To provide for man, God used the earth that was already available. He did not need to create a new thing or provide a new resource. He just made a way for man to lock into what already was. In this modern age, through science, we have done things previously thought unimaginable just a generation ago. Amazingly, we have not created anything new, but we have only acquired an ability to mine what God has already created. Our technology is hinged on metals extracted from the ground and principles used crudely by previous generations. These resources had always been there and the basic principles known, but we did not know how to get them or deploy them.

For every work God calls us to do, the means to meet our needs has already been provided. For any obstacle or trial we face, the rod of salvation is already provided (Ex 14:16). All we need do is to lift up our eyes and see through the eyes of God. Consider Moses when he complained to God about the possibility that the children of Israel would not believe that the Lord had sent him. God said to him, “What is in your hand?” Moses answered, “A rod” (Exodus 4:2). The rod was in his hands long before God called unto him because he was shepherding in the desert. That rod was all that was necessary for signs and wonders. He only needed to learn what God could do through a simple rod.

Regardless of what situation we find ourselves, God has already placed a rod in our hands for signs and for wonders. He has been preparing us for the work He wants us to do long before He called us. He asks only that we believe to see the salvation of God. Remember Paul? He used to be Saul of Tarsus, a zealot, well instructed in the law of God and hardworking. When he got converted, he became the greatest of the apostles and wrote most of the New Testament letters.

In Jeremiah 1:5, God tells the prophet, “Before I formed you in your mother’s womb, I already knew you. Before you were born, I already sanctified (separated) you and I ordained (commissioned) you for this work.” If he already separates us for the work before we were born, it makes perfect sense that he has started giving us all the tools we would need right from the womb. He puts the right genes in us and when we are growing up, He gives us the right temperament. He takes us through the appropriate experiences (the good ones and the not-so-great ones) so that we understand all that we need in order to fulfill the ministry He has assigned us to. Knowing this, we will appreciate the fact that nothing happens to us by accident. The steps of the righteous are truly ordered by the Lord (Psalm 37:23). Even the messiah had to have the right genes, it was the main reason that God forbade marriage between the Hebrews and the Canaanite inhabitants of the promised land. Many of those people were the children of giants; descendants of the fallen angels (Gen 6:2-4). The work of salvation would not have been valid if the Lamb had carried the blemish of the nephilim on to the cross (Lev 4:3, 21:17-23 and Jn 14:30).

We need to stop envying our neighbors or coveting their lifestyles. They have a different place in God’s grand plan—totally different from yours. Look at it this way: if God carefully selected your genes by giving you the right parents, fashioned your childhood and experiences, then you have a skill set unique to you. It makes sense then that God has a special job that you are best suited for doing. Note the word “best,” because if you refuse, God can find somebody else to do it, even if not as good as you would have. We can, however, choose to willingly submit to His teachings and develop as we should, or we can rebel and acquire an arrested development or shipwreck our destiny.

His Word Has All We Need

Genesis 1 reveals how all that we need as humans is provided through the earth. But it also sheds light on our spiritual needs. The Bible makes it clear that we are regenerated through the water (Word of God) and the Spirit (power) that empowers it (John 3:5). We are admonished numerous times to put on the new man by a renewal through the Word of God (Colossians 3:10). The Bible is our all-fix-it tool for tackling every issue in life. Whatever we are going through or in need of, there is a solution somewhere in the Bible. We will find a godly answer for every one of life’s questions, if we can but lock onto the Master’s thoughts.

His word is our source of nutrition (1 Peter 2:2) and guidance (2 Timothy 3:16). The Bible gives guidance on diet, clothing, housing, and residence. There are rules on immigration, economics, warfare, and love. In fact, an entire book is devoted to love and sex (Songs of Solomon). There is no situation that we can possibly go through that doesn’t already have a narrative in the Scriptures. The Scriptures make it clear that Christ has passed through every temptation we can possibly experience and done so victoriously.

The reason we do not know God’s will in our situation is because we have not studied the Scriptures or understood His Word. I illustrate this with the simple example of a Christian lady in a relationship with a gangster. She believes she will be able to convert him to God if she marries him. But what if he never converts? Can she live his lifestyle and still be a disciple of Christ? If this lady understood the Scriptures, she would know that she is not supposed to be unequally yoked with such a man in the first place (2 Corinthians 6:14). This passage does not mean that she can not witness to him or be an associate, but she should not be in the process of forming a marriage union with him. She should look for a better man before walking down the altar. A man’s conversion is never guaranteed. It is a free will decision since God will not force him to believe. No matter how many miracles he witnesses, if his heart is hardened, nothing will convert him. Of all the Israelis that crossed the Red sea and saw the demise of pharaoh, only two men were fit to enter the land of promise. Hopefully, the statistics have improved today, but I suspect not.

There are so many troubles that we continuously struggle with simply because we do not know what the Word of God says about those situations or His ability to turn things round (Matthew 22:29). We make Him small and handicapped such that He is totally shut out of our thoughts and lives. If we would only search the Scriptures and believe He is able to deliver us, most of our stress would simply vanish.