God has already planned it

When Adam and Eve brought onto themselves the curses of sin at Eden, God had already planned that the woman's seed would crush the head of the serpent. (Genesis 3:15)

When Joseph's brothers delivered him into slavery in Egypt, God had already planned that he would save countless lives through the great famine. (Genesis 50:20)

When Israel found themselves trapped by the Egyptians with their back to the Red Sea, God had already planned a miracle He'd refer back to all throughout the Bible. (Exodus 14:13)

When Saul disqualified himself from kingship at Gilgal, God had already planned to anoint a greater king after His own heart. (1 Samuel 13:14)

When Naomi was left without a husband or sons, God had already planned that the Messiah would come through her family. (Ruth 4:17)

When Lazarus grew ill and died, God had already planned that His disciples would believe in Him as a result. (John 11:14)

When Jesus was taken prisoner and sentenced to crucifixion, God had already planned to bring about the salvation of mankind. (Acts 2:23)

When Jesus departed this world and left His frightened disciples behind, He had already planned that the gospel would penetrate to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

When a murderer was on his way to claim the life of more Christians, God had already planned to bring salvation to the Gentiles through him. (Acts 9:15)

When you were still in the grasp of the devil, God had already planned good works for you to accomplish. (Ephesians 2:10)

When all the armies of the earth gather together to finally destroy Christianity, God has already planned to demonstrate His sovereignty with absolute victory. (Revelation 20:9)

Perhaps you are feeling like your fundraising (or life!) isn't going according to your plan right now. If so, don't worry...

God has already planned something glorious to come from it.

What about tomorrow?

The nature of fundraising is that you rely day by day, month by month and year by year on the generosity of others as they are prompted by the grace of God.

That's a scary place to be.

In fact, as I write this blog entry, I'm keenly aware of how quickly and drastically my life would change if my support team stopped giving tomorrow. I sense how little control I have over the situation. I feel small, powerless and vulnerable.

Frankly, I don't like it one bit.

Everything in me wants to find something more "solid" to rely on. My heart cries out to just get a normal job like a normal person. "Then," my heart tells me, "you won't have to worry about tomorrow."

And that's the key question, isn't it? What about tomorrow? Will God be faithful tomorrow? Will I have what I need tomorrow?

Thankfully, a freshly-emancipated Israel had to consider the same questions:

And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat. This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’” And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. (Exodus 16:14-20 ESV, emphasis mine)

Your Bible probably has a little footnote next to the phrase "What is it?" that says something about the word "manna" deriving from it. This manna is quite amazing stuff. Every day God would provide it for His people to eat as they wandered in the wilderness. And every day there would be just enough, no matter how much they actually gathered.  There was never too much nor too little. If they tried to save any until the next morning, it became useless.

There's a very important lesson to be learned here for fundraisers who, like me, worry about tomorrow. It's simply this: God gives grace for today.

I will not have too much grace today or too little grace today. I can't collect extra grace today and store it up for tomorrow. I can expect that God will give me new grace tomorrow, but not until tomorrow is today. Because of Jesus's death and resurrection, Christian fundraisers can rest confidently on those truths.

So when we find ourselves searching for something "solid", what we really need is to better understand the completed work of Christ on the cross. There is absolutely nothing more solid than that.

The truth is that our hearts aren't actually crying out for a "normal job". They're crying out for a Savior. They're crying out for the true Bread from heaven. They're crying out for Jesus.

Just as they were always meant to do.