God's Miraculous Provision - Part 2

(Part 2 of a sermon based on 2 Kings 4:1-7)

ACT OF DIVINE COMPASSION (vv. 3-6)

In the second place, I say that this provision of oil is an act of divine compassion. This widow has a Savior. Thank God! Believe me God was there in Israel, just as He is with us today and He looks after not only the affairs of the nations but also the needs of His own people. For some of you who are widows or widowers, I want to remind you that God sees your sufferings and He knows your every need. His gracious protection and provision will come as a response to your faithful cry for help. The psalmist says, “A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling” (Ps.68:5).

Yes, this widow may have felt the whole weight of the world on her shoulder, but we need not ignore her boldness to approach Elisha for help. In doing so, she showed her faith in God. To those who walk by faith God shows Himself to them that with Him there are treasures of freedom and life, and in His mercy He graciously grants them.

Do you have the boldness to approach God in your helplessness or are you doubting whether God can help you in your desperation? Do you have faith in God to meet your need today? God assures you that if you walk by faith, believing His divine providence, you and I will enjoy real life and freedom that the world doesn't know. God promises great things in His Word but He also requires from us faith and obedience.

As we think about Elisha’s question to her, “How can I help you?” (v.2) we need to remember that Elisha was the prophet of God (v.7). In a very unique way, Elisha represented the person, power, and care of God. Now this widow is in the presence of Elisha. By crying out to him, she was seeking God’s intervention through Elisha, whose name literally means “My God is Salvation.” Elisha is like Jesus who is filled with compassion and looks at the oppressed with the heart of a shepherd (Matt 9:35-38).

In those dark days of apostasy, God had acted powerfully through Elijah and Elisha. Through His faithful prophets God authenticates His covenant care for Israel. When Elisha asked her, “How can I help you?” he was in essence saying, “What do you want God to do for you through me?” If you notice Elisha did not wait for an answer. He was eager to help her in her distress. It is obvious that Elisha bleeds for her. O congregation, your God is eager to listen to you and to act accordingly when you bring your troubles to Him. Do you have the confidence to cry out to God for help?

I am reminded of Matthew 6:8 and 32. God knows our needs before we ask. In fact He has known them from all eternity. And because of this we boldly ask and pray for prayer causes us to be dependent on Him. It demonstrates our faith and shows that it is He who ultimately meets our needs. To those of you who are in desperate need today, make your request known to God. Maybe you're wondering where to get the next payment for that housing loan, medical bill or rent. Or maybe your need is more than material or economic in nature. Do not be anxious. Pray in the name of Christ that God would meet that need. And when God meets your needs He shows that He cares for you, and you are led to thank Him.

The woman told Elisha that the only resource she has was a jar of oil. So Elisha instructed her what to do. He told her to go around and borrow as many empty jars from her neighbors. Then she has to go inside and shut the door, and start to pour the oil from her jar into the borrowed jars (vv.3-4). These are simple instructions that one can easily follow. But without faith in God, these words mean nothing at all. Who in his right mind would pour oil in empty jars out of a small jar of oil that was probably almost empty? That's crazy! But notice how the story continues (vv.5-6).

Though the text does not describe the woman going to her neighbors to borrow empty jars, we know that she did because she was able to acquire them. The narrative goes on with the widow shutting the door, filling vessel after vessel with oil from her jar. Elisha disappears from the scene. But we see the widow and her sons doing exactly what Elisha told her to do. I'm quite sure, boys and girls, that her two sons helped their mom in filling those empty jars with oil. I can just imagine how happy and amazed they were, seeing all those jars filled with oil. When all the borrowed jars were filled the supply of oil also stopped.

A miracle has taken place! It happened behind closed doors. No neighbor has seen the miraculous flowing of oil. No media coverage, so to speak.

This seems to be the way God operates in His kingdom. While the unbelieving world is blinded from the many blessings of God, His faithful people, on the other hand, are experiencing His gracious provisions. Israel, in her pursuit to serve Baal and everything he represents, has been missing the abundance of God's grace which this widow is now enjoying. It's just a matter of time that Israel would be banished from the Promised Land and be exiled to a foreign land because she persisted in her unbelief, unlike this widow who put her trust in God.

So this miracle, while it proves the goodness of God, also serves as an indictment to the unbelieving Israel who have forsaken her God for riches and 'good life' in the presence of Baal. For a while, this miracle was hidden but it would soon be known to the neighbors, and later in Israel, that this poor widow, whom some of them may have ignored and neglected, has been miraculously provided by God with a means to be freed from debt.

