This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 9:23-24
“The man [or woman] who knows God hears His step in the tramp of daily events, discerns Him near at hand to help, and hears His answer to the appeal of prayer in a hundred happenings outwardly small and insignificant, where another man [or woman] can talk only of remarkable coincidence, amazing accident, or peculiar turn of events. That is why periods when the life of faith is strong and men [and women] have enthusiastically surrendered themselves to God, have also been times rich in miracles.”
Walter Eichrodt in The Blue Book: A Devotional Guide for Every Season of Your Life, edited and compiled by Jim Branch (Middletown, Delaware, 2020) 258.
On my long flight across the ocean from Newark to Johannesburg, I felt the Lord make something abundantly clear to me about my trip.
I am to ask questions about the challenges the local people face, listen to their answers, and then I am to ask more questions to help them see how God is at work, how He cares for them, and how He supplies what they need for enjoyment and sharing.
What does this have to do with generosity?
I believe that what hinders people from living, giving, serving, and loving generously is not a lack of resources but having the wrong perspective about God and about all they possess.
This insight applies in Africa and everywhere else. If you sense generosity lacking, ask questions, listen, and ask more questions to help those you serve find God in the “tramp of daily events.”
Once we find Him there, we realize He is everywhere. Helping people grow in generosity comes into view as helping them know and hear God. This gives us all courage to play our role which positions us for “times rich in miracles.”
I am typing this from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Around the time it posts, I will arrive in Lilongwe, Malawi, where I will serve for six days.