I Have Never Seen the Righteous Forsaken

There have been times when someone in my circle of friends n' relations has quit a well paying job for reasons no one else fully understands.  When this sort of a decision is made from a basis of personal discontent and apart from the Lord (which probably explains the discontent), it is almost always a poor decision.  God tends to put us in uncomfortable situations because we are so weak and He wants to strengthen us.  "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it (Hebrews 12:11)."

When I decided first to cut my paying job to half time, then to take early retirement in order to provide care for my mother, not very many people understood.  Earlier posts have shown how hesitant I was to make this decision, how the Lord narrowed the path before me, how I agonized, indulged fear, wept, and prayed.  Talk about "testing the spirits!" I wanted to be positive I was following God's will for my life and sought Godly counsel, prayed, perused Scripture, and prayed some more.  

Now with this caveat that an impetus to step off one path and onto another must be of the Lord--because I don't want anyone to read this and feel moved to indulge an urge to quit their job in order to live off the land in bucolic bliss--I offer the following thought: 

It’s not so much that we need to get used to living with less but that we need to trust that God is willing to provide us more, when we are following His will for our lives.  We cling to our chosen method of making our own way, and in so doing rob ourselves of the abundant provision the Lord would provide free of cost or the terrible labor we expend as we seek to earn our own living.  If we release the need to provide for the future into the Lord’s hands, we’ll find that as we go about His work He provides for our needs and holds our future safe in His hand. 

"I was young and now I am old yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread" (Psalm 37:5).