God Provides Along the Way - Not Before It
By Michael Kelley
Even though the disciples didn’t know it, Jesus was preparing them all along to be the bearers of His continued ministry. They were going to pass on what they were taught and bring people with them along the way they had walked with Jesus. He got them ready to carry on His work, and one of the most direct instances in which He did this is recorded in Mark 6:
He summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs and gave them authority over unclean spirits. He instructed them to take nothing for the road except a staff—no bread, no traveling bag, no money in their belts, but to wear sandals and not put on an extra shirt. He said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that place. If any place does not welcome you or listen to you, when you leave there, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” So they went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons, anointed many sick people with oil and healed them (Mark 6:7-13).
Here we see Jesus not commanding His disciples to follow, but instead sending them out. They were to go and do the work themselves that they had seen Jesus do Himself. They were to teach, to heal, to drive out evil spirits - all things they had seen Jesus do. And in their going, Jesus was explicit about what they were to take - and not to take - with them.
They were to take His authority. And they were to take each other, two by two. And they were to take a staff. But they were not to take food, luggage, extra clothes, or even money. Now that seems like a curious command, doesn’t it?
Consider what you would take with you if you were going on a mission trip. You would take most of the things Jesus said not to take - in fact, you probably would have a packing list to make sure you remembered everything you needed:
Passport? Check.
Plenty of socks? Check.
The necessary shots? Check.
A little spending money? Check.
So why would Jesus tell his followers to explicitly avoid things like this? One might argue that Jesus was at least failing to adequately prepare His disciples for what would come, if not being outright irresponsible in His commissioning. The point of the question is not to make us doubt whether we should be good packers; we should, as this is a different time and a different context than the one in which this account occurred. The point of the question is to see the emphasis behind Jesus’ packing instructions.
To get at that, consider why we want to be diligent in packing. We make a list, and check it twice, because we want to be prepared. We want to make sure that we have tried to anticipate what we will need and to make provision for it beforehand. Again, that’s a good and responsible thing for us to do.
But in this instance, what Jesus was emphasizing to His disciples was that the mission they were going on was one of faith. They not only needed to trust that God would work through them as they ministered; they needed to trust that God would provide what they needed along the way. In that, there is a good lesson about the Lord’s provision for us in most any circumstance.
All of us have been sent by Jesus. We have been sent into our homes, our neighborhoods, our workplaces, and the world at large as His disciples, taking with us the good news of the gospel and therefore expanding the kingdom of God. And in that sending, if we had our way, God would provide in advance. He would provide the courage, He would provide the financial means, He would provide everything we need so that we can go in absolute confidence. But if He did that, we should ask the question: Why would we need faith?
God often provides along the way, not before you go.
God calls us out. To leave. To go out in the mission He has planned for us. We are to take that step, by faith, into uncertainty, not wait for all our questions to be answered or needs to be met. As Corrie Ten Boom once said, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.”
When we take the first step, with all the questions accompanying it, we are doing so in faith. We are trusting that God will provide along the way, not before it.
Michael Kelley is a husband, father of three, author, and speaker from Nashville, TN. His latest book is a year-long family devotional guide called The Whole Story for the Whole Family. Find his personal blog at michaelkelley.co.
