Not A Bad Blessing

In these troubling days, there are lessons to be learned no one really wanted to learn.  One of those has to do with learning to live with limited resources.  After all, we are the people who figured all resources were unlimited.  There was never any need to worry about not having enough of the needed or wanted stuff of life.  All of a sudden we have landed in a different world.  Stretching out what is limited is now everyday stuff.

 

It brings to mind a part of the Elijah narrative found in I Kings 17.  After getting the word that a drought was coming, Elijah was told to go first and live by the Wadi Cherith and when it dried it up, he was told to go live with a widow of Zarephath who told him, "I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; and I am now gathering a couple of sticks, sot hat I many go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die."  (I Kings 17:12)  Because of God's promise and her faithfulness, "The jug of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail..."  (I Kings 17:16)

These days have reminded us that our provision is no longer just about us.  Of course, it never was.  We just thought it worked that way.  Now we are coming to understand that we cannot guarantee food on our table.  It makes us more conscious of the prayer Jesus taught people to pray, "Our Father in heaven....give us this day, our daily bread..."  ((Matthew 6:11)  Table blessings which might have been just a rote practice have taken on an entirely meaning.  When we bless the food now, we do so mindful that our supply is limited and that we really are dependent on God to provide which is not a bad blessing for any of us to receive.