Musa Gotom: Oil, flour, faith and obedience

“Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” 1 Kings 17:9

“We are now told of some other miracles associated with Elisha that resemble those worked by Elijah. The miraculous supply of oil is similar to the supply of flour for the widow of Zarephath that did not run out till the end of the famine. The raising of the dead child of the Shunammite woman resembles that of the child of the widow in Zarephath. One thing that should be noted about all these miracles is the faith and obedience of those who benefited. None of them doubted the ability of the prophet. They did as the prophet told them and they saw the power of the Lord working to meet their needs.”

Musa Gotom (Nigeria) in “2 Kings” in Africa Bible Commentary, Tokunboh Adeyemo, General Editor (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006) 445.

Yesterday I reflected on a miracle in the Elisha narrative, so I went back to look at parallels in the life and ministry of Elijah. There is so much in this little verse.

Here God sent Elijah to Zarephath. In biblical terms, that was known as a “place of refinement.” Is God refining you at this time? That was the case for Elijah and the widow both.

And God directed heer to care for him. Maybe this is where you fit in the story? Maybe God has nudged you to care for a man of God or someone in ministry?

If your answer to God is, “Who me?” then consider that perhaps the widow asked herself the same question. The key is that both Elijah and the widow had to have faith and obey.

God took care of the rest. He always does, and with instruments like oil and flour in response to humble faith and obedience.

I am in West Africa out of faith and obedience. God has supplied the resources to serve here and is working in power. Samson and I will facilitate Stations of Generosity today.

I am processing all God is doing in Benin right now with a thankful heart. He’s stretching me and allowing me to see Him work in power. Let Him stretch you too. It’s for your good and His glory.

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

“When Elisha told the man to use this food to feed a hundred people, he knew it would not be enough. But he obeyed and his small gift fed so many people that they had enough and there was some left over. This story resembles the Lord’s feeding of the multitude and may explain whey the people were so ready to hail Jesus as a prophet.”

Musa Gotom (Nigeria) in “2 Kings” in Africa Bible Commentary, Tokunboh Adeyemo, General Editor (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006) 447.

Notice the prophet said the instructions two times: “Give it to the people to eat.” In between, the man had a question. And with the reply the prophet gave him assurance from the Lord. We too might have had the same doubts. It’s okay to ask questions of the Lord. But in the end, the key is to obey.

As Gotom writes, “he obeyed and his small gift fed so many people that they had enough and there was some left over.” What can we make of these giving instructions? We must obey God’s voice and give, not because we think we have the funds to solve a problem, but in obedience to the call of God.

Yesterday we focused on prayer and fellowship together. Today we “feed” 50 influential pastors, ministry administrators, and other professionals. Pray that like the 100, that they leave well fed and satisfied by the spiritual food we will offer.

We will provide biblical teaching and practical tools on this topic: “Stewardship and Standards – Two Keys to Strengthen Sustainable Ministries.” I see the sacrifices of core workers in Benin and confident that God sees and will honor them. He will “feed” the people of Benin with their small gift of service.

As Paul served with Silas and Timothy, I am serving with Samson Adoungbe (GTP Regional Facilitator for Francophone Africa) and Sylvie Bekoun (GTP Benin Country Coordinator). I appreciate your prayers for us and for my French translator, Pastor Roguy Barboza.

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3:19-26

“Nothing is heavier than one’s head when one is struggling; raising one’s eyes requires great effort. Yet such effort is exactly what is called for here. The man takes himself in hand. He makes a decision. voluntarily affirming his faith, and acts with resolution and determination. Lifting up his eyes, he looks beyond the current situation and focuses his thought on God, whose goodness and compassion have not failed. More than that, they are new every morning. Circumstance have changed but God has not! The more the author thinks about it, the more he recognizes that the Lord is His real treasure, more precious than the riches of the temple and the city that he loves. He decides, I will wait for Him, and reminds himself that it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”

Issiaka Coulibaly (Côte d’Ivoire) in “Lamentations” in Africa Bible Commentary, Tokunboh Adeyemo, General Editor (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006) 955. I am safely in Cotonou, Benin (pictured above).