God said that the poor would always be with you. Both the OT and NT attest to their continuing presence in the society, even today. The poor and the needy are always there. They exist not as objects of our ridicule and judgment but as objects of mercy and compassion. We cannot simply say that the government is now responsible for them because we pay our taxes anyway. So we just turn our backs on them.

If we truly desire to serve God we would also be careful to hear and obey the teaching of James when he said, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress” (1:27). This is something that you and I as the Church of Jesus Christ need to seriously think about: How the widows and widowers, the poor and the needy among and around us are ministered? When was the last time you visited a widow or ministered to an orphan? When was the last time you brought gifts to the poor or the needy in their home?

Israel should have known that God would not allow the poor to be oppressed or ignored or the widows and orphans to be neglected. He doesn't want His people to be indifferent and unconcerned of the plight of the needy. When His people are in need and God hears their cry for help, He comes to their rescue.

Praise the Lord for He has sent the One who said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Thank God that He has sent His Son Jesus Christ to us, poor and needy as we are, like the widow, because of our sins.

God's Faithful Provision - Part 2

Another meditation on Luke 12:22-31 and Heidelberg Catechism Lord's Day 50

There are times when we wonder, “Since God knows our daily needs and since He promises to give us those needs anyway, why then should we ask for them?” The Heidelberg Catechism Lord's Day 50 gives us reasons why we ought to ask God for those needs.

First of all, in asking God to provide for our daily physical needs, we are acknowledging that He alone is the source of our daily provision. By praying this request - "Give us this day our daily bread" - we are actually confessing that God is our faithful provider. As in the words of James 1.17, we are acknowledging that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

And we ought to pray this daily, just as we need to ask forgiveness for our sins daily. Yes, God has promised to provide for us and to forgive us our sins, yet He also expects us to plead for these things so that we are reminded daily that He alone is the ultimate fountain of everything good.

When we pray that God would take care for OUR BREAD we admit that God is the rightful source and owner of that bread. On our own we have no right to it, but by virtue of our faith-union with God's Only Begotten Son, the Father granted us the right to ask for and to access and enjoy it. As the Great Creator and Sustainer of all things, He is the true owner of everything in this world.

You must recall that immediately after the creation of Adam, God gave him all things. Adam was also given dominion over the entire creation, which he had the right to use in serving God as His Maker and covenant Lord. But you also remember that Adam lost that dominion in the fall. Because of his sin, he lost the right to all things, being rejected and disinherited by the righteous judgment of God.

Since then, no natural man, dead in his trespasses and sins, has any right, such as the children of God might claim, to the things of this world.

So the perspective of this petition is clearly the perspective of those who are recipients of the salvation that is in Christ Jesus. You pray this request as the children of God redeemed by Christ Jesus our Lord. Scripture tells us that all things are Christ's. He is the One Whom God appointed heir of all things, according to Hebrews 1:2. And through the blood of His cross He also reconciled all things unto Himself.

That means that before the face of God you and I have a right to the things of this world only when we have been united by faith to God in Christ. Unbelievers are usurpers of what rightly belongs first to God, then, in and through Jesus Christ, to us His children. Have you ever thought that way?

This truth must set us free then from being greedy or envious of others. In Luke 12.15, our Lord Jesus tells us, “Take care, and be on your guard against all kinds of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Since we also confess in Lord's Day 10 that all things come to us, not by chance, but from God's fatherly hand, we must be very thankful when God takes care of our needs.

I say this because there are times when we receive from God what we've been asking that we forget to thank Him or appreciate His kindness. There are times when we already receive what we prayed for yet we keep on grumbling or worrying, unsatisfied with what God has already provided. Oh, our sinful heart easily leads us away from God to focus on ourselves and the stuff of life. We easily fall into the trap of turning God’s provision into an idol.

But God's provision is intended not only to make us realize that He is the source of everything good. He also wants us to recognize that apart from His divine blessing, “neither our work and worry nor His gifts can do us any good,” as Lord's Day 50 puts it.

Let me cite one example. When God delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt they failed to thank and love the Lord in return. Instead they grumbled and wished to return to Egypt. They've been crying out to the Lord for freedom from their oppressive Egyptian taskmasters. Yet when God heard their cry and brought them out of slavery, it did not do them any good.

Later, when God enable them to enter the Promise Land and enjoy the fruits of the vine they also forgot the Lord. They forgot to thank Him. They forgot to love Him back. And they failed to keep His law. Instead, they enjoyed the benefits of being in the Promise Land without seeking the favor and blessing of the One who, in the first place, has brought them there. They enjoyed the promises of God but they failed to keep His commandments.

Such is so common even among us. And we need to fight daily against this greed and materialistic tendency in us by the power of God’s Spirit. And so through this prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread,” the Holy Spirit reminds us that it’s in God alone that we find ultimate satisfaction in this life. It is not in the material things that we have but in the fact that in Christ God has accepted us and adopted us as His children. And with that privileged status God has promised to provide. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things” (Rom. 8.33).

