Basic HTML Version
Elisha, Gentle Prophet of Peace
115
served it to the men to eat. Now it happened, as they were eating the
stew, that they cried out and said, ‘Man of God, there is death in the
pot!’ And they could not eat it. So he said, ‘Then bring some flour.’
And he put it into the pot, and said, ‘Serve it to the people, that they
may eat.’ And there was nothing harmful in the pot.”
Also at Gilgal, while the famine was still in the land, Elisha
fed one hundred men with the present “a man from Baal Shalisha”
brought to him— “twenty loaves of barley bread, and newly ripened
grain in his knapsack.” When the offering came, he said to his
servant, “‘Give it to the people, that they may eat.’ But his servant
said, ‘What? Shall I set this before one hundred men?’ He said
again, ‘Give it to the people, that they may eat; for thus says the
Lord, “They shall eat and have some left over.”’ So he set it before
them; and they ate, and had some left over, according to the word of
the Lord.”
Again and again since that time, though not always so clearly
and noticeably, the Lord Jesus has worked to supply human need.
If we had sharper spiritual perception we would recognize more
quickly than we do God’s tender dealings with the human family.
In Christ’s earthly ministry, when He performed a similar miracle
by feeding the multitudes, people showed the same unbelief as did
those associated with the prophet: “What? Shall I set this before one
hundred men?” And when Jesus told His disciples to give that large
assembly food to eat, they answered, “We have no more than five
loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people.”
Luke 9:13
. What is that among so many?
[90]
When the Lord gives a work to be done, let no one stop to
ask whether the command is reasonable or what the results of their
efforts to obey are likely to be. The supply in their hands may seem
to fall short of the need, but in the hands of the Lord it will prove
more than enough. The servant “set it before them; and they ate, and
had some left over, according to the word of the Lord.”
We should not waste time worrying about how small our re-
sources appear. Energy and trust in God will develop resources. The
gift we bring to Him with thanksgiving and prayer for His blessing,
He will multiply as He multiplied the food Elisha gave to the sons
of the prophets and that Jesus Himself gave to the weary multitude.
[91]