I love it
when I find grown-up applications from the Bible stories I recall from
childhood. It is special to see how seeds that were sown by my parents and Sunday
school teachers through story telling are sustaining me twenty years
later.
Over the
last year, I have been drawing from one of the miracles performed through
Elijah. He was a prophet during the reign of King Ahab, probably the most evil
king Israel ever saw. If that name doesn't ring a bell, Queen Jezebel, his
wife, most certainly will. As a result of their wicked ways, Elijah told this
royal power couple that there would be no more rain or dew unless he said so.
Then, he immediately went into hiding as Queen Jezebel went on a bloodthirsty
killing spree of prophets. God sustained him during that time providing him
ravens to bring him food and a brook to give him water. Naturally, with no rain,
the brook dried up, so the Lord sent him to a town called Zarephath. Elijah was
told to be on the look out for a widow. Upon his arrival, he saw her gathering
sticks not far from the town gate. He asked her to bring him a little jar of
water and a piece of bread. Now the widow was quite willing to fetch him some
water, but the piece of bread was a big request. She honestly told him, “As
surely as the LORD your God lives, I don’t have any bread—only a handful of
flour in a jar and a little olive 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.”
It's a
heartbreaking scene. It is just her and her loved one. She is poor, also
suffering from the drought, and about to use up her last natural resources. In
the mind of this widow, there is no hope. They will feed their hunger pains one
last time and then die.
In our
Western society, we don't experience the harsh reality of drought too often,
certainly not to the point of dying of starvation. But some of us do know the
hardship of poverty, the lack of resources and the hopelessness that can come
from it. This past winter, Kevin and I entered into a season of
"financial" drought. We were married on New Year's Eve in Niagara
Falls. We truly had the wedding day of both our dreams: a modest ceremony and
celebration--simple and intimate--that transpired without a glitch and did NOT
put us into debt! We were blessed beyond measure! We began married life January
1st, 2012 without a penny of credit card debt to our name. Kevin was laid off
for the winter season just before Christmas. The timing wasn't ideal, but we
had a plan and we had faith. He applied for E.I. well in advance; the Service
Canada agent said that it all seemed in order. All we had to do was wait for
the first deposit. God had blessed me with a low rent apartment months before
(that's low "cost" rent, not low "small means and no class"
rent). We had minimal expenses, I was working, and with the generous wedding
gifts, we could easily swing it for five weeks if it took that long. Aye, that
was the rub. We waited more than five weeks.
I put the
monetary gifts in a little red box in our apartment. I used diligence and tried
to go in there as little as possible, but eventually bills were due and the
bank account was getting low. I watched the balance drop, dipped more and more
in the box, until there was a single Sir-Robert-Borden left. Don't worry Americans;
even the Canadian readers are scratching their heads trying to figure out who
that is. $100 was left in the box.
The
parallel should be obvious at this point. Were we on the brink of starvation or
bankruptcy? No. Could we have borrowed money if we needed to? Yes (as a last
resort). We were feeling the pressure though. To use that last bill was going
to require faith because it was still a week away from my next paycheck. Now
before you start reaching for tissues, I caution you to wait because with God
there is always hope.
So, the
widow has just laid out her plight to Elijah, but he answers her back with
words of hope and a challenge for her to have faith in their God. In response,
he says, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But
first make a small loaf 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 sends rain on the land.’” The
Bible says that she went away and did as Elijah told her. Being a woman, I
can't help but wonder if she leaped up and prepared the food without thinking
twice. At the very least, I can imagine her weighing out the pros and cons as
she is walking back to the house. After all, this was going to mean less food
for her and her son. Could she believe Elijah? It's not like she could quickly
check him out on Facebook and verify that he listed "Prophet, Messenger of
God" as his job on his profile. In all seriousness, it would require a lot
of faith to carry those instructions out. Praise God that she did for He was
faithful as always! There was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and
her family. The jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry! Read
1 Kings 17 if you don't believe me.
On a
Sunday morning in early February, Kevin and I headed down to the beach. We
spent our time between discussion and prayer. In my experience, whenever I seek
God when out in nature, it is always a divine appointment. But this wasn't one
of those sunny, feel good, God is good because we haven't a
care in the world kind of meeting. It was overcast, windy, and lightly raining.
