Resources are yours!

I remember the leans days many years ago our little family when the money that came in was already spent on our necessities, when I wondered how I would pay for that unforeseen expense, when we juggled our funds to keep food on the table.  In retrospect, I see that we always had enough, though not perhaps all we wanted. Much more importantly, I experienced times when the challenges of my life appeared to exceed my resources of faith and/or wisdom.  I was no stranger to questions such as -

“How, Lord, can I possibly go through this experience without collapsing?” 
“What do I do now, Lord, in this moment when I see no way forward in my life?”
“What do I have to offer that person who will come to my office today with so much pain and hardship?”
“Lord, is it possible to serve You faithfully with so many temptations seeking to divert me from Your love?”

I am sure that I am not the only one to ask these questions. Before I reach the end of my road, I am also certain that demands will yet come my way for which my natural abilities and resources are no match! 

In a story I first heard decades ago in Sunday School there is a great principle taught, one that has proven true again and again. Before we go that passage, let me ask you -   Are you feeling more need than resource today?  What situation seems to be more than you can handle? What is draining your resources (physical, emotional, or financial) faster than you can recover?

Listen to this from 1 Kings 17:8-16.   "Then the word of the LORD came to him: “Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food.” So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.” “As surely as the LORD your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”

Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.’” She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah." (NIV)

Though she had next to nothing, she was willing to trust Elijah’s word and God’s promise to act sacrificially!  In her willingness to act in faith, she discovered the limitless resources of the Lord!  I would have been tempted to ask for more flour and oil first, then make the bread!  She didn’t!  She trusted, believed, and obeyed.

Indulge me as I tell a simple story about God’s faithfulness in my life. I believe in the principle of tithing, giving the first 10% of my income to the work of God in this world, and it is a first line principle for me- now and always has been. I don’t have to tell you how difficult that choice was in those seasons when it was a struggle to put groceries on the table and gas in the car.  I confess that sometimes the pen in my hand was reluctant to write the check that I would place in the offering plate or mail to some charity!  Yet God stirred my faith, and I did what I believed was right.  Never once did my family go hungry or without their necessities!  One time in 1978, when there were no resources in the house and no money to go the grocery store, Bev and I prayed about our next choices.  Then, we found two bags full of food on our back porch, exactly what we needed, though we had told no one about our need. Often God provided wisdom and resourcefulness which were of greater value than more stuff or money.

This passage is often applied only to our money, but it is a life principle for the faithful. "Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God." (2 Corinthians 9:10-11, NIV)  God is our resource - for every need.

Please do not cheapen that promise as so do, turning God into a vending machine of blessings. We don’t manipulate Him. We cannot buy His blessings. We must not think He owes us anything.  It is a tragic mistake to believe that if we give a dollar, He will return ten!  We walk in faith and understand that He is with us, gives us what He knows we need, in the time and place that we need it, in ways we may not even see or understand.

On this Monday morning are your needs, whatever they may be, greater than your resources?  Trust Him.  Put Him first - even as you are confessing your weakness or need to Him.  And then, I pray you will begin to see the answers that are promised by this passage, our word from the Word. "Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7, NLT)

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(Video of this blog at this link)

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Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Great is Thy faithfulness

O God my Father

There is no shadow

Of turning with Thee

Thou changest not

Thy compassions they fail not

As Thou hast been

Thou forever wilt be

 

Great is Thy faithfulness

Great is Thy faithfulness

Morning by morning

New mercies I see

All I have needed

Thy hand hath provided

Great is Thy faithfulness

Lord unto me

 

Summer and winter

And springtime and harvest

Sun moon and stars

In their courses above

Join with all nature

In manifold witness

To Thy great faithfulness

Mercy and love

 

Pardon for sin

And a peace that endureth

Thy own dear presence

To cheer and to guide

Strength for today

And bright hope for tomorrow

Blessings all mine

With ten thousand beside

 

Thomas Obediah Chisholm | William Marion Runyan

© Words: Public Domain