God’s Vision Comes with His Provision

by Shauna Wallace 

Give me a million things to do with a definite deadline, and I’ll accomplish a million and one. Give me one thing to do and forever to do it, and I’m lost. Even with the routine tasks of daily life, like laundry, chores, or simply getting dinner on the table at a decent time, I do best with a target I can aim for and hit! Without a clear deadline or task list, I’m proof of Proverbs 29:18:

Where there is no vision, the people perish.

Vision gives us direction, and when it’s God’s vision for us, it always comes with His provision.

God’s greatest revelation of His vision is…

His word, and it applies universally to all His children. He also has a specific plan or vision for each of us: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11 ESV). These plans were determined before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4-5), and what He plans, He accomplishes, for He “works in (us) both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). It’s a biblical principle I call Vision Provision!

He will accomplish according to the good pleasure of His will

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He will work in us to will and do for His good pleasure

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VISION PROVISION

While preparing a keynote address for a Christian school’s vision banquet, God used the story of the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land to teach me about Vision Provision. He showed me eight truths about His character that form the acronym NOW FAITH – which is what He wants of us when He reveals His vision to us and demonstrates these characteristics in our lives. I hope this acronym helps us to remember who He is and the response He desires from us.

N = Notable

God is notable. Just as He did for Moses in the burning bush (Exodus 3:2-4), the Lord will do something to get our attention, and we will know it is Him! God had a vision for Moses, and He made sure Moses didn’t miss Him. When Moses noticed the burning bush, he wanted to know more, and God imparted His vision for using Moses to deliver the Israelites from slavery. God may not speak to us from a literal burning bush, but we can trust Him to get our attention and tell us what He’s going to do in His timing and as He determines our need for further instruction.

O = Overcomer

As soon as God revealed His plan to Moses from the burning bush, Moses immediately objected, argued, and negotiated! Even after the Lord performed several miracles to demonstrate the reality of His power, Moses still insisted God couldn’t possibly use Him. But God didn’t let him off the hook because God knew He could do what He planned to do using Moses to do it.

God is our overcomer – all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-present everywhere all the time. When He gives us vision, He already has the answer for how He is going to make things happen despite and through us. We are going to have shortcomings. There will be obstacles in our way. God will take us into occupied territory where He will defeat our enemies to bring about His vision like He did with the Israelites. We don’t have to be able to see how God’s going to do something all the way to the end. We just have to see God and know that He has it figured out and will teach us what we need to know according to His divine wisdom, which leads us to W.

W = Wise

God is wise, and we are not. Unless our wisdom is from Him, it is foolishness. His ways won’t always make sense (1 Corinthians 1:20-28), which is why our faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God (1 Corinthians 2:5). Therefore, we move forward according to His wisdom. Right after God told Moses He would send Him to Pharaoh to demand the release of the Israelites, He explained to Moses that the king of Egypt would not let them go, not even by a mighty hand. What’s more, God revealed that HE would be the one to harden Pharaoh’s heart so he wouldn’t let them go. Pharaoh wasn’t going to cooperate and God knew it, and He sent Moses with demands of freedom TEN times before it ever worked!!!

Sometimes, failure in our eyes is forward movement in God’s plan. Whatever God does or allows, He has a reason. He is wise, and we are not, so we must trust in Him with all our hearts, leaning not on our own understanding, but acknowledging Him so He can direct our paths (Proverbs 3:5-6)! It is possible because He is faithful, which is our F.

F = Faithful

I am forever in awe of the fact that God is faithful because of who He is and His sovereign plan NOT because of what we do or don’t do! I am especially encouraged every time I encounter His faithfulness in the absence of ours. Over and over again, the Israelites grumbled and complained against God when they felt oppressed, afraid, hungry, and thirsty. They even built and worshiped a golden calf when Moses was gone too long on the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments from God. There were consequences for their unfaithfulness, but God still showed them mercy and miraculously provided for them.

Isn’t the pattern the same with us? There are always consequences for our unfaithfulness, and His faithfulness is NOT license to disregard and disobey Him, but we can be assured that His faithfulness will see His vision through even when we fail Him. He will do what He says He will do because He is able, which is our A.

A = Able

Whatever He sets out to do, God is able. Whatever vision He gives, He is able to fulfill it. And because God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, He is able to do for His chosen people today what He did for His chosen people in ancient times, including:

• Perform signs and wonders;
• Set His people apart in the face of disaster, as He did with the plagues;
• Trouble and defeat our enemies, as He did Pharaoh’s army in the midst of the Red Sea;
• Supply our every need, as He did with water, manna, and quail;
• Sustain our resources, as He did when the Israelites’ clothes and shoes never wore out in 40 years;
• Use His people to exceed expectations, as He did when donations for the Tabernacle were not just sufficient for all the work to be done but indeed became too much (Exodus 36:7)!

The Lord Himself declares, “Behold, I am the Lord, God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27). No! There is nothing too hard for the Lord! We can rely on Him completely because He is faithful, able, and always working, even when what He’s doing is invisible to us, which leads to I.

I = Invisible

What is invisible to us, is visible to Him, and even when we can’t see what He sees and can’t see that He’s doing anything at all, we can know He is still doing. We have the benefit of scripture to give us an understanding of the ways He was at work to free, sustain, and deliver the Israelites. Imagine being Moses or an Israelite at that time. Think of all that was invisible to them! Nonetheless, He was and is an omnipresent overcomer – everywhere, all the time, seeing all things – whether we’re privy to the details of His activities or not. God is invisible.

This is where we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7), especially in light of Hebrews 11:6, which tells us “without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Whether we “see” Him or not, we can know His character, and we can believe Him because He is totally trustworthy, which is our T.

T = Trustworthy

When everything all around us looks impossible and God’s plan is hard, we can trust it is best, knowing His hard IS our easy. The easiest thing will always be to trust Him and yield to His will. God is trustworthy. As Moses said to the Israelites as they stood before the Red Sea with Pharaoh’s army closing in behind them:

Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today…The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace (Exodus 14:13-14).

The cloud before them moved behind them and became a light by night to the Israelites and a cloud and darkness to their enemy. God supernaturally obstructed the enemy’s access to His people as He parted the Red Sea, delivering His people on dry land and wiping out Pharaoh’s army and chariots behind them. THIS is the God we serve! THIS is the God of our Vision Provision! He alone can be trusted because His ways are higher, which is our H.

H = Higher

In Isaiah 55:8-9, God pointedly establishes His sovereignty: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’” God is higher. It is the reason we don’t get to question Him: “Woe to him who strives with his Maker!” Isaiah 45:9 challenges. “Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making’?” We don’t get to decide how or what He does.

We DO get to come alongside Him and obey. The alternative is altogether undesirable, for if we resist His best for our better, we risk being swept away by the empty deceit of the world’s ways. We risk spending unnecessary time in the wilderness. God is still with us, but wouldn’t we rather be in the Promised Land?

~Shauna

An inspirational writer, teacher, and speaker, Shauna Wallace burns with passion to see women experience the fullness of God’s grace, faithfulness, peace, joy, protection, and provision by becoming wholly His. Finding hope and life in God’s word motivates her to help other women discover God’s power to transform lives.

Transparent and real, she opens her life and heart to encourage others. She and her husband, James, serve their church, community, and clients of their custom home-building business. As a homeschooling stay-at-home mother of four, Shauna treasures the privilege of being James’ helpmate and training her children in the ways of the Lord. Check Out Shauna’s Blog Here!