Christian Devotional – May 10, 2026

The Reluctant Follower, Day 17

God’s provision. Read Jonah 4:6-8.

We speak a lot about the provision of God. We know that God is a God who provides. We enjoy praying prayers and singing songs thanking God for his provision. But, are we willing to acknowledge everything that is a provision of God?

As we come into these final few days in the book of Jonah, we see that everything that has happened has been a provision of God. Jonah is in a place that he’s not supposed to be, doing something he’s not supposed to be doing, and even still God provides for him. In today’s reading, God provides three things for Jonah. First, God provides a plant. Second, God provides a worm. Third, God provides wind. Jonah likes the first provision of God. Jonah doesn’t really notice the second provision of God. But, Jonah really doesn’t like the third provision of God.

God provides a plant to help shade Jonah and to provide some comfort for him while he’s sitting there. Even though Jonah’s not supposed to be there, God still provides. However, God then provides a worm that eats the plant and causes it to whither. Jonah doesn’t necessarily notice this provision, or at least the scripture doesn’t mention his opinion of it. God provided a worm with the sole purpose that it would eat the plant. Depending on our perspective, we could also say that God provided food for that worm.

Finally, God provides a scorching sun and wind. Jonah definitely has an opinion about that provision, and he is not in favor of it at all. As we seek to understand God’s provision, we need to realize there will be things that God provides that we really, really enjoy. That’s generally what we’re looking for with the provision of God. God will also provide things that we don’t really even notice, don’t recognize, and don’t attribute to God at all. It doesn’t make them any less important, and it doesn’t mean that someone else isn’t seeing it as a provision for them. Finally, God will provide things for us that we are not happy about. There are things that weren’t on our list; items that we would prefer never happened, but that doesn’t make them any less a provision of God.

This is where our trust of God comes in. If we’re willing to praise God and thank him for his provision when it is something we want, are we willing to thank and bless and praise God for his provision when it’s something we don’t want? Gods provision is for His glory and our good. We need to trust God and be thankful for his provision in our lives.