God’s goodness, another word for His generosity, and His compassion are unfailing. We discover them afresh each morning. They are the real treasure we possess in this life.

I needed to hear this having just arrived in West Africa, with a full schedule in four countries that starts today. And I am thankful for the word picture of the heavy head.

Many Christian workers in this part of the world have a heavy head. I pray that in pointing them to Jesus and His design for sustainable ministry that it will lift up their eyes.

I pray each person Samson and I serve will embrace a new mindset looking beyond their circumstances to experience the salvation of the Lord. And the idea of waiting quietly also struck me.

Nothing happens fast in Africa. Nothing. As a matter of fact, most things take longer than you think. So, I am waiting on the LORD and relying on His power to transform minds and hearts.

If you have a heavy head, do this today. Look beyond your circumstances and focus on the unfailing generosity and compassion of God. Perhaps fast, pray, and lift your eyes. See what happens.

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14

“The Pharisee in this parable has many positive characteristics: he is portrayed as a very religious and spiritual man, and should be commended for his spirituality and commitment to his religious tradition. He fasts twice a week and gives a tenth of all his income to the ministry and work of God…

The problem is that instead of being content to give thanks and observe his religious tradition, the Pharisee feeds on his own virtues and makes sinful comparisons. He is typical of those religious people who look upon themselves as more holy… His sin is self-glorification at the expense of someone else.

The tax collector, too, stands and addresses God directly. But where the Pharisee offers a prayer of thanksgiving, the other offers a petition for mercy… Standing before God the tax collector describes himself as a sinner, deeply in need of justification and sanctification…

In his unconditional admission of his sinfulness before God, he beats his breast. He has come to true repentance and casts himself unreserved confession of sin before the feet of God… Which of these two do we identify with? I suggest we should see ourselves in both.

The good in the character of the Pharisee is his religious commitment; the bad is his self-righteousness. The negative soide of the sinner was his sinful exploitation of his neighbors. But he is not content to remain sinful but confesses…”

Paul John Isaak (Namibia) in “Luke” in Africa Bible Commentary, Tokunboh Adeyemo, General Editor (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006) 1265.

When this posts I will be en route to Cotonou, Benin in West Africa, to meet up with Samson Adoungbe. I have my Africa Bible Commentary with me to read texts through African eyes.

On the first day in each of the four countries that we will visit (Benin, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, and Senegal) we block time for prayer and couple it with fasting and confession.

At GTP we have learned that to grow stewards who help ministries follow standards and turn brokenness to blessing in their context requires these three spiritual practices.

Join us in taking a posture of prayer, fasting, and confession to ask God to turn brokenness to blessing wherever you are. For a good example of this, read Nehemiah 1.

Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. 2 Corinthians 9:10-11

“God will supply and multiply the seed and increase the fruits of righteousness for those who give generously. God gives to us so that we can share what He gives with others, and our harvest of righteousness is an increasing closeness to God that expresses itself in prayer and fasting, which remind us that he alone is the source of the blessings we enjoy.”

Issiaka Coulibaly (Côte d’Ivoire) in “2 Corinthians” in Africa Bible Commentary, Tokunboh Adeyemo, General Editor (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006) 1433.

I decided to pack my Africa Bible Commentary and explore Bible verses and themes of Lent with African scholars as I travel to Benin, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, and Senegal this month.

Today Coulibaly shares a profound idea about the harvest we reap when we give generously. It takes the form of an “increasing closeness to God that expresses itself in prayer and fasting.” Did you catch that?

Our prayer and fasting during Lent come into view as the fruits of the increasing closeness we enjoy through the practice of giving. We find our purpose in enjoying and sharing God’s blessings.

And we pray and fast to discern the ongoing role He wants us to play. This rings true for all of us. We experience it during Lent. For my part, after prayer and fasting, I discerned that it was time to travel to Francophone Africa.

God has raised up a regional facilitator, Samson Adoungbe. Now it’s time to bring biblical teaching and training. And we have the GTP Diagnostic Tool and Templates contextualized and translated for the French context.

