The God who preserves, the God who provides

In these two short stories, we see the loving care of God.

In the first, in the midst of a famine, Elisha has his servant prepare a stew for a company of prophets that were meeting with him.

But unbeknownst to the servant, he put in a some kind of herb or gourd that was poisonous.

The men realized this while eating and cried out, “O man of God, there is death in the pot!” (2 Kings 4:40)

But God in his love preserved their lives, and not only that, turned what was poisonous into something that sustained them.

In the second story, we see a situation very similar to what Jesus did twice in the New Testament.

Someone brought bread to Elisha, but he didn’t feel right about keeping it all to himself.

So he told his servant to divide it among the 100 men that were there, saying, “This is what the Lord says, ‘They will eat and have some left over.'”  (43)

And that’s exactly what happened.

Right now, my wife and I are somewhat concerned about our finances, and so my wife is looking for a job right now to help supplement our income.

And there are specific things that we need in terms of her working hours and conditions in order for it to all come together.

But we believe that God is the one who will provide.

We are grateful that he has provided all these years up until now, and based on that, we will trust in him.

It’s not always easy.  But if he could provide for Elisha, and watch over his life and the life of his men, I believe he can do the same for us.