Out Of Nothing Comes Plenty

God's provision comes in ways we don't full expect or understand. I believe God will wait right up until the moment we are depleted of every resource, ounce of strength and ability so He gains the greater glory.

We read in the Old Testament of a widow and her son with very little food and provision until prophet Elijah showed up.

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?” 11 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 son 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. (I Kings 17:8-15)

When we willingly give God the little we have to offer, He will not only provide for us but will increase it!

God comes to us in our most desperate hour and visits us. Like the widow gathering firewood who had enough to bake a small meal for her son. This will be their last meal, but then prophet Elijah appears. It says the Lord “instructed” or “commanded” this woman to feed him. The word command also means “appoint”. Somehow in her most desperate hour God speaks hope to her heart and to ours.

God comes to us not when we have plenty but rather when there is nothing left of or in ourselves. Think about it. Here was this poor gentile widow considered an outcast by the Jews, no husband, no source of income, yet a Jewish prophet comes to her home.

Likewise God appoints us and comes to us in our weakness, in our poverty and in our hunger. Why? To demonstrate He alone has the power to save and deliver us. It’s not within our ability to change, provide or make any difference in our lives or the lives of others without His help. And the provision He makes comes out of nothing but is for something of His greater purposes.