---apple addict---

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Giving out of lack

Recently I saw a facebook post on my friend's wall about toothpaste. It talks about how 90% content of toothpaste is enough for a few days and 10% of the content is enough for 4 months. A little exaggerated but there is some truth in it right? I'm sure all of us have somehow experienced it in our lives before.



It is meant to be a joke, but I wish to draw some spiritual lesson from this joke. Whenever things are in abundance, we don't seem to pay much attention to how we live or how we spend, but when things started to get a little tough, i.e. very little is left, we somehow could depend on God for grace for the little we have.

So the issue is never how much we have, am I right? It is how much we allow God to stretch our resources. How much we allow Him to give out of our lack. It is not something that is impossible. It is a matter of choice, faith and supernatural grace.

If you read the bible, you will realise God works in supernatural ways that challenges our human logic or understanding. Sometimes He does it in these ways just to remind us that it is His hands that's working, it is not natural, but supernatural. For example, He chooses to feed Elijah with ravens, one of the most selfish among animals that will not share their food. He chooses to bless the widow in lack at Zareepat, by making her meet Elijah's need for food. It was a test of her faith.

Do you have a situation in your life when God wants to use you in your lack? It may be the best time to give. Allow God to use you and see how your faith is stretched. Of course I'm not saying that we ought to give when we are in lack so that we will receive it back from God. We ought to be sensitive to God's Spirit. You will know it well in your spirit, when the Lord speaks.

Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you. So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink. And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand. So she said, As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die. And Elijah said to her, Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord God of Israel: The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth. So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah. (1 Kings 17:9-16 NKJV)

by apple-addict at 5:38 PM |