“We see only a small part of God’s plan at any point in time. His ways are not our ways. But what He does in and through our limitations is more than we could ever accomplish in our own strength.” (Peter Scazzero, The Emotionally Healthy Leader)
We heard about Jesus feeding 4,000 and 5,000 men with a few loaves of bread and some fish, but we probably didn’t hear about Elisha’s feeding 100 with twenty loaves of bread. (2 Kings 4:42-44) It didn’t seem much like a miracle, did it? To me, twenty loaves of bread is A LOT of food. Someone enlightened me recently that a loaf back in the days of ancient Israel was not the one-footer we are used to seeing today. A loaf was more like a roll.
These twenty rolls of bread were a gift offering to Elisha for his service in the Lord. However, Elisha would not keep any of these for himself. He looked to the small crowd of 100 and wanted to bless them with what he had been given.
“Set it before the people,” Elisha said to his servant, who was puzzled by such a strange and unreasonable request.
“Master, there are only twenty rolls,” he whispered into Elisha’s ear so as not to embarrass the kind man that baked these rolls from his first ripe grain.
“Set it before the people,” Elisha repeated in his firm voice, “for the Lord will make sure they will eat and have some left over.”
The servant resigned with a deep sigh and said to himself, “Alright then.” He reminded himself that this was the same prophet that had produced unlimited oil supply at a widow’s house, resurrected the Shunammite woman’s boy, and detoxified a pot of poisoned soup.
The mutual fund disclaimer that states “past performance is not indicative of future result” means nothing to me other than “you’re on your own and I still keep your fees.” When it comes to faith, we sing a different tune. Being able to depend on God’s past performance is all that we’ve got to build our faith. Because of God’s unchanging character, his goodness in the past is indicative of His goodness in the future!
The faith of the servant began to rise. He too believed. He obeyed and set these twenty rolls before the one hundred men. The Bible didn’t explain exactly how these rolls fed them all. All we know was that the servant was frantically looking through the cupboards for Tupperware to pack up all the leftovers!
When it comes to miraculous provision, we are not dealing with barely enough or exactly enough. We are talking about more than enough, running over, and above and beyond!
My youngest loves to climb on top of the kitchen countertop to fetch a glass from the cupboard. She wants to be independent and she is resourceful. However, every time I catch her and her sixty-pound body on the countertop, I would scold her and immediately pick her up to bring her down. I didn’t want to have my countertop collapse from underneath her. It’d have been so easy for me to get the glass for her – only if she asks. I do have the height advantage to do what she cannot do for herself. And I enjoy showing my Shorty up!
How much it delights God to help us in our limitations – only if we ask!
I have always led out of my strength, and I am comfortable with it. It is not natural for me to lead out of my weakness and limitations. Yet, as I depend on God and trust in Him, He has shown me up time and time again.