A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing the man of God twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain, along with some heads of new grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha said. “How can I set this before a hundred men?” his servant asked. But Elisha answered, “Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat and have some left over.'” Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord. 2 Kings 4:42-44
“The more I have studied the Scripture the more impressed I have been with the Bible’s glorious illogicality as it relates to divine mathematics…a story can be found in the Old Testament where God’s servant, Elisha, experienced a miraculous extension of 20 small loaves of bread which were able to satisfy 100 hungry men — with some left over…
It doesn’t make sense. It defies logic…when God is at work, logic and mathematics have to give way to a higher law — the law of the divine. Nothing is more exciting than to see the divine mathematics at work in the matter of giving. We give and when we think we have come to the end of our financial resources God makes it possible for us to give and give again…
I am sure that you come across opportunities to be generous almost every day and if you fail to respond to those opportunities who knows what rivers will not flow, what great ministries will never come to birth, what mighty things will not get done? God has opened the doors of generosity to you; don’t fail to open up the doors of generosity to others.”
Selwyn Hughes in Divine Mathematics: A Biblical Perspective on Investing in God’s Kingdom (Surrey, UK: CWR, 2004) 13-17. Thanks again to Cameron Doolittle of Generosity Path for recommending this wonderful little book to me.
Who are you in this biblical story?
Are you the person bringing the gift of 20 loaves of bread along with heads of grain before 100 hungry people, all the while, perhaps wondering what difference it can make? In response to his generosity and willingness to put it to work, he witnesses a miracle. The Lord multiplies his gift.
Or are you God’s servant, Elisha, in the story? You serve in ministry. You often see people bringing gifts. Do you tell them to bring more because the needs are so great, relying on human math to solve the problem? Or do you, like Elisha, tell them to give what they have to the hungry people and watch the Lord more than meet their needs with it?
Whether you are a man or woman of God who gives to God’s work (like the man who brought the 20 loaves and grain), or whether you are among God’s servants (like Elisha who was ministering to the people), each of us must together generously and obediently do our part and watch God do miracles (in this case He fed 100 men).
But don’t miss the last words from the Lord in today’s text: “some left over.” With God, there is no end to His generosity. There’s always “some left over!” God’s generosity must not stop with each of us. As givers and as God’s servants, let us resolve to open the doors of generosity to others, over and over and over again.