God Will Provide
“For the LORD, the God of Israel, says,
‘The jar of flour shall not go empty,
nor the jug of oil run dry,
until the day when the LORD sends rain upon the earth.’”1 Kings 17:14
How often when we are in the middle of a a difficult situation that causes us worry and anxiety do people say to us, sometimes even automatically, “God will provide.” Perhaps we even say it to others ourselves. “I am a single mother of three and I just got fired from my job… Oh, God will provide…” “I am being evicted from my apartment by the end of the week because I am no longer able to afford the rent… Don’t worry, God will provide.” “I’ve lost all sense of my life and I am not sure what to do with my life, and I have no job, no income… Surely, God will provide.” God does indeed provide. He sends us forth.
There is a priest at one of my local churches who in every homily (or almost every homily) brings in the social dimension of our faith. He would always say we can’t just say we will pray for you and walk away. How will we help those who come to us for help? Saying “God bless you” will not help their immediate needs. Just like with students, if they do not have the basic necessities of life, how can we expect them to study and perform well in school? If they are hungry, thirsty, troubled, living in anxiety, how is it possible for them to live, let alone thrive? In the same way, brothers and sisters, when someone comes to us expressing a need, yes, we should pray for and with them, but we should also do something with and for them. Do they need clothes? Do they need a warm meal? Maybe it is a scorching day and they have been without water for some time. What can we in our situation do to alleviate the immediate needs of our brothers and sisters? Sometimes, oftentimes, it does not require much, but will we take the time to encounter them?
When the Prophet Elijah asked the widow at Zarephath for a small cup of water and some bread, the widow explained that she does not have much, and in fact what little she had she would feed her son and herself and then die. There was a drought in that area. The Prophet promised the widow that her jug of oil will not run dry and jar of flour will not go empty until rain falls once again, and so encouraged her to have faith. She believed, prepared something for the Prophet and she and her son lived off of that jar and jug for a year. God will provide.
The widow did as she was told because she believed that God would provide. Not a wishful thinking, but a response of profound faith, faith that if she placed the word of God first, everything else will be okay. Similarly, if we seek first the Kingdom of God, everything else that we need will come to us when we are ready to receive it. God provides for us, but we must trust and believe with sincere hearts. In our own lives, perhaps we can think of the times when others came to our hour of need. God sent those people into our lives. What might God be asking us to do today? How might God be trying to provide for another through us today? May we respond in faith like the widow who used the little oil and flour to provide for Elijah, and help those who are calling out to us today.