This was one of those get serious, cling to God's promises because you have
nowhere else to turn moments. Married a month, we were looking ahead to the
future. Where did we want to live? What did we want to do? What did we want our
life to look like? These and many more big questions were at the forefront of
our minds. We huddled together beside a rock to keep warm and to be close as we
prayed. Jointly we felt enveloped by the Holy Spirit with comfort, hope and
strength. We both saw a similar vision of the many ways God was going to bless
us. By the time we returned to the car, we both felt strengthened in will,
faith and endurance. Refreshed in spirit, I could withdraw that last bill out
of the red box with confidence. We stocked up on groceries and praised
God.
When I
returned from work that night, Kevin had great news. He had received a phone
call that $50 was coming for us as a wedding gift. The next morning, a card was
in the letterbox from a relative. Inside was a cheque for $75. In less than 24
hours, God had replenished our box; we were up $25 from the day before. It was
at this time, that I thought of the story of Elijah and the widow. I told Kevin
that I knew our little red box would never stay empty!
If you
know the Bible story well, you may recall that after the initial blessing, the
widow's faith and even Elijah's faith were tested one more time. In summary,
the widow's son became very sick to the point of death. Overcome with fear and
grief, the widow accused Elijah of having come to bring judgment on her. Does
that relate at all? Crisis hits and immediately assume that God is punishing
us. We see trials as an affliction put on us by an arbitrary God. I am not
about to presume to know the mind of God and say that He allows these things
for a reason, nor will I say that God has nothing to do with it. All I will
say, because this is what I have learned, if trials do come, fall at the feet
of Jesus. Surrender the situation into His nail-pierced that bore sin and death
for you. If you have Christ in your life know that He already took away the
judgment. There is no more condemnation. So don't think that God is punishing
you through the hard times, but know that there is nothing more than blessing
to be given. The God that sacrificed and resurrected His son will carry you
through. Elijah pleaded for God to give back the life to the widow's son and,
you guessed right, God granted it.
About a week
after our morning at the beach, we were still waiting for the E.I. It was by no
means easy, but we were given sufficient faith each day and believed that God
would be our provider. Six and a half days of waiting, then the unexpected
happened. Kevin picked me up from work. As soon as I sat in the car and heard
the tone in his voice, I braced myself. He had finally got through to someone
with Service Canada. His claim was denied because he was 2 hours short.
Each in our turn, we felt like the wind had been knocked out of us. How
could this have happened? The agent in Stratford had been grossly incorrect in
her calculation of Kevin's hours. Unfortunately, her error had no impact on the
claim; their decision was final.
Now I am
not about prattle on about how we handled this with grace and decorum, or that we didn't bat an eyelash in fear or doubt. I have been honest this far, why would I
start lying to you now?! Over the next several weeks, there was tension and
spats; we took turns beating ourselves us down with feelings of guilt;
periodically doubt would try to grab a foothold and I would cling to Kevin and
bawl. BUT before we went to bed each night, we would acknowledge that God was
in control. He had brought us so far; He was not going to abandon us now. And
over those several weeks, there were more unexpected cards with money; there
were deals and coupons in flyers that saved us money; we were supported by
friends and family, held up by the righteous right hand of God and we did not
see the bottom of that little red box. As a visual to spur us on, I put two
bottles on our TV: one had a little oil, the other a little flour. We claimed
the promise given to the widow that our resources would not run dry until Kevin
was called back to work.
Would it
have been easier to have just received the E.I. or for Kevin to have been
working straight through the winter? Absolutely. God would have been providing
for our needs as much in that scenario as did for us in reality. The difference
is that we would have thought WE were providing for ourselves. I doubt that
many people look at their paycheck and say, "God gave me this money."
No, we say, "I can't believe how little they paid me! I earned way more
than that!" Or is that just me... For the first three months of our marriage,
the truth was inescapable. GOD was providing every dollar. The other way would
have been easier, but how blessed were we to see God's hand, to experience a
visual of God's daily bread. Or as a family friend said, "God loves to
reveal Himself!" Some of the ways we received money was miraculous. Kevin
needed $40 for the car. The next day, one of my textbooks on kijiji sold for
$40 exactly. When we had given up on receiving the E.I. or even trying to open
a new claim or appeal, we were contacted from a man relatively high up with
Service Canada. Long story short, he gave us the step-by-step to reapply and
two weeks later, we got our first deposit!
I could
go on, as indeed I already have. The Holy Spirit has been reminding me everyday
to write this blog entry, so I didn't want to leave out a detail. When God
blesses you in such an amazing way, you need to share it! After Jesus freed a
man from a "legion" of demons, He instructed him, “Go home to your own people and tell them
how much the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you.”
The Lord has had mercy on us and
has blessed us ever so richly. I pray with confidence that He will do the same
for you.
