Reason #901

Ninety-nine days of blogging left. Ninety-nine days of blogs…

 

I remember getting to 100 and thinking that was a huge feat. 100 seemed like a lot. Now, I’m back in the doubt digits. I haven’t been there in a couple of years. Hard to believe it, huh?! Hard to think that I could actually come up with something to say every day for almost 3 years. Well, some of you may not be that surprised by it. I’ve never had a difficult time coming up with something to say.

 

I realized this weekend that I’m guilty of unbelief. That I find myself thinking once something “big” has happened, that’s it. After all, that’s kind of what we expect as humans, right? That’s how the movies work, after all. Once the final touchdown is scored and the game is won, the movie is over and our hearts are warmed. Once the big story has been uncovered, once the mystery is solved, we stop hearing about it and move on to the next thing. It’s kind of like we have this one big shot, this one chance, to really experience something incredible. After that, we don’t expect it to ever happen to that magnitude again.

 

I don’t know what I’ll do after I reach 1000. I never really thought that much about it when I started on this little adventure. I just took it one day at a time and allowed the Lord to lead me. We’ve been all over the place, through just about every emotion possible, and have made a complete turnaround from where it all began. Clearly, the ending is better than the beginning in this case, and for that I am grateful. But I wonder what is next. I wonder what I’ll do in October.

 

I think about the woman in 2 Kings whose jars overflowed. You know, the one whose oil didn’t run out. Here she was, this helpless widow, and that’s all she had. One jar of oil. I am sure she rationed it out as much as she could. She had probably learned to live off very little. That was how it had to be if she was going to get by. But God didn’t want her to simply get by. He didn’t want her to run out, either. God had a plan for her, and He was going to do more than she could imagine. And so when she went to Elisha, one of God’s prophets, for help, he gave her strange instructions. He told her to collect as many jars as she could and to start pouring oil from her one jar into each of the empty jars. She kept pouring and pouring from her one bottle, and oil kept running. She filled each one to the brim. Her son brought her jar after jar and no matter how many jars he brought, she had enough oil to completely fill each one. The only reason the oil stopped is because she ran out of jars to fill. I don’t know how many jars she filled, but it was more than she imagined. She expected to use up her one jar and be completely desperate for more, yet God gave her so much oil that she never ran out. God pulled her out of her dire circumstances, and He didn’t do it just once. The promise was that she would have enough oil to sell and pay off her debts, and then she’d still have enough to live off for the rest of her life. Clearly, God was going to continuously perform miracles to make sure this widow’s oil jar would never run dry.

 

It wasn’t a onetime event for her. Sure, there was the starting point but that was it. It was a starting point. It was the day God showed up and started doing miraculous things in her life. Things so great, and He never intended to stop them. The plan was to keep giving her what she needed, to keep filling her jar as long as she kept using the oil. In fact, the only way God was going to stop the oil from flowing is if she stopped using it. If she sat that jar on the shelf, a jar full of oil, and never poured another drop out, that was all the oil she was going to have. God wasn’t bring her bottle after bottle. No, He was filling up her bottle, replenishing what she was pouring out, but only as she used it.

 

And I suppose that’s what He does for us, too, isn’t it? God has given us so many talents and gifts, but we have to choose to use them. We have to have faith, just like the widow, that as we pour ourselves out, God will fill us back up. We have to have faith that if we use what God gives us, He will continue to replenish us so that we never run dry. And I find it so miraculous not only that God would not only want to fill us up, but that He would want to use us. He never intended for us to simply sit on a shelf full and unused. God has greater plans for His children, for His jars, and so we have to trust that He will keep providing us opportunities as we step out in faith. We have to trust that He will keep doing big things. He isn’t a “one and done” God. He is a daily giver. A God who constantly rains down blessings. He is a God who is always moving and working. A God who will use us as long as we’re willing to be emptied out for the sake of His glory and name.

 

So pour out your oil and don’t worry about if or when it will stop flowing. God will give as you need, and God will make sure you have what you need. And if that means a miracle every single day, then that’s what it will be. Expect big things from God. He is able, He is capable, and He is never done when we think He is. Don’t count your jars, don’t worry about how many there are. Just trust Him and do what He leads you to. You’ll be amazed at all that God does for you, with you, and through you when you let Him fill your empty jars.

 

#901 – Because He always replenishes us, making sure we have what we need to keep going.

 

"And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4:19