Today’s reading: 1 Kings 17; 1 Timothy 6
Paul talking about contentment in 1 Timothy 6 fits well, in a sense, with Elijah and the widow of Zarephath.
Paul warns Timothy against desiring to be rich. He does not warn him against being rich, or say that it is wrong or sinful to be rich, but it is the desire for riches he warns him about. Paul says, “But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.”
How often does the desire for riches stop us from giving back to the Lord as much as we could or should? How often do we have our basic needs met, and have excess, but feel the need to withhold that excess “just in case”? Or withhold that excess until we have enough for that next step up in our lifestyle?
The thing we cannot lose sight of is that God, our infinite and personal creator, knows what we need and has every possible resource at His disposal to provide for our needs in abundance when we trust Him to. Jesus Himself, talking about this very thing tells us in Matthew 6 that the answer is not hoarding our resources to try to make life work for ourselves as well as we can, but to, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
The widow of Zarephath in 1 Kings 17 is a great picture of this. When Elijah comes to her and asks for bread, she tells him she has nothing for him because she is about to prepare the last of what they have for her and her son, and then they will starve to death with nothing left. What does Elijah tell her? He tells her to make some for him first, and then for her and her son, and when she does that the flour and oil will not run out until God sends rain and brings the famine to an end.
It really made no sense for the widow to listen to Elijah; they already had so little, and giving some of that away would leave them even further from having enough. But when the woman listened, and gave first to the Lord, despite how little she had, God provided such that they never ran out. They didn’t become rich off God’s provision, and it didn’t set them up for a lifetime, but it sustained them in their time of incredible need during a famine that would have otherwise claimed their lives.
The God who provided for the widow and her son is the same God who makes the same promise of provision to us in Matthew 6. But just like for the widow, His provision is not predicated on how hard we work and how much we store up for ourselves, but is predicated on putting His purposes first and trusting that He will supply sufficiently when we do. He may not supply us richly as the world counts richly, but that is exactly what Paul warns us will plunge us into ruin and destruction anyway.
God knows what we need and can supply it when we trust Him to, but are we be willing to be satisfied with what the Lord says we need, or is this an area we will confidently tell the Lord we know better than He does what will truly make us happy?
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