Sustenance

Several weeks ago I shared some thoughts about Psalm 3:5. But this morning I read it again and something else stood out to me. Here's the verse again:

I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. Psalm 3:5

When I thought through the verse and the whole Psalm a few weeks ago, I really leaned on the sleeping part. Today, though, I couldn't help but focus on the Lord's sustenance.

You see, the Lord's sustenance was already in place when David decided that he could lie down and sleep. It was not that he trusted God would sustain him sometime in the future. It wasn't even that he felt sustained for long enough to get rest. No, he knew that God's sustenance had been long in place and would continue permanently.

The Lord sustained David.

The Lord sustains me.

The Lord sustains you.

This is an already proven, currently existing, and permanently established truth. It is not hit-or-miss. It is not only available in the gravest of moments. It does not waver or fluctuate. It is an on-going, permanent, established reality.

The Lord sustains us.

We frequently delight in God's provision, but oftentimes the word provision makes us think of something temporary. Sustenance, unlike provision, gives the image of something enduring and continual. It is fulfilling the basic necessities of life day by day, week by week, month by month, and year by year.

Like David, I can lie down and sleep not because I know that somehow God's going to take care of it all in the end but because I know the Lord sustains me.

I pray that you are able to rest in His sustenance today.