LAUGHING IN TIME OF FAMINE part two

In 1st Kings 17:8-16, the bible says, “And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth. And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.” The situation was to dire for the woman of Zarephath that they just had so little left to eat and die, yet Elijah was asking for a morsel of bread first from the little they had left. The problem many Christians have is that when they are blessed by God, God is not first in their minds, they put others things before God. The house rent, the school fees, the feeding, they barely remember that they have to pay their tithes. Then they go back to struggling with their finances because they have eaten both the seed and the bread. They never planted any seed, so there is no harvest. God is first, take out God’s own (tithe) first before you start making plans, this is what brings the blessing. Every money that gets to you, got to you because God allowed it, He directed and led it to you. He gave you the wisdom to get it.The next thing you ought to do in the time of famine is to give; and give like your life depends on it. The time of famine is not the time to hoard, it is the time to give. 2nd Corinthians 9:6-8 says, “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” Many people lack ‘all grace’, they desire it but they are unwilling to do what it takes in verse six and seven to get it. Grace comes through obedience, it is the obedience of your willful and cheerful giving that bring the grace to abound towards you.

Lastly, look at the book of Proverbs 6:6-11, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.” Consider the ways of the ant, there are things you ought to know and learn from them. The ant does not wait for any instruction to do what is right. They know the time to work and the time to store because there will come a time of scarcity. Be wise enough to know the season to plant and the season to gather because when the time of scarcity comes, you will have more than enough. So many people are still where they are because they are waiting on somebody to tell them what to do to make them a success. You’ve got to get to a point in your life where you don’t wait on somebody to tell you what to do to succeed, what you’ve learnt and your instinct drives you to success. Don’t wait for somebody to tell you the right thing, you know the right thing, put it to work and do it. The ants do not wait for an instruction, they just do it. They also know the time to do it. Timing matters in everything in life. The ant doesn’t procrastinate, once it is time, they go to work. Don’t procrastinate, get to work while it is hot in your mind, that is the time to do it.

Be wise, the future belongs to you. God bless you.