God's Way Provides

1 Kings 17-18     Psalm 13`    2 Corinthians 8

The story of the Bible is one of contrasts between those that follow the way of the Lord and those that reject that and demand their own way. The more that turn from the Lord the more those ways are forgotten, ignored and it becomes the nation that pays the price.

Those that bring the Word of the Lord like Elijah most often do so at the risk of their lives because it calls people to repentance, changing the direction of their lives and what the call right and wrong. The Lord cares for those that proclaim his word in the midst of adversity and often in subtle and unseen ways. Frequently it involves stepping out in faith, first for the voice of the lord and then by those that are called to obedience and trust in God. It often means risking what you have and trusting God to provide as it does here.

God has a way of providing for the needs of his people and sometimes with great blessings.  Elijah is feared and hated because he called the leaders to submit to the ways of God and when they didn’t proclaim a drought until the he called for rain. It took three years to get the attention of those same leaders that found themselves and the people they led suffering. In the midst of that is a story of giving up what little the poorest had and trusting God with it. The result was a blessing of having what they needed throughout the drought.

As often happens there are many that claim to speak for God but proclaim a false narrative to mislead the people. They appear to be the ones with power and create fear, even in the people of God. The story of Elijah calling the voices of Baal and challenging them is a powerful story that the result is the clear power of God and the destruction of those false voices.

A song simply reminds us to quiet our soul, our inner life, before the Lord like a young child rests in the arms of a mother. That sense of trust that God has our best interest in mind and cares for us.

Paul reminds the early church that often it was the poorest that put their faith in Jesus Christ and not only sacrificed to care for their own community but for the church far away. Their goal was that others would come to faith in Christ. We can be poor in the material things of life while still being rich in the power of God. When we trust God with what we have he has the ability to use it to create a harvest of others that will put their trust in God alone.

True today, as it has always been, that when we make available that we have for God’s use not only are we blessed but our communities as well. When we turn from God and demand our own satisfaction, we find ourselves on our own and most often struggling. The call is to trust God with all that we have and all that we are and trust his blessing to provide for our needs in the future.