15 Sermon Illustrations on Divine Provision

C. H. Spurgeon once said, "God is satisfied with Himself, and sufficient to His own happiness. Therefore, surely, there is enough in Him to fill the creature. That which fills an ocean will fill a bucket; that which will fill a gallon will fill a pint; those revenues which will defray an emperor's expenses are enough for a beggar or poor man." Didn't Paul say, "My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19)? And He sees fit to bestow these riches on us as an inherent gift. Thus all believers possess Christ, but not every one has all His gifts, for He gives them as it pleases Him. His pleasure is according to His knowledge.

"If a mighty king should open his treasure, and bid men come and bring their bags, and take as much as they would; do you think they would neglect this occasion of gain? Surely no; they would run and fetch bag after bag, and never cease. Thus doth the Lord act towards us in the covenant of grace." He makes over all its fulness to his people, and saith, "All are yours." We are not straitened in him. The bags will come to an end long before the treasure is exhausted. Let us come, then, to the throne of grace with enlarged desires and widened expectations: the Lord does not stint us, why should we put ourselves upon short commons? "He saith, eat and drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved." Why, then, do we sit at the table and starve, or rise from it hungry? Let us by faith suck of the abundance of the sea of grace, and partake largely of the hid treasure which the Lord has laid up for us.

"When a city is besieged, the prince who would defend it doth not leave it to its ordinary strength and the standing provisions which it had before, but sendeth in fresh supplies of soldiers, victuals, and ammunition, and such things as the present exigence calleth for. So doth God deal with his people; his Spirit cometh in with a new supply, that they may better repel sin, and stand out in the hour of trial. What supplies of food, medicine, and ammunition are poured into a city which has to sustain a siege; and seldom do they prove to be more than are required! Even so, in our time of temptation, the Lord bestows vast stores of grace, strength, comfort, and wisdom; and yet there is need of them all ere the assault is over. It were well if we had a clearer idea of the needs of a beleaguered soul. We think far too lightly of the necessities which arise out of the attacks of Satan, and the blockade of the flesh. The City of Mansoul has no provision within itself, and if its commerce with heaven be cut off, black famine stares the inhabitants in the face. While the coast is clear it will be well to get in stores, and specially on those great market-days, the Sabbaths. None can fit us to stand a siege but that Universal Provider who daily feeds countless myriads of needy creatures. Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest when next my nature shall be beleaguered by the adversary. Provision me, I pray thee, against the siege. Give me to rejoice because thou hast prayed for me that my faith fail not.

While St. Nicholas was bishop of Myra, the city and province were desolated by a dreadful famine; and he was told that certain ships laden with wheat had arrived in the port of Myra. He went, therefore, and required of the captains of these vessels that they should give him out of each a hundred hogsheads of wheat for the relief of his people; but they answered, "We dare not do this thing; for the wheat was measured at Alexandria, and we must deliver it into the granary of the emperor." And St. Nicholas said, "Do as I have ordered you; for it shall come to pass, by the grace of God, that, when ye discharge your cargo, there shall be found no diminution." So the men believed him; and, when they arrived in Constantinople, they found exactly the same quantity that they had received at Alexandria. In the mean time, St. Nicholas distributed the corn to the people according to their wants; and it was miraculously multiplied in his hands, so that they had not only enough to eat, but sufficient to sow their lands for the following year.

— Mrs. Jameson

Bishop Bascom was preaching, on one occasion, in a cabin which was at once church and dwelling. In the very midst of his sermon, his host, who sat near the door, suddenly rose from his seat, snatched the gun from its wooden brackets upon which it lay against the joist, went hastily out, fired it off, and, returning, put the gun in its place, and quietly seated himself to hear the remainder of the sermon. After service was ended, Bascom inquired of the man the meaning of this strange conduct. "Sir," said he, "we are entirely out of meat; and I was perplexed to know what we should give you for dinner, and it was preventing me from enjoying the sermon, when God sent a flock of wild turkeys this way. I happened to see them, took my gun, and killed two at a shot. My mind felt easy; and I enjoyed the remainder of the sermon with perfect satisfaction."

The traveller's tree grows in Madagascar, and is so called from its always containing a large quantity of pure fresh water, supplying to the traveller the place of wells in the desert. Being somewhat sceptical as to the truth of this, Mr. Ellis determined to see for himself. Coming to a clump of trees, one of his bearers struck one of them with his spear, four or five inches deep, into the thick, firm end of the stalk of the leaf; and, on drawing it back, a stream of pure clear water gushed out, about a quarter of which was caught; and all drank of it on the spot. It was cool, clear, and perfectly sweet. It is an emblem of the ordinances of grace, prepared for the Lord's people in the wilderness of this world. Bowes.

When the Moravian missionaries first went, in the last century, to labor in Greenland, they were called to endure the most painful and distressing trials, both in reference to the indifference of the heathen, and the want of food. Famine, of the most afflictive kind, almost constantly threatened them. But in the darkest hours, God always appeared in some way or other, for their help. On one occasion, He disposed a Greenlander, a perfect stranger to them, to travel forty leagues to sell them some seals, the flesh of which, with oatmeal and train oil, was a delicacy to them compared with the old tallow candles on which they sometimes lived. At another time, when they had just returned from a toilsome excursion, in which they could obtain no food, a Greenlander brought them word that a Dutch ship was lying at some distance to the south, the captain of which had letters for them. On sending to the ship, they found a cask of provisions sent them by a kind friend at Amsterdam, with the proposal to send more if they needed. At another period, they were returning home empty in their frail boat, when a contrary wind forced them on a desolate island, where they were compelled to remain all night. Here they shot an eagle, and thus obtained food, and also quills for writing.

This worthy man, formerly minister at Walton-upon-Thames, being the subject of persecution in England, in the year 1662, and apprehensive of the ascendancy of Popery, removed to Middleburgh, in Zealand. The little money he took with him was soon expended, and he was reduced with his family to very great want, which his modesty would not allow him to make known. In this perplexity, after he had been at prayer one morning with his family, his children asked for some bread for their breakfast; but he having none, nor money to buy any, they all burst into tears. While they were thus sorrowing together, the door bell was rung; Mrs. Anderson went to the door, where she was met by a man who presented a small parcel, saying it had been sent by a gentleman, and that some provision would be sent in shortly. When they opened the paper, they found it to contain forty pieces of gold. Soon afterwards a countryman arrived, with a horse load of whatever could contribute to their comfort. These supplies were continued at intervals to his dying day, without his knowing where they came from. It afterwards appeared, that these kindnesses were shown by a pious merchant at Middleburgh; who observing a grave English minister frequently walk the streets with a dejector. countenance, inquired privately into his circumstances, and sent him the gold by his apprentice, and the provision by his country servant, saying, "God forbid that any of Christ's ambassadors should be strangers, and we not visit them; or in distress, and we not assist them;" at the same time expressly charging them to conceal his name.