The reality and the fallacy of not having enough

By Dean Collins

Staring at two different chapters of scripture has me thinking about times when it appears we simply don’t have enough. 2 Kings chapter 4 and the first 17 verses of Luke 9 do not seem to be connected, yet both reveal common themes. Both texts contain examples of individuals and groups who did not have enough resources to feed themselves. And in both cases, God’s intervention suddenly changed their situations and created abundance.

God can change your situation

In 2 Kings 4, we read about a tragic situation. A creditor is about to enslave a widow’s two sons to cover an unpaid debt. The widow’s deceased husband was a prophet who had served the Lord faithfully yet died while his sons were young leaving his wife and children in a mess due to an unpaid financial obligation. The widow turned to Elisha the prophet in her time of desperation. When the widow appealed to Elisha for help, he questioned her about her available resources. Her reply was pretty bleak: “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.”

This woman had no money to pay off her deceased husband’s debt. She didn’t have the resources to care for her two sons. All she had was hope that Elisha could appeal to the God of heaven on her behalf. Elisha told the woman to go collect as many jars, bottles, and pitchers as she could find from her neighbors.

Once Elisha had the vessels he needed, she began to pour her jar of oil into her borrowed containers. Her oil ran out when all the containers were full. Elisha then told her to sell her oil and pay off her debts.  Not enough became more than enough at the word of God’s prophet Elisha.

Trust God

As Luke chapter 9 opens, we find Jesus sending out his 12 disciples on a mission. Their assignments were to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. He told the disciples that he had given them power and authority over demons and to cure diseases. And probably about the time the 12 might have started considering what Jesus had just given them, Jesus gave a second set of instructions: “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.”

Take nothing - as in empty pockets, empty backpacks, and not even a change of clothes. What sounded like enough at the beginning now likely sounded pretty empty.  At least it did from a human perspective. I think it is fair to say that when the disciples departed, they could neither understand how they would survive nor how people would respond to their message. But verse 6 concluded this way: “And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.” 

When the disciples returned, Luke tells us that they told Jesus all that they had done. What didn’t seem like enough clearly ended up being exactly what they needed to complete the assignment Jesus had given them.

Upon their return, Jesus took them away from the crowds and headed to Bethsaida. The crowds figured out which way Jesus and his disciples were traveling.  Instead of time alone to debrief or recover from their mission trip, the disciples saw Jesus welcoming the crowds. And as usual, Jesus told them about his Father’s kingdom and healed all their diseases.

As the late afternoon sun began its descent, the disciples urged Jesus to send the crowds away to find food and lodging because they were in a desolate location. No town, no merchants, no anything. The disciples were once again staring at not having enough. And Jesus said to them: “Have the crowds sit down in groups of about 50 each.”

I am pretty sure that both the disciples and the crowds wondered what Jesus had up his tunic sleeves this time. Yes, the disciples had just experienced a mission trip where they left with nothing; and somehow God managed to meet all their needs. On that trip, God only had to take care of a dozen men. But in this desolate location, the crowd had 5000 men plus women and children. And there were no homes nearby where they could beg for supplies. All they had was what they had. The total of their supplies was five loaves and two fish. Again, from a human perspective, there was clearly not even enough for everyone to have a nibble.

At the end of 2 Kings 4, we read another story. Elisha was in Gilgal, and there was a famine. The prophets and their families had nothing to eat. The prophet instructed them to make a stew out of what they could forage. Unfortunately, someone didn’t pay attention in class the day they were learning about plants that are edible. The result was a stew that literally could have killed the group of prophets. They had enough bad stew to kill them all but not enough of anything they could eat.

Elisha stepped in, added flour to the soup, and instructed them to eat. He told them there was no death in the pot. I think if I were there, I might have passed on the soup. And it might have been that others thought the same. Elisha adds to the story by telling us that a man from Baal-shalishah showed up with bread and grain for Elisha. Elisha told his servant to serve it to the crowd. But there was one problem. The man had brought enough for Elisha, not enough for the hundred men who were with him.  But once again, not enough turned into more than enough at the word of the prophet.

We could find many other examples in scripture of situations like these in Luke and 2 Kings. And the truth is, you and I could tell of many times when we were facing some sort of impossible situation where there simply wasn’t enough time, enough help, or enough money to solve the crisis we faced or to fulfill the mission we had been given. Yet time and time again, we have seen God step into our situation with more than enough to meet our needs.

I will confess that when facing times of scarcity or in times where a situation seems impossible, I usually default to trying to figure it out followed by becoming somewhat discouraged when I realize the situation is bigger than I can fix. And then I do what I should do in the first place. I go to the Lord in prayer, and I read the scriptures over and over. It is there that I discover that there really is never a situation or a moment where God cannot deliver more than enough to meet our deepest needs.

 Paul reminded the Philippians of this when he said:

 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (4:4-7)

Father, thank you for the stories of Elisha and of the disciples that demonstrate that you are truly more than enough to get us through every difficult moment and every difficult situation. Today, we choose to place our full trust in you to deliver what we need. We rejoice in your faithfulness and love.  In Jesus name, Amen.

Your Time with God’s Word
2 Kings 4:1-7, 38-44; Luke 9:1-6, 10-12, 14-17 ESV

Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-hands-on-holy-bible-267559/
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