Appreciate your prayers for me as I fly from Denver to Chicago to Brussels today. Tomorrow I connect in Brussels for Cotonou, Benin, where I will serve from 5-9 March 2023. Reply if you want my itinerary with prayer points.

And keep giving, praying and fasting. In so doing, I hope you enjoy increasing closeness with God, which strengthens your faith to serve as a conduit of blessing wherever He leads you.

Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments. Exodus 34:28

“And indeed that which I am about to say is wonderful, yea it is of those things which are very miraculous; yet not far from the truth, as you may be able to learn from the sacred writings. That great man Moses, when fasting, conversed with God, and received the law. The great and holy Elijah, when fasting, was thought worthy of divine visions, and at last was taken up like Him who ascended into heaven. And Daniel, when fasting, although a very young man, was entrusted with the mystery, and he alone understood the secret things of the king, and was thought worthy of divine visions. But because the length of the fast of these men was wonderful, and the days prolonged, let no man lightly fall into unbelief; but rather let him believe and know, that the contemplation of God, and the word which is from Him, suffice to nourish those who hear, and stand to them in place of all food. For the angels are no otherwise sustained than by beholding at all times the face of the Father, and of the Saviour who is in heaven. And thus Moses, as long as he talked with God, fasted indeed bodily, but was nourished by divine words. When he descended among men, and God had gone up from him, he suffered hunger like other men. For it is not said that he fasted longer than forty days— those in which he was conversing with God. And, generally, each one of the saints has been thought worthy of similar transcendent nourishment.”

Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 297-373) in Festal Letter 1.6. Athanasius is the fourth of the four doctors of the Eastern Church. We heard from John Chyrsostom, Basil of Caesarea, and Gregory of Nazianzus.

I pray your Lenten fast is going well. We are nearly 10 days into the 40 day fast. I find myself feeling less distracted and able to focus on the things God has in front of me daily. I feel I am tasting transcendent nourishment.

Athanasius reminds us that characters like Moses, Elijah, and Daniel fasted before having significant times of service. Let’s approach our fast with the same expectation. Let’s set aside our desires and see what God has for us.

I’d appreciate your prayers as I head to West Africa to minister in four countries. I’ve been fasting and praying and asking God to nourish me with divine words and cary me with His strength.

What do you have ahead of you this month? How might fasting, confession, and prayer position you for fruitful service? Let’s trust God together to nourish and sustain us for whatever He sets before us.

Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and He relents from sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing—grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God. Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber. Let the priests, who minister before the Lord, weep between the portico and the altar. Let them say, “Spare your people, Lord. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” Joel 2:13-17

“With these words I invoke mercy… Possess your souls in tears, and stay His wrath by amending your way of life. Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, as blessed Joel with us charges you: gather the elders, and the babes that suck the breasts, whose tender age wins our pity, and is specially worthy of the loving-kindness of God.

I know also what he enjoins both upon me, the minister of God, and upon you, who have been thought worthy of the same honour, that we should enter His house in sackcloth and lament night and day between the porch and the altar, in piteous array, and with more piteous voices, crying aloud without ceasing on behalf of ourselves and the people, sparing nothing, either toil or word, which may propitiate God: saying, “Spare, O Lord, Your people, and give not Your heritage to reproach”…

Come then, all of you, my brethren, let us worship and fall down, and weep before the Lord our Maker… let us raise the voice of supplication… Let us anticipate His anger by confession; let us desire to see Him appeased, after He was angry. Who knows, he says, if He will turn and repent, and leave a blessing behind Him? … Let us sow in tears, that we may reap in joy…”

Gregory of Nazianzus (329-390) in Oration 16.13-14. Gregory is the third of the four doctors of the Eastern Church. We heard from John Chyrsostom and Basil of Caesarea. Tomorrow Athanasius of Alexandria will follow.

In today’s Scripture we see God’s servants declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly, and cry out for mercy. Think about it. Ponder this. The first step in addressing the brokenness in this world is prayer, fasting, and confession. These spiritual priorities must precede any strategic work for us.

