Day 17

Today the power has been turned off. There has been a drought in Kenya; therefore they need to conserve energy. All of the power is off until night time. This may happen every day for a while.

This morning as reading my bible study material I came across a scripture that I struggle with. Matthew 6:31-33 says, “Don’t worry about everyday life – whether you have enough food and drink, or enough cloths to wear. Isn’t life more than food and you body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you more valuable than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And why worry about clothing?... So don’t worry about these things, saying ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear? These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”

I understand the concept of this verse; however, I wonder how this applies to those who live in poverty. I look at pictures of my nieces and nephews and think of how much I love them. Then I see pictures in my mind of some of the little children I've met here in Kenya living in poverty. They are just as precious to God as my nieces and nephews. God loves them with a deeper love than I can imagine. I struggle with the idea of how they live. I wonder why it has to be like that for them. The thought of a child crying because he or she is hungry just crushes me. Or thinking of the little huts they live in. These children are talented and smart, but not all of them have an opportunity to develop their skills and talents because of a lack of resources.

The beginning of the verse says not to worry about everyday life and that life is more important than your body and clothing. The verse goes on to say that God provides for the birds and will also provide for humans because we are even more special to him. Worrying about food, clothes and so on won’t add any time to life; therefore, it is useless. At the end the verse concludes to seek God first and he will give all that we need. My struggle and question is about those that don’t get what they need. What about the children that dies from starvation? What about the mom that has to deal with her child being sick without medical care? What about the dad that knows he cannot provide a house for his family? The only conclusion I can come to with this verse is summed up with the words, “Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing?” In other words, even though not everyone has the luxury of food, clothing and shelter, life itself is more important. And during this life we prepare for eternity. 2 Corinthians 4:18 states, “So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (Thanks for this verse Deb F.)

Life here on earth is so easy to focus on circumstances and things such as food, clothes and shelter, but God has a much bigger vision and wants me to see it. If I am only focused only on our circumstances, it’s a distraction in preparing me for eternity. Perhaps that scripture is a testament that even though some may end up with nothing in a physical sense, they have something wonderful called life, to prepare for eternity.

A verse that comforts me is, “God blesses those who are poor and realizes their need for him, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Thanks Kurt K. for this verse) Because of this verse, I can know that the poor who suffer on earth have something wonderful to look forward to.