We as God’s children are under His care. God cares for us and feeds us in two ways: the way of miracle and the way of natural law. We need to thank the Lord for taking care of us in a miraculous way. Do you not realize that God has miraculously taken care of you and that you live by His miracles? The fact that you have a good job is a miracle. Furthermore, having a suitable dwelling place and being protected and preserved until now are also miracles. All these things come from God’s miraculous sending of manna. What we do each day is simply to fulfill our responsibility to gather manna. When you go to work each day, you gather manna. But the manna itself came from God’s miracles. If you cannot believe this now, someday you will believe it. You will see that even your physical life is dependent on God’s miracles. The first way God feeds His people is by miracles. May we all be impressed with this and worship Him for it! We need to realize that we are living not by our education or ability, but by God’s raining of manna.
The second way God takes care of us is by the natural law of sowing and reaping. Yes, we need to sow, but it is God who gives us seed for sowing. Furthermore, God causes the seed to grow so that we may have a harvest. We can sow the seed, but we cannot make anything grow. God supplies the seed, He causes the seed to grow, and He also gives us bread for food.
Concerning the supply both by miracles and by natural law, God is the source. On the one hand, He sends the manna. On the other hand, He supplies the seed for sowing and the bread for food. If we have a deep realization of this, we shall not worry about our future. The Lord Jesus said, “Do not be anxious for tomorrow” (Matt. 6:34). Knowing that the believers need not worry about the future because we have God as our source of supply, Paul had the boldness to encourage the poor saints to give to the needy ones. We should take care of God’s need and His purpose. He then will take care of our future. Our future is not under our own care; it is under the care of our Father. It is not according to our gathering, but according to God’s raining of manna. Furthermore, it is not according to our sowing, but according to His supplying. If God does not supply seed, what shall we sow? Our future also does not depend on our reaping; it depends on God’s causing the seed to grow until there is a harvest. Having a deep realization concerning this and possessing a thorough knowledge of God’s economy, Paul had the assurance and the peace to encourage the poor saints to give what they had to meet the needs of others.
Now we can understand Paul’s thought in chapters eight and nine. In chapter eight Paul used the gathering of manna as a basis for fellowship with the saints about giving the supply of material things to needy ones. In chapter nine Paul used the matter of sowing and reaping as a basis for this fellowship. Paul, therefore, had a twofold basis on which to fellowship with the saints about the ministry of material things. This gave him the assurance and the confidence to tell the saints that if they gave as much as possible, they need not worry about the future. Here Paul seems to be saying, “Saints, give as much as you can. There is no need to worry about tomorrow. Your future is altogether under God’s care. Because I have the confidence concerning this, I encourage you to give. I do not run any risk in asking you to give to the needy ones. If you take my word and act on it, there will be a multiplication of thanksgivings to God. Also, if you are willing to sow by giving, God will send an increase in your harvest. He will increase your fruit of righteousness.”
Why did Paul have the boldness to encourage poor saints to give? He had boldness because he knew the Word of God. Furthermore, he knew God’s economy and His divine way. He realized that it was a serious matter to ask churches in a poor economic situation to help others in need. He was not asking one individual to help another. He was encouraging the churches in Europe to help the churches in Judea. It may seem that Paul was taking a risk, for the saints could have suffered in the future. Paul knew, however, that he was not taking a risk, because he had the assurance that God would come in to rain down the manna, to supply seed for sowing, and to give bread for food. This is the proper way to understand Paul’s word in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9.