The Methuselah Generation and his Constant Provision

(Note: For those of you that subscribe to this blog, you accidentally received the rough draft of this post under another title. My left thumb mistakingly grazed the touch pad and posted this entry while still in rough draft form. If you did, well, here is the finished version. Enjoy!!! )

The apostle Paul said the following in 1 Corinthians 15:46: "The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual." The natural comes first, then the spiritual. Our existence as humans is a process. We come into this world in a natural state, but in Christ we learn to become spiritual in our natural existence. That is why Paul also said the following in 1 Corinthians 2:15: "The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment....." In the verse Paul speaks of our coming into a spiritual existence. We are natural first. Yes. This is undeniable. But, in Christ, we become spiritual in the Holy Spirit. It is the nature of the Spirit to cause us to become spiritual so that we move beyond natural fears and worries and into the fulfillment of our callings. Our callings in Christ take us beyond the natural and into the supernatural.

With that said, people sometimes ask us what it costs to live in Merida. I guess there are two answers to that question. One is the literal, actual dollar amount in the natural realm. For a typical family of four, assuming that your car is paid off and you are renting a home, it should run you anywhere from $1,700 to $2,000 per month, depending on how much miscellaneous spending you do. See below for specific monthly expenses:

Rent: $560 USD/ $7,000 pesos
Electricity: $200 USD
Water: $20 USD
Drinking Water: $20 USD
Gas (used for Stove/Hot Water Heater/Clothes Dryer): $25 USD
Car Insurance: $30
Gas (Car): $120 monthly (varies depending on how much you walk/drive)
Miscellaneous: $300 (Eating out, Entertainment for the kids.........)
Groceries: $600 (We have two growing boys.......Wal Mart and Costco)
Cable/Internet: $45 monthly
Cell Phones (2): $100 monthly

That should come out to around $2,000.00 monthly, give or take. These numbers can fluctuate a little, depending on miscellaneous factors, the exchange rate of the dollar to the peso, ........There is also the cost of "Replacement." If you move to a foreign country you can only take so much with you at first on a tourist visa unless you acquire your residency visas in advance. Most people that get their yearly residency visas in advance already own a home down here. Those folks can bring in up to $10,000.00 worth of personal belongings. But because we didn't have those visas in place prior to coming down we have a higher cost of replacement for items that we sold before moving down.

We brought my truck down with the cab packed full of clothes and other miscellaneous items. A week after I did that we flew down as a family with via Mexicana Airlines with 16 suitcases and/or carry-on bags. We mostly brought clothes, a Wii, toys, books, .....real basic stuff. Once we got here we had to replace everything else we owned in the US. Washer/Dryer, Stove, Refrigerator, Microwave, Garden tools, Dining Room table and chairs, TV, Beds and bed frames, Living Room furniture, kitchen utensils, toiletries, towels, cleaning supplies, .....The replacement costs in the natural are going to run you around $4,000.00....give or take depending on your needs, taste, etc......It can fluctuate...in the natural.

It is our first response to look at these things in the "natural." We are natural beings. Their is a natural cost of living. Yes it does exist. The Lord knows this. He is aware of this. He understands the details of the necessities of life, always beyond what we even know. He is acutely aware of household budgets and the realities that come with them. He is aware of them.

But one of the things that Christine, the boys and I are in the process of "learning" is that eventually the spiritual begins to trump the natural. Yes, the natural exists first. But in Christ, as we live in him, he always holds the trump card. The trump card, the ace of spades, is always held by Christ. The ace of spades is his unending, supernatural provision. His provision is unending....and it comes from the supernatural, spiritual realm via the natural realm. Consider the following verses:

"He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. (Isaiah 40:28,29)

"He who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber or sleep." Psalm 121:3,4

"Oh the depth of the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?" (Romans 11:33-35)

People, ........God does not get tired. He does not get weary. He has understanding that no man can fathom. He can give out strength like he is passing out candy at a carnival. He watches over us. He never slumbers or sleeps. He never goes to bed. His judgements, his thoughts and his paths are unsearchable. No one has ever counseled him. No one has ever given to him in anyway that God owes them a debt of gratitude or payment. He doesn't owe anyone anything. He has no debts.

The Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 long years. He watched over them like a shepherd with his sheep. And in those 40 years he gave them everything they needed when they needed it. Clothes, housing, food, water, physical safety, .....all necessary provisions. Everything they needed when they needed it. In supernatural ways. Consider the following verse:

Deuteronomy 8:2,3 "Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord."

They Israelites had what they needed when they needed it....for 40 long years. One day I was reading this passage of scripture and I realized something. If the Lord had needed to provide for them in the desert for 41 years he could have done it. He could have done it for 45, 50, 55, 60......whatever. He could have provided for them this way indefinitely. Romans 11 says, "Oh the depths of his riches...." I don't think this scripture refers to his desire to make us wealthy. No "name it-claim it" or "prosperity gospel" here!!! What this refers to is the depth of his riches in all things to continue to meet our daily "NEEDS" in all aspects. Relationally, physically, financially, ....whatever. When we are moving in God's direction for our lives he meets the budget that he sets for us and the needs that we have as individuals and families. He sets and meets the cost of living for us. And he does so out of "the depths of his riches."

My wife and I have owned a business for 6 years. It is called "Small Sprouts." The first 4 1/2 years of owning this business we made about $300 monthly after we paid out our operating expenses. Most of our household income was derived from my employment with other companies, not Small Sprouts. But in January of 2009 something supernatural happened. We went from taking in 10 orders a month to taking in 30 a month....in the span of one month. Our business increased three-fold in the span of thirty days....and it didn't slow down for all of 2009. Then, in January of 2010, something supernatural happened again. We went from 30 or 35 orders a month to 55 to 60 orders a month, all in a span of 30 days time. Our business almost doubled.....in the span of thirty days. And we have been running at that speed for this calendar year of 2010. This was "most" of the provision we needed in the natural realm to get out of the boat and make this transition to Mexico.

Yet the provision we make from this business, on paper, was not quite enough for us to live here. We were, on paper, about $300 short with what we needed for a monthly budget. And that was with no unexpected expenses like vehicle repairs, medical expenses, ......whatever. We came down here with net income that, on paper, was just barely short of what we see as our average monthly budget. With that in mind, there was something that the Lord was speaking to me as far back as 4 years ago in regards to all of this. He was saying something to me that caused me to believe he would somehow provide as we moved forward into Mexico.

For those of you that don't know our story, in November of 2006, the Lord gave me a dream and showed me that he would start preparing us as a family to move to Mexico. This seed had been dormant in my heart, up to that time, since I was 26 years old. Then, starting in November 2006, we went through 3 1/2 years of preparation to make this move, both physically and spiritually. And one of the things that the Lord started to talk to me about when I had this dream was the Monarch butterfly.

The Lord instructed me to study this insect. The Monarch principally takes up residence in the late spring through early fall in Canada and the northern part of the United States. Every generation of monarch butterfly that is born has a natural life span of around 6-8 weeks. All but one generation that is. The generation of monarch that is born every year around September/October is referred to by some as the Methuselah generation. (See Genesis 5:27)

Methuselah was Noah's grandfather. He lived 969 years, longer than any human in recorded scripture. It is this Methuselah that is referred to when talking about the generation of monarch butterflies born in September/October. This particular generation actually lives beyond the normal 6-8 week lifespan of the Monarch. They, in fact, actually live 6-8 months. WOW! You see, this is the generation of Monarch that actually migrates from Canada and the United States down into Mexico in the early fall, returning in the Spring around March/April. They go down and live in Mexico, sustained supernaturally by the Lord. They migrate down into Mexico, live and hibernate for a season, then migrate back into the United States and Canada, living supernaturally as God has ordained, way beyond the normal lifespan of their forefathers. Do you remember what the Lord said to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 8 above?

"He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord." Deut 8:3

The Lord causes us to live spiritually, not naturally, but spiritually..... in ways that many of our forefathers and the generations before us, have not known. He causes us to hunger, to have needs.... then he feeds us with manna, supernatural provision which many before us and even around us today have not known. He provides for his people out of the endless depths of his riches. He sets our budgets and he meets the needs of those budgets. He puts desires within us and places needs in our lives. Then he meets those needs and desires through various means. Small business, large companies, other people, something just showing up in the mailbox....whatever. He meets our needs. He sets up our needs and then he meets them.

"He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna...." Deut 8:3.

He causes us to hunger and then he feeds us. He sets our budgets and then he meets them. He often resets our budgets and then he comes up with new ways to meet them. The Lord has chosen to provide for my family, at least for now, mostly through Small Sprouts. It won't always be this way. At least I don't think it will be. July was our first month down here. July was also the busiest month we have ever had in our business, the most profitable month. Yet this week we had two days without a sale which is very abnormal. Just when you think you have God's provision figured out it shifts on you. Just when you think you have your budget set, it shifts on you. Don't be consumed with the worries of life and the deceitfulness of wealth. Many believers start out well but can't finish because they become worried about how it might work out in God  (See the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13). The people Jesus referred to in this parable never ended up moving and operating in what God had called them to do because they were "consumed" with worry. Worry is fears cousin. You worry long enough then you get consumed with fear. Then, in fear, you get paralyzed, stagnant, not moving forward. The church is filled with people that have been subtly paralyzed with fear over an extended period of time. I know. I have been paralyzed with fear before and had to work my may out of it in the Lord. I have witnessed it in many others. Fear stagnates you. And stagnation leads to death. It is a common temptation that the enemy presents to us time and time again.

If God has called you to do something he will equip you for it and provide for you in the process...in basic ways and in supernatural ways. In natural ways and in spiritual ways. But one thing is constant: He provides!!!! His provision is constant. It is constant. Two, Ten, Twenty, Forty, Fifty years.....whatever. His provision is constant. He sustains the Methuselah generation of the Monarch. How much more does he sustain his people?

"And God is able to make all grace to abound to you so that in all things and at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." 2 Corinthians 9:8

God will provide. We just need to do what God has called us to do!!!! We need to be about the Father's work. Work. Trust. He will provide according to the budget he sets for you. He will provide. Trust Him. He is worthy of our Trust!

Be Blessed
The Blackshears