Jehovah Jireh, God Our ProviderSýnishorn

“Follow your heart.”

“Trust your gut.”

“Do what feels right.”

Movies, music, and even our minds can bombard us with these messages. Yet, after numerous failed relationships or hopping from job to job, we find that following our hearts is rarely emotionally fulfilling.

Jehovah Jireh offers us a better way. He provides not only for our physical needs like He did for Abraham on Mt. Moriah, but also for our deepest relational and emotional needs.

In today’s reading of Genesis 2:18, God saw that it was not good for man to be alone. All that God had created was good, except for man being alone. So God made woman, a helper comparable to man. God created us male and female from the beginning; this was His perfect design.

God created mankind for community, which is why later, in the Gospels, Jesus had His disciples conduct ministry “two-by-two,” and why the church is an irreplaceable component of God’s New Testament plan. In fact, 1 Thessalonians 5:11 reminds believers that we are to comfort and edify each other. The word edify means “to build.” In other words, God’s plan for the emotional well-being of Christians is that we encourage and build one another up. In fact, Jehovah Jireh often provides for believers' relational and emotional needs by working through His people, the church.

What’s more, God meets our emotional needs by comforting us in our deepest needs with His very presence. Psalm 40 reminds us that God hears our cries, and we know that the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, dwells within us and is our Comforter.

God also meets our emotional needs through the precepts found in His Word, the truth that helps us navigate through our emotions, our relationships, and our circumstances. The Word of God gives life amidst our deepest needs for comfort (Psalm 119:50).

As I write this Bible plan, I am walking through one of the most painful relationship losses I have ever endured. Even as I endure it, God sent a friend to pray for me, share Scripture with me, and remind me that I am loved by God and His people.

Human nature can tend to focus on what we lack, times when our friends hurt us, and moments when we are discouraged and disquieted. But we must never forget that God is Jireh, the provider of all that we DO have - that friend that DOES call and text, that churchgoer that DOES welcome us warmly, and that word of Scripture that comforts us on a dark day. We do not need to follow our hearts for emotional fulfillment but rather obey Jehovah Jireh, the provider for even our emotional needs!