Hello there, and welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.
Today's reading titled, Only Trust, was written by Arthur Jackson. Three hundred children were dressed and seated for breakfast, and a prayer of thanks was offered for the food. But there was no food. Situations like this were not unusual for orphanage director and missionary George Mueller. Here was yet another opportunity to see how God would provide. Within minutes of Mueller's prayer, a baker who couldn't sleep the night before showed up at the door. Sensing that the orphanage could use the bread, he had made three batches. Not long afterward, the town milkman appeared. His cart had broken down in front of the orphanage.
Not wanting the milk to spoil, he offered it to Mueller. It's normal to experience bouts of worry, anxiety, and self-pity when we lack resources essential to our well-being, food, shelter, health, finances, friendships. First Kings chapter seventeen verse eight through sixteen reminds us that God's help can come through unexpected sources like a needy widow saying, I don't have any bread.
Only a handful of flour and a jar and a little olive oil and a jug. Earlier it was a raven that provided for Elijah. Concerns for our needs to be met can send us searching in many directions. A clear vision of God as the provider who has promised to supply our needs can be liberating. Before we seek solutions, may we be careful to seek him first.
Doing so can save us time, energy, and frustration. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from First Kings chapter seventeen verse eight through sixteen. Then the word of the Lord came to him, Go at once to Zarephath and the region of Sidon, and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.
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 and a jar so I may have a drink? As she was going to get it, he called, and bring me, please, a piece of bread. As surely as the Lord your God lives, she replied, I don't have any bread. Only a handful of flour and a jar and a little olive oil and 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.
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. 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. 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. 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. Now let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, before we even ask, you know our every need. Teach us, O Lord, to run our anchors deep into your holy word and trust you and watch you work. And may we learn to endure and develop the strength and patience through the difficult issues in our lives. And it's in Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-03-18 15:22:59 / 2024-03-18 15:24:48 / 2