Not His Need, But Ours

Leaven

I was in Athens, standing on Mars Hill where Paul spoke these words:

Acts 17:24-25

New International Version

²⁴ “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. ²⁵ And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.

In that context, it seemed strange to me that contemporary conversation about Christian Giving often misses the fact that God does not need the things we give. He made everything and is the ultimate giver. God had impressed the truth of this passage upon me decades ago. He then began helping me understand why He asks us to give, but over time my next steps had grown less clear. So, I waited. After standing on the hill where Paul had spoken, I sensed a refreshed call to share with others God's purposes for our giving. So, I returned home, began reaching out to Christian leaders and launched this website. Step by step a path of renewed action is unfolding.

Mars Hill, Athens, Greece

An example of what God has shown me is illustrated in the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath found in 1 Kings 17:

1 Kings 17:7-24

New International Version

⁷ Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. ⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to him: ⁹ “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” ¹⁰ So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” ¹¹ As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”

¹² “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”

¹³ Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. ¹⁴ For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’”

¹⁵ She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. ¹⁶ For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.

¹⁷ Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. ¹⁸ She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?”

¹⁹ “Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. ²⁰ Then he cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” ²¹ Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!”

²² The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. ²³ Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!”

²⁴ Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”

Elijah had announced to Ahab, the king of Israel, that because of his sinfulness there would be neither dew nor rain for the next few years. A drought and famine followed for 3 1/2 years and impacted the surrounding area. As we see in the passage, Elijah is directed by God to go to Zarephath and find a specific widow whom God had instructed to feed Elijah. Elijah finds her and she feeds him out of her poverty (believing in God's promise to sustain her). This biblical account reveals how God uses the widow's willingness to give as His way to meet her family's needs and how that drew her closer to Him.

Let's add some details missing from the verses above to look a little deeper. In Luke 4, Jesus implies that this widow was not an Israelite, but God sent Elijah to her anyway. Jesus also implies that God knew she would be more open to His message than many in Israel and so we see God responding to an opportunity to grow her faith (faith that many others in Israel did not have). At the beginning of chapter 17, before God instructs Elijah to go to the widow, God has ravens bring Elijah bread and meat in the morning and evening to feed him. This demonstrates that God did not need the widow's help to feed Elijah. God could change the very nature of scavenger birds to serve that purpose. He sovereignly chose to use her willingness to give to fulfill His divine purposes. He does the same today. Those purposes may involve us, extend to others or both but the true impact of our willingness to give is scripted by Him, the ultimate giver, rather than by us.

In this instance, God uses the widow's opportunity to give to test her faith, to increase her provision, to bring healing to her son and ultimately to grow her closer to Himself. If she had not been willing to give in faith when she first met Elijah, that day she and her family would have eaten their last meal and later died. Instead, the chapter ends with her declaring: "Now I know." God had moved her from a place of faith to a place of experiential knowledge. God did not need the widow's gift to Elijah, but the widow needed to give it and we need to see that. We are not given her name, but we are given her example because we also need to "know" the divine things God can do through our giving. The need is ours.

Opportunity For Growth & Change

Next time the opportunity to give at God's prompting challenges your faith, remember the widow at Zarephath and that God prompts us not because of His need but because of our own.