I head to West Africa this Saturday, but before I depart, to ask God to spare His people in needy places, I am taking time for fasting, prayer, and confession. And upon arrival in Benin, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, and Senegal, I will do this with Samson Adoungbe on day one of the three days in each country.

Consider your own situation. The call for a fast and a sacred assembly includes everyone down to little babies and it should stop everyone in their tracks, including those preparing for grand occasions like weddings. The point here is that we deserve judgment and want mercy instead.

Want to turn brokenness around you into blessing? Gregory would echo the prophet Joel saying, and call you to fast, collectively set aside your desires and seek God’s heart. When we do this, when we change our ways, He changes what we get in reply. He turns brokenness into blessing.

Because He does not want our sacrifices, He wants our souls. Be God’s person for your family, for your community, for your people. Worship and weep before God. Sow in tears and reap in joy. Rather than asking Him to bless your plans, ask Him to restore your people for His glory.

Pray this with me for West Africa in Jesus name.

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and He will say: “Here am I.” If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.” Isaiah 58:6-12

“Do not, however, define the benefit that comes from fasting solely in terms of abstinence from foods. For true fasting consists in estrange­ment from vices. “Loose every burden of iniquity.” Forgive your neigh­bor the distress he causes you; forgive him his debts. “Fast not for quar­rels and strifes.” You do not eat meat, but you devour your brother. You abstain from wine, but do not restrain yourself from insulting others.

You wait until evening to eat, but waste your day in law courts. Woe to those who get drunk, but not from wine. Anger is inebriation of the soul, mak­ing it deranged, just as wine does. Grief is also a form of intoxication, one that submerges the intellect. Fear is another kind of drunkenness, when we have phobias regarding inappropriate objects; for Scripture says: “Rescue my soul from fear of the enemy.” And in general, every passion which causes mental derangement may justly be called drunkenness.

Pray consider a man smitten with anger, how he is inebriated by this passion. He is not in control of himself, he does not know who he is, nor does he know those around him. He attacks everyone and collides with everyone just as in a night-battle; he speaks recklessly, cannot restrain himself, rails, pounds his fists, utters threats, swears, shouts, and becomes apoplectic. Avoid such in­ebriation as this, and do not accept the inebriation that comes from wine.

Do not precede the season in which you drink only water by consuming excessive amounts of alcohol. Let not drunkenness initiate you into the fast. For neither through greed do you attain to righteousness, nor through wantonness to temperance, nor, in short, through vice to virtue. The door to fasting is a different one. Inebriation leads to wantonness, frugality to fast­ing. An athlete trains before a contest; a faster practices abstinence before a fast…

May the Lord Who has brought us to this period of the year grant us, as contenders, to display steadfast and vigorous perseverance in these preliminary contests and to attain to the Day of the Lord, whereon crowns are bestowed, so that we might now com­memorate the saving Passion of Christ, and in the age to come enjoy the reward for our deeds in life at the just Judgment of Christ Himself, for unto Him be glory unto the ages. Amen.”

Basil of Caesarea (330-379) in Homily “On Fasting” 1.10-11. Basil is the second of the four doctors of the Eastern Church. Yesterday we heard from John Chyrsostom. Gregory of Nazianzus and Athanasius of Alexandria will follow over the next two days.

I want to pause and thank readers for following God’s leading to help with the $40,000 matching grant. Through the contributions of many people we hit the mark on the final day with a total reaching $40,210.30. Praise the LORD.

Many of you set aside your desires to serve others and gave according to your ability. This is precisely the fasting God wants to see. It loosens the chains of injustice. Basil adds that it estranges us from our vices to position us to serve as contenders for God.

Are you contending earnestly for the faith (cf. Jude 1:3)? We do this by forgiving others, by putting off anger, greed, fear, wantonness and worry, and by attaining to righteousness, frugality, and temperance. Sound too lofty?

Then look at the new header photo. It’s Grace St. Catherine, our German Shorthair Pointer, on a walk this week. The weather warmed up and while walking along, she pointed a bird so I snapped her photo. Then I reflected on what I saw.

