly is. For more on how to Practically Process Pain click here. And for more on how to access comfort from God click here. 

If you have walked through infertility, ask God to show you how He is providing for you in your loss. If you have lost a loved one or didn’t have one of your parents present in your life, ask God to show you how He has provided for you in the face of your loss.

He takes care of the widow, the orphan, the one who has experienced heartbreak. And He takes care of you.