daily java

Daily Java:

Then the Lord said to Elijah, “Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there to feed you.” So he went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the gates of the village, he saw a widow gathering sticks, and he asked her, “Would you please bring me a little water in a cup?” As she was going to get it, he called to her, “Bring me a bite of bread, too.” But she said, “I swear by the Lord your God that I don’t have a single piece of bread in the house. And I have only a handful of flour left in the jar and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the jug. I was just gathering a few sticks to cook this last meal, and then my son and I will die.” But Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid! Go ahead and do just what you’ve said, but make a little bread for me first. Then use what’s left to prepare a meal for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There will always be flour and olive oil left in your containers until the time when the Lord sends rain and the crops grow again!” So she did as Elijah said, and she and Elijah and her family continued to eat for many days. There was always enough flour and olive oil left in the containers, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah. (1 Kings 17:9-16)

You have ten dollars left for a while to feed your family. The preacher comes up and says, give me five. You want to honor the man of God and you respect him and all. But what do you do?

The famine was bad and there no food. The widow in this narrative had just enough flour and oil left to feed herself and her son one more time and then they would die. The prophet came up and asked, bring me something to eat. She told him her predicament, that two small loves of bread stood between her and starvation and they were about to eat them.

Do it anyway, he said. and use what is left to make you and your son a meal. But if you do this, you will never again run out of meal or oil. And she did.

It took a fair amount of faith for her to give him what he asked for, especially since it was all she had. But she did. And she was blessed for it.

We may not have much, but God said that he would bless us in what we had and in what we gave. Sometimes we may not be able to give money, but there is something we can give. She had a little food and she gave it. And God blessed her. She had flour and oil forever.

As long as we give, God gives to us.

Ella and I are extremely short on money. We cannot give any. There is absolutely no extra. But we have time and we have talents. And one other thing we have is the desire and the ability to feed people.

We are always having people over to our home. It has been that way for a long time. And the great thing about it is we have never wanted for food. We have a full freezer of stuff right now. As long as we share it, we have more.

This is not because we are so great, but it is because we want to give hospitality to others. We believe in it and have for a long time.

Several years back, I had invited someone over for supper. We were in a monetary fix at the time then too. Ella was obviously unhappy. I finally asked her what was wrong. She replied, “We have no money and you are giving our food away!” I opened the freezer door and it was jam packed with food. I opened the other freezer door on the other refrigerator and it too was full. It had meat, cheese, bread, vegetables – everything you can imagine – in abundance.

She realized the unique and really kind of weird blessing we had from God. As long as we do it, we have plenty. As long as we give it away, we have plenty.

And not only that, we bring people in the church together in a small group setting. I learn more about others and they learn about us. we talk about God and the things of grace and we have a good time.

It makes a difference. In many ways, we – Ella and I – are the only real hospitality outlet of our church. Outside of us, there is not a lot of getting together. I want to change that.

But it starts with me and with my generosity with what I have. When I am generous with others, God multiplies it to me.

Praise his name.