Grace is focused on doing what God made her to do, which is hunt for birds. When she saw one, nothing would distract her until I released her from her point. May we live with the same focus, undistracted by the things of this world!

Let us spend ourselves for God with unswerving focus. He will make us like well-watered gardens. He will sustain us and rebuild what is broken down through our service. And in all this, He will get the glory.

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Matthew 7:24-27

“These things I say, not in order that we should be careless of righteousness, but that we should avoid pride; not that we should sin, but that we should be sober-minded. For humbleness of mind is the foundation of the love of wisdom which pertains to us. Even if you should have built a superstructure of things innumerable; even if almsgiving, even if prayers, even if fastings, even if all virtue; unless this have first been laid as a foundation, all will be built upon it to no purpose and in vain; and it will fall down easily, like that building which had been placed on the sand. For there is no one, no one of our good deeds, which does not need this; there is no one which separate from this will be able to stand. But even if you should mention temperance, even if virginity, even if despising of money, even if anything whatever, all are unclean and accursed and loathsome, humbleness of mind being absent. Everywhere therefore let us take her with us, in words, in deeds, in thoughts, and with this let us build these (graces).”

John Chyrsostom (347-407) in his homily “Concerning Lowliness of Mind” delivered in Antioch just before Christmas in A.D. 386. John Chyrsostom is the first of the four doctors of the Eastern Church. Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Athanasius of Alexandria will follow.

We must build our lives on the firm foundation of fasting, prayer, and giving.

Think about the implications. If we build our lives on setting aside our desires for the things we want, for seeking the heart of God, and for serving as a conduit of divine blessings, we fulfill our God given purpose.

But if we don’t we will likely just pursue that which our flesh wants and keep for ourselves.

Thanks to all those who have contributed to the GTP $40,000 matching gift effort to serve underserved countries. I just checked the status at 4am Denver time. We still need $1,601 in the next 8 hours or so.

I’m fasting and praying and thankful for God’s faithful provision.

And I’ve strengthened my resolved to pursue these disciplines with humbleness of mind. I want to pursue them, more than ever, as foundation for generous Christian living. Join me.

Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while He is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. Matthew 9:15

“Christ is the Bridegroom, the Church is the bride. From this holy and spiritual marriage, the apostles were created, who cannot mourn as long as they see the bride in the chamber and know that the Bridegroom is with the bride. But when the wedding is past and the time of the Passion and Resurrection comes, then the sons of the Bridegroom will fast. On account of this statement, some think that fasts should be commenced after the forty days of the Passion.

Yet the day of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit invite us at once to festivity. Based on this pretext, Montanus, Prisca, and Maximilla even make a forty-day fast after Pentecost, because [they say] when the bridegroom is taken away, the sons of the bridegroom ought to fast. But the custom of the Church comes to the Passion of the Lord and the Resurrection by means of the humbling of the flesh. Thus by the fasting of the body we are prepared for spiritual feasting.”

Jerome of Stridon (c. 347-420) in Commentary on Matthew, translated by Thomas P. Scheck (The Fathers of the Church; Washington DC: CUAP, 2008) 108.

As I stated yesterday, I am starting Lent with the four doctors in the Western Church. We heard from Augustine, Ambrose, and Gregory the Great, so Jerome is last. Tomorrow we will turn to the four doctors of the Eastern Church.

This excerpt from Jerome’s Commentary on Matthew gives us another early church testimony for Lent. Jesus has ascended to the Father so we fast for forty days in order to have a time set apart for “spiritual feasting.”

What are you feasting on this Lent? I am feasting on gratitude for the grace of God, the peace that comes with the faithfulness of God, the forgiveness of sins, and the privilege of participating with God in doing good works which He prepared for me to do.

Please pause to give something today to GTP to help us finish this matching grant. We are only about $4,736 away with a day to go. And pray for me as I make preparations to serve in West Africa next week for 15 days. More on that later.

For now, make sure you answer this question: What are you feasting on this Lent? If you don’t fill the margin in your appetite and heart, in your budget and schedule with constructive study, giving, and service, the evil one will fill it with something else.

Lent is about making space for spiritual feasting.