I know the weight you are carrying tonight. The unopened envelope on the table. The number you keep checking, hoping it has changed. The quiet fear that there will not be enough.
I am Francis of Assisi, and I once feared those same things. I was the son of a wealthy merchant, raised to count coins and measure my worth by them. So when I tell you that God will provide, I am not speaking from comfort. I am speaking from a life that laid down every security I had and found God waiting underneath it all.
When Money Becomes a Master
For much of my youth, I believed money would make me safe. I clutched it. I worried over it. And the more I held, the more afraid I became of losing it. Perhaps you know that feeling, where provision turns into a master that never lets you rest.
The Lord gently showed me that I could not serve both God and wealth. So I let go. I gave back even the clothes I wore. And in that emptiness, for the first time, I felt truly held. Not by my father’s purse, but by the Father who made me.
I do not tell you to abandon your responsibilities. You must still work, still budget, still care for your family. But I ask you to loosen your grip just enough to remember who your true provider is.
The Promise Jesus Made
Our Lord spoke plainly about this. Look at the birds of the air, He said. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth far more than they?
Then He gave the promise I built my whole life upon. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Notice the order. Not “earn first,” not “secure first.” Seek God first, and the rest follows in His care.
This is not a promise that you will be rich. It is a promise that you will be provided for. There is a great difference. The Lord gives daily bread, not a year’s supply hoarded against fear. He asks you to trust Him one morning at a time.
Trusting One Day at a Time
When my brothers and I had nothing, we learned to receive each day as a gift. Some days bread came from a stranger’s hand. Some days we went hungry and still sang. And never, in all those years, did God forget us.
The Apostle Paul promised the same to the Philippians. My God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Every need. Not every want, but every true need, met by a Father whose riches never run dry.
So tonight, before you lie awake doing arithmetic in the dark, place that envelope in His hands. Tell Him your fear honestly. Then rest, as the birds rest, knowing the One who feeds them has not forgotten you.
You are not carrying this alone. The God who clothes the lilies and feeds the sparrows knows your name and your need. Seek Him first, and trust that all the rest is safe in His hands.
A Prayer to St. Francis
Dear St. Francis, you gave up every earthly treasure and found God to be enough.
Pray for me now, as I carry the weight of bills and worry and the fear of not having enough.
Help me to loosen my grip on what I cannot control, and to seek the kingdom of God first, trusting His promise to provide.
Teach me your holy freedom, that I may rest in the Father’s care one day at a time.
St. Francis, pray for us. Amen.
