When my husband and I were first asked to host a small group in our home, my immediate reaction was to decline. I felt inadequate. We didnt have seats for everyone; our home was small and couldnt hold many people. I didnt know whether we had the skills to facilitate the discussion. I worried that Id be asked to prepare food, something for which I lacked both passion and funds. I didnt feel like we had enough to do it. I didnt feel I was enough to do it. But we wanted to give to God and our community, so despite our fears, we agreed. Over the next five years we found great joy in welcoming the group into our living room.
I observe similar reluctance and doubt in the man who brought bread to Gods servant, Elisha. Elisha had instructed him to give it to the people, but the man questioned whether twenty loaves could feed so manyone hundred men. He seems to have been tempted to withhold the food becausein his human understandingit wouldnt be sufficient. Yet it was more than enough (2 Kings 4:44), because God took his gift, given in obedience, and made it enough.
When we feel inadequate, or think what we have to offer isnt sufficient, lets remember that God asks us to give what we have in faithful obedience. He is the one who makes it enough.
INSIGHT
We may wonder about the purpose of the miracle recorded in todays passage. It becomes a little clearer when we back up a few verses. In verses 3841 Elisha had performed another food miracle where he made a pot of poisonous stew safe to eat. Because there was a famine in the land, the provision of food would have been one of the top concerns of the people. So both of these miraclesthe curing of the poisonous stew and 20 loaves of bread feeding 100 peopleare signs of Gods provision. It is interesting to note two key phrases in verses 43 and 44 that address the doubts of Elishas servant: this is what the Lord says and according to the word of the Lord. The power of the Lord is what provides when we have little or nothing to offer.
Reflect on a time when your resources were inadequate. How did God provide?