Context No. 2748 of 4322 · Tobit

Tobit 5:1-5: in context

1Then Tobias answered and said to him, “Father, I will do all things, whatever you have commanded me. 2But how could I receive the money, since I don’t know him?” 3He gave him the handwriting, and said to him, “Seek a man who will go with you, and I will give him wages, while I still live; and go and receive the money.” 4He went to seek a man, and found Raphael who was an angel; 5and he didn’t know it. He said to him, “Can I go with you to Rages of Media? Do you know those places well?”

Tobias agrees to go and collect the money his father left with a kinsman far away, but he raises an honest problem: I do not know the man, and I do not know the road. His father's answer is practical. Find a trustworthy companion, and I will pay him wages, and go. So Tobias goes out to look for a guide, and finds Raphael, who is an angel, though he does not know it.

This is the quiet beginning of a rescue Tobias cannot see. He simply does what his father asked and sets out to solve an ordinary problem of travel and logistics, and the very help he needs is already standing in the man he happens to meet. God's providence often starts exactly here, in the plain act of taking the next obedient step, before anyone realizes that heaven has gone ahead to arrange the way.

When I take the next ordinary step of obedience, do I trust that God may already be arranging help I cannot yet recognize?

Sources

Proverbs 3:6: "In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."
Proverbs 16:9: "A man's heart plans his course, but the LORD directs his steps."
Psalm 32:8: "I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go. I will counsel you with my eye on you."