When you and I fail to realize that it is in humble recognition that God is the source of all good things and that the way to receive and enjoy these things is through our Lord Jesus Christ, we may be the wealthiest and most successful person in the community yet we can be at the same time the most unsatisfied and restless person.

Until our heart finds satisfaction in God alone through His Son Jesus Christ, our worldly success and convenient life could not do us any good. In fact if all our effort are only aimed at success and convenience in this life we are just spending our time and energy on wrong pursuits which ultimately lead to frustration and destruction.

Jesus said to His disciples in v. 29, “Do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried.” He doesn’t mean, of course, that you should not work to earn your keep. He is but reminding us not to get worked up over food, clothing, shelter, even money. Let your Father take care of those things for you. He knows that you need them and He will give you those things at the proper time.

Do you know what you need to do? Do you know what you should be pursuing more in this life? See verse 31. You should be seeking the kingdom of God above all else. When you pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” your focus should not be on the bread but on the Giver of the bread. You should be seeking His glory and praise in and through your obedience to Him.

The other goal of our praying the fourth petition in the Lord's Prayer therefore is to seek God's honor, God’s glory, "by giving up our trust in creatures and possessions and to put our trust and confidence in Him alone." In our old nature, we tend to think that we provide everything for ourselves and we own things ourselves. We make our livings. We earn our wages. We buy our food and all kinds of stuff. We buy pieces of land and we build our house. Why do we need God? That's our old nature.

The wise man in Proverbs 30 knows that. So he prays saying, “…give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God” (30:8b-9). We would be wise to learn from this prayer and to really believe it and seek to live it out.

As redeemed and adopted children of God, we pray, “Lord, thank You that You provide for our food and clothes and shelter. You care about those things. You even blessed us with many things that we can live without. Help us therefore not only to believe in Your promise that You would supply our every need but also to learn to put our confidence in You alone and not on ourselves nor on the things that You’ve given us.”

This is the kind of prayer that you and I ought to be asking God always. Our focus must be on God and His kingdom, that is, His righteous sovereign rule over us His people. We recognize that everything is from Him and by Him and for Him, even our possessions, and we must give a careful account for the use of these things.

The reason why God wants us to focus on seeking His kingdom is for you and me to be busy in living out the kingdom principles and standards in our daily lives – principles of righteousness and justice, love and mercy, grace and truth, joy and obedience, freedom and self-control. These are the stuff that we want to see more and more evident in our life at home, in school or work, in the church and in the community.

If you seek to live as a kind employer or as an hardworking employee this week, you will be concerned with truth, righteousness and justice. As you think of your role as a husband or wife, or thinking of how you can be an obedient child to your parents or a diligent student in school, you would never worry about what you would eat, or drink or wear. You would, however be thinking of how to express love to your wife or respect to your husband, or how to honor your parents or faithful to your employer.

If your life orientation is centered on pleasing God and doing what He commands you to do, you would not be worrying about the same things that many people in this world worry a lot.

SO, What is your life goal? Is it loving God and your neighbor as yourself? You will discover yourself that when your priorities are set toward the building of God’s kingdom, the Lord would grant you all that you need pertaining to life and godliness.

It doesn’t mean, of course, that all will be well all the time. But even in the most difficult and trying moment in your life, when your eyes are set on Christ, you would learn to trust God, knowing that “for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8.28). “Seek God’s kingdom,” our Lord says, “and these things will be added to you” (v.31).

May we never forget that the Lord’s daily provisions are intended not only for us to know that He alone is the source of all good things, but also for us to recognize that these things are for our comfort and motivation to put our trust in God alone. In Christ, He is your gracious Almighty Father.

God's Faithful Provision

A meditation based on Luke 12:22-31 and Lord's Day 50 of the Heidelberg Catechism

My family and I have the privilege which many of you may not have. We have lived both in an eastern third-world setting and in a western more affluent culture in the United States. While there are marked differences between these cultures in terms of socio-economic situation, both cultures are actually plagued by common challenges and problems. Whether you are in the Philippines or in the US, you will see people struggling against greed, idolatry, and materialism.

And the fourth petition in the Lord’s Prayer becomes relevant and illuminating as we will see how the request, “Give us this day our daily bread,” speaks to our current situation.

Some of you might be thinking that this prayer is more appropriate for many people living in poor communities in many slum areas of Metro Manila or any metropolis. I mean when was the last time you prayed, “Lord, I ask that you would provide for my next meal.” Most probably, the kind of prayer that you’ve said may have sounded like, “Lord, please prevent me from eating another meal. Teach me how to control my spending habit. Teach me to save and to give more to others.”

