February 27, 2013
Give First
There is an interesting story about overflow buried in the
Historical books of the Old Testament.
In I Kings 17, we find the prophet Elijah in hiding from the evil King
of Israel whom he had prophesied against.
After the Lord takes care of Elijah by providing food and water at a
small brook called Cherith, he instructs Elijah to go to a widow in Zarephath
who will take care of him. When Elijah
approaches the woman, she tells him that she has just enough flour and oil to
make one more cake for herself and her son, then they will die of
starvation. Elijah instructs her to
trust God and first make a cake for him, in spite of their own need. He assures her that if she obeys, God will
not allow the flour or oil to run out.
Talk about generosity!
This sounds a little outrageous doesn’t it. The man of God is expecting her to feed him
before she feeds her own son! Scripture
tells us that the woman did exactly what Elijah had said, she generously gave
from what little she had to take care of God’s work. Afterward she discovered that God kept His
promise, the “jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry.
(I Kings 17:16). In other words, this
dear lady experienced God’s overflow… every day!
Here is the challenge for us. She did not experience the overflow until she
had experienced generosity. Most of us
think it is the other way around. If God
will bless us, we will be happy to give back some of what He has given to
us. In other words we will give God out
of our overflow. In this illustration,
the giving preceded the overflow.
Something to think about as we plan our Generosity 2013 offering.
I Kings 17:16
For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did
not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.
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