Monday June 4th

"To obey is better than sacrifice." 

This truth we have come across over and over again in our reading of the bible this year.  But what happens when obedience requires great sacrifice?  When they go hand in hand?  When we are asked to obediently give of all we have or what is most valuable and irreplaceable to us?  In today's reading we come across two very big examples of sacrificial obedience.

The first is of the widow whom Elijah meets at a town gate.  He asks her for no small gift:

"Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?"

 Remember that there is a drought going on so water is limited and precious.  Her response, though, was obedience.  She went to go and get it but then Elijah asks for something even bigger, something that would challenge her ability to be obedient:

"And bring me, please, a piece of bread." 

There is no Stew Leonard's to run to get some bread.  This would require her to make him a piece of bread from what she had in her house.  This widow only had enough flour and oil left to make one simple meal, one last simple meal for her and her son.  Elijah was asking for her to give him everything she had left.  He did give her a promise though, that if she used the flour and oil she had left to first make a cake for him then she would see that God would provide and that every time she went to the jar for flour and the jug for oil she would have enough to supply her each day.  But first she had to be willing to obediently sacrifice all that she had and then trust that God would indeed provide.  First give to God and trust him to then provide.  Not the other way around.

How difficult is that?  Even with the promise of blessing it is very difficult to give first and then trust that God will provide for our needs.  Even though God promises us, like the widow, that if we give to him whole heartedly and trust him with all that we have he will pour out blessing on us.

"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it." Malachi 3:10

 

I personally struggle with the trusting.  I want to figure out how God might possibly provide the flour for my jar and where the oil might come from for the empty jug I will own.  I like to try and have a grip on the "how" before my heart yields and willingly lets go of the illusion of control I possess.  But that is not obedience.  That is hesitation and doubt on my part.  That does not trust an all-powerful God to provide for my needs in any way he may wish to do so.  I in turn rob myself of the joy in experiencing the awesome power and glory of a very great God.

That leads to the second example of sacrificial obedience: 

When Elijah was on Mt. Carmel and the prophets of Baal failed to call fire down upon their sacrifice Elijah does something crazy.  He calls for 4 large jugs of water to be poured over the sacrifice.  He does this 3 times for a total of 12 large jugs of water.  Besides the fact that water soaked logs aren't typically used to start a fire (but prevent it) what is more amazing is that the water itself was part of the obedient sacrifice.  Remember there had been a long drought in the land so every bit of water would have been priceless and Elijah is giving up 12 large jugs with no future benefit to him or anyone else (very different from the promise of unlimited bread for the widows sacrificial obedience).   There is no promise of an end to the drought should Elijah do this.  To those watching this is madness.  It doesn't make sense.  It is wasteful and foolish.  To those who trust a powerful God it is a sure fire way (no pun intended) to experience the fullness of God.  The only thing to be gained from giving here is to see and experience the glory to God.  For his greatness and power to be shown to all.  No personal benefit.  It will prove that God alone has power and authority.  That water could have been given to families to help them live but God saw that it was better to use it for this instance of shining his glory so the blind could see the truth and live in his blessing. 

What was not known before hand was that shortly after this show of obedience, after God first rained down fire, he then sent a cloud.  The first rain cloud in years.  It wasn't a sky filled with dark thunderclouds that would relieve years of drought but a small cloud the size of a fist that offered the first sign of hope for a scorched land.  A small sign of God's faithfulness to provide for the needs of those he loves.  Just like with the widow God was being faithful to those who had shown sacrificial obedience.

What am I willing to give to the Lord?   What is most precious to me?  What do I hold dearly?  What can I not live without (or more correctly what do I not want to live without)?  What would I need to give up in order to truly feel the sting of sacrifice so that I can experience that soothing awe of God and his abundant blessing in my life? What I am willing to give up reflects how much I trust God.  If I give little then I trust only a little.   If I give all then I completely trust my God and my savior with my life, every aspect of it.

What have you given to the Lord lately?  What more are you willing to give to him if he were to ask?  Time, Money, Talent, Energy, Possessions: hold them all with open hands and a willing heart to let God use you and that which you have to grow his kingdom and I promise you that you will experience blessing and his power in your life.  I'm not saying you are going to win the $600 million dollar lottery, that doesn't bring true joy.  The blessing and power that awaits us is greater then anything money can buy. 

Trust God and be ready to obey through sacrifice if he should come calling.  You will never regret it and that is a promise!