“Give us this day our daily bread,” does seem a little remote, doesn’t it? If we feel that way that may only show that we really do not understand the truth and the implication of this prayer.

What I’d like us to do is to see and understand that both the Heidelberg Catechism Lord’s Day 50 and Luke 12:22-31 highlight the truth that God faithfully provides for our daily needs. God does provide for the needs of His children.

But what is the nature of this provision?

I want you to see, first of all, that though this fourth petition seems to be simple and unimportant compared with the other petitions in the Lord's Prayer, yet it is very significant and it demands a careful study on our part. As the Catechism explains, when we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” in effect we are really asking God to provide us not just our everyday food, but ALL our physical needs.

The word bread in the Lord's Prayer has a broader meaning than just an ordinary loaf of bread that we bake or buy from the grocery stores. It actually covers every physical provision necessary for the support of our bodies and preservation of our life in this world. Notice that I did not say 'every physical provision necessary for convenient life or luxurious living in this world.' No. Luxury or extravagance is excluded in this petition.

When Jesus Christ taught this prayer to His disciples, He was not telling them to think of daily banquet at the king’s table when they pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” What He had in my mind however are common necessities – things such as food, clothing, shelter, physical health and, as an extension, the means to acquire them, that is, money. And because these are very basic to human life, many people worry a lot about these needs.

The passage in Luke 12 mentions about food, drink and clothing. These are the kind of things that the Lord has in mind when He used the word 'bread' in the fourth request. In order to live in this world, we basically need food and drink, clothing and shelter. And Jesus says, “Do not be anxious about these things.” Why not? How can Jesus say that these necessities in life should not be our preoccupation as His followers? His short answer to that is in v.30b, “Your Father in heaven knows that you need them.”

Not only that He knows you need them, He also promised in His Word that He's going to provide these things to His children. In Luke 12, our Lord Jesus argues that God the Father Himself feeds and clothes His own people, whom He loves, even as He feeds the ravens or clothes the flowers and grass of the field, which are of lesser value compared to us His children.

So in saying that the Father cares even for the unclean birds, such as the raven, or for the flowers and the grass of the field that are here today and gone tomorrow, Jesus is emphasizing the truth that God will surely 'deliver the goods,' so to speak, to His children. He does this because we are far more valuable to Him than the birds of the air and the flowers of the field.

This calls for faith on our part. The Bible testifies to the fact that God is the faithful Provider of our daily physical provisions. We read many promises from God's Word pertaining to His physical provision for His people. We read for example in Psalm 23 that the Lord is our shepherd, therefore we shall not want. In Psalm 33.18-19, we see similar promise, “But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.”

In Psalm 37:25-27 the psalmist testifies, “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed. Turn from evil and do good; then you will dwell in the land forever. For the LORD loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones.”

These promises are never to be doubted by us. When God says that you are more valuable than the birds and He will feed you, you have no reason to worry about the next meal or the clothes you need for next year. Believers in poor countries such as the Philippines ought to learn and believe this truth as much as believers in affluent countries.

The practical outworking of this truth may vary however. Perhaps, most of you have only enough food for the next few days and you start to worry about your food for the next week. This prayer should give us the confidence to trust in the Lord and depend on His faithfulness. But maybe to some of you, you have no problem in terms of material provision. What you might be concerned about is how to get rid of some of your stuff and give it to those who may need them soon. This prayer teaches us to be channels of God’s blessing, to be an answer to this petition.

Remember that God's provision has a corporate aspect to it as well. It pertains to OUR bread, not just MY bread. When you pray this prayer, you must not only be thinking about yourself but others as well, especially those who are needy in the household of faith, both near and far.

God's provision for the bread of others may come from the abundance of your blessing. And in many ways, that's how God operates. He pours out His abundant provision to some of us so we learn to be generous and to take care of each other. As a result, we all learn to thank God and praise Him for His faithfulness in providing for our needs.

But as you know, our daily bread may also mean physical strength or healing. To those of you who are suffering from physical pain or illness, or maybe you have a relative who is battling with a deadly disease, you surely can pray this prayer, hoping and trusting God to grant you or your relative the needed energy or cure.

Isn't it comforting to know that our Father in heaven is not offended when we ask Him things that pertain to our physical needs? He cares for your body just as He cares for your soul. Do not be misled by those who teach that God only cares for your soul but not your body. Both are important to God. Jesus Christ saved us both body and soul. The Holy Spirit makes our body as His temple. Thus we honor God as Creator when we accept the fact that our body is important to Him and we ask Him to provide for ALL our physical needs – may it be material or financial, relational or medical.