I preached this message on July 27, 2025 (Year C, Proper 12), at Mount View Presbyterian Church, Omaha, NE.
The last line of our Declaration of Independence says this:
“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
The Declaration of Independence uses several different terms for our heavenly Father: “Nature’s God,” “Creator,” “Supreme Judge of the world,” and in the last line of the Declaration, “Providence.” Even “Prudence,”[1] might be considered a reference to God because it derives from the same root for “Providence.”
“Providence,” when capitalized, means “God conceived as the power sustaining and guiding human destiny.” The adjective “provident” is relevant to our passage today: “making provision for the future.”
As you listened to the New Testament reading this morning, you may have thought the switch from an abridged version of the Lord’s prayer to teaching about God’s providence seemed a bit “abrupt.” But if you look closely at how the portion of the Lord’s prayer is formatted in most English Bible, you’ll see that the central line is “Give us this day our daily bread.” He then goes on to relate Jesus’s teaching about what a good neighbor might do even though they might feel “put-out” by the expectation in the middle of the night.
To understand the story of the neighbor’s request, I want to remind you about what I talked about a couple weeks ago about what it meant to be a neighbor and part of an in-group. First of all, notice that Jesus puts his listeners in the position of the one needing the bread. To make this easier to follow, I’m going to give the three men in this story names. Since the man in story is played by you in Jesus’s parable, you can insert your own name in there, but I’m going to use Joel for our example, because he’s always willing to play along with me when I ask for audience participation, and Joel is a good biblical name. We’ll call Joel’s neighbor Hosea since that’s the Bible book that comes before Joel, and we’ll call Joel’s visitor Malachi, since that’s the last book of the minor prophets.
Even though Hosea probably doesn’t know Malachi, because both men are friends with Joel, Joel would have a cultural, in-group expectation that Hosea would show the same hospitality and respect to Malachi as he would to him and would not make Joel look bad to Malachi. The other thing to consider here is that Joel seemingly has enough trust in his relationship with Hosea that waking him up at midnight for bread doesn’t seem out of bounds with the cultural norms of the day. Hosea is certainly not happy about being awakened in this manner, but he realizes that his neighbor Joel must really be in a bind if he has the “shameless audacity” to wake him up at midnight. It is that trust in the relationship between Joel and Hosea that compels Hosea to get up and give Joel the bread he needs.[2]
One final note here: Joel’s audacious act would have signaled to Hosea that if Hosea was ever in a similar spot, Joel would be willing to help him as well. This was not so much a matter of tit-for-tat; Hosea would not have had an expectation of any compensation or immediate reciprocation. It was more of a “pay-it-forward” act. Nor was it “charity” or even “welfare” in the way we might typically think of it. It’s a two-way street. It is simply the mindset of those first-century listeners who would have understood the cultural dynamic at work here and who take their cultural obligations seriously.
The important consideration here is that this cultural dynamic was intended for the success and longevity of the community. When those in the in-group and allied with the in-group are supported by the in-group, the in-group becomes stronger and more closely united. This provides a sense of internal security for the in-group. They don’t have to rely on outside sources to support their cultural priorities.
This is the kind of thing we see going on in the early chapters of the book of Acts. We see the believers willingly selling property to help meet the needs of less fortunate believers. We see them sharing meals together. We see them meeting together for prayer, worship, and instruction. We see them resolving conflicts so that all the widows can be cared for. And we even see Paul condemn Ananias and Sapphira to death for lying about what they gave for those needs, even though they had absolutely no obligation to give every last drachma of their proceeds on the sale.
As I said a couple weeks ago, this kind of internal support system is how the community maintained their honor and integrity. This also represents how God works with us, especially when it comes to prayer. Verses 9–10 give us the moral of the story: don’t be afraid to ask—and be persistent when you do!
I wish I understood why our current culture has gotten to the place where we are afraid or embarrassed to ask for help from those we know, especially within the church. Part of it may have to do with the government thinking they need to take over the responsibility of “charity,” and then regulating it to the point where it becomes burdensome for private nonprofit entities to respond to needs. I fear it’s created a mindset that government should be the first place you look for help, not the church.
But I digress. The last part of our gospel passage this morning reveals the goodness of God. Some may have the opinion that God only wants to punish us, or that the bad things that happen to us are the result of a cruel God. But God is not cruel in the way he responds to our prayers. James confirms the goodness of God as revealed in the last part of our gospel passage:
James 1:5–8 says:
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.[3]
And later in 4:1–3, James says almost the same thing, with a different twist:
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.[4]
Our reading form Psalm 138 this morning also affirms the goodness of God when we ask him for help. Verse 3 says, “When I called, you answered me;
you greatly emboldened me.[5]” There’s that boldness we saw in the man who asked for bread from his neighbor. Verse 6 says, “Though the Lord is exalted, he looks kindly on the lowly; though lofty, he sees them from afar.”[6]
Your presumed standing with God matters not. In fact, he has a special place in his heart for those of us who think we’re “lowly.”
David is willing to bow down to God and give him unfettered praise for the way he has provided for him. He recognizes God’s protection, God’s preservation, and God’s power. God is there for us when we need him. Even if we don’t get the answer we want, we, like the three men in the fiery furnace, know that God will save us one way or another when we put our trust in him.
Paul affirms this in Colossians 2:6–7 as well: “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”[7] We can show the same thankfulness that David did in Psalm 138.
At the beginning of my message this morning, I mentioned how the Declaration of Independence refers to God as “Providence.” He is the provider and we can trust in him. But this also implies a mutual trust as well, just as we have as the body of Christ united. Jefferson closes the Declaration of Independence with a line that sums up nicely the commitment we should have to the body of Christ as we walk faithfully with Jesus: “We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”[8] We are God’s witnesses on earth to his great and marvelous deeds. How can we do anything less than give him all our praise for the ways he provides for us. Don’t be afraid to ask God to do some great things for you as you walk with him. Amen.
[1] According to Merriam-Webster, “prudence” is derived from the same root as “providence.” “Prudence” means “the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason” or “skill and good judgment in the use of resources,” which is perhaps a meaning relevant to this message.
[2] This is known as a “dyadic alliance” or “dyadic contract.” See Malina, Bruce J. The New Testament World: Insights from Cultural Anthropology, revised edition, pp. 99–103, 115. Wesley/John Knox Press, 1993. See also Malina’s Windows on the World of Jesus, pp. 48–49.
[3] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
[4] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
[5] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
[6] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
[7] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
[8] Declaration of Independence: A Transcription | National Archives, accessed 07/26/25.
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