What I have I give you

Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have I give you Acts 3:6

There are some encouraging stories in the Bible about people who did not have much, but gave what little they had  and God used it for his glory.

The little boy with the five small loaves and two small fish which fed 5000 men, besides women and children (John 6: 8), is the obvious example. There is a parallel story in II Kings 4. Here Elisha was given twenty loaves of bread and used it to feed 100 people.  It may not have been as spectacular a provision as the feeding of the 5000 but it was still a miracle.  It was not enough bread to feed the people but Elisha spoke the word of the Lord that they would eat and have some left over and that is what happened. Whether it was 20 loaves and 100 people or 5 loaves and two fish to feed 5000 men, it still required faith.

Elisha also ministered to the widow who was in debt and whose sons were about to be taken away to be sold to pay the debt. Elisha asked her what she had and again all she had was a little oil. God used her little oil and it became enough to pay her debts and live off (II Kings 4: 1 – 7). 

Peter and John were just on their way to the temple to pray and met the beggar at the Gate Beautiful. They didn’t have any money but they gave what they did have; their faith in the healing power of God. 

All of these stories are about miracles that happen because people are prepared to believe God and act in faith.  All of them knew they did not have enough for the situation but they gave what little they had and let God do the miracle.

I am challenged because I believe God wants to do far greater miracles amongst us than we are currently seeing. The problem is not an unwillingness on God’s part but an unwillingness on ours. Doubt, unbelief, fear of failure or of looking foolish stops us.  God is waiting for us to say’ ‘God use me. I don’t have much but what I do have I give you.’ 

The boy with his five loaves and two small fish didn’t let feeling foolish stop him. Elisha didn’t look at the loaves and think that someone would have to go hungry nor did he look at the widow’s lack and arrange a collection on her behalf.  Peter and John didn’t ignore the beggar because they had no money. All of them stopped looking at what they didn’t have and looked instead to him who has everything we could ever ask for or imagine. Let’s follow their example and ask God to renew our faith and use us to do some of the miracles that I believe God is just waiting to do through some available trusting believer.