There are MANY lessons that we can learn from the prophet Elisha. This is the tenth in a series focusing on the life of this great prophet.

"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 famine continued in the land of Gilgal. There just wasn't enough for the company of the prophets to eat. So when the man from Baal Shalishah came bringing Elisha twenty loves of bread, it must have looked like a feast to Elisha. But what might look like a feast to one man wouldn't go very far for a hundred, and when Elisha told the man to give those twenty loaves to the people, his objection was understandable: "How can I set this before a hundred men???"

But the man didn't yet know God! He didn't know that his tiny gift could be multiplied by God to feed a hundred! How surprised he must have been when each of those 100 men ate of his offering, and there was even some left over!

God doesn't ask us to give what we don't have. But He does ask us to give what we do have, no matter how futilely small it may seem! Was this not why He told His disciples that the widow who gave