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Testimonies for the Church Volume 6
I plead with my Scandinavian brethren to do what they can. We
will unite our efforts with your work of love and helpfulness. There is
sufficient means in the hands of the Lord’s stewards to do this work
if they will unite in tender sympathy to restore, to heal, and to bring
health and prosperity to God’s instrumentalities.
The sums which you give may be small when compared with the
necessities of the work, but be not discouraged. Have faith in God.
Hold fast to the hand of Infinite Power, and that which seemed hopeless
at first will look different. The feeding of the five thousand is an object
lesson for us. He who with five loaves and two small fishes fed five
thousand men besides women and children, can do great things for
His people today.
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Read the account of how the prophet Elisha fed one hundred men:
“There came a man from Baalshalisha, and brought the man of God
bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn
in the husk thereof. And he said, Give unto the people, that they may
eat. And his servitor said, What, should I set this before an hundred
men? He said again, Give the people, that they may eat: for thus saith
the Lord, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof. So he set it before
them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the
Lord.”
2 Kings 4:42-44
.
What condescension it was on the part of Christ to work this mira-
cle to satisfy hunger! He relieved the hunger of one hundred sons of
the prophets, and again and again since then, though not always in so
marked and visible a way, He has worked to supply human need. If
we had clearer spiritual discernment, so that we could recognize more
readily God’s merciful, compassionate dealing with His people, we
would gain a rich experience. We need to study more than we do into
the wonderful working of God. Men who are not united with us in
acknowledging the truth, He has moved to favor His people. The Lord
has His men of opportunity, like the man who brought the food for the
sons of the prophets.
When the Lord gives us a work to do, let us not stop to inquire
into the reasonableness of the command or the probable result of our
efforts to obey it. The supply in our hands may seem to fall far short of
our needs; but in the hands of the Lord it will be more than sufficient.
The servitor “set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof,
according to the word of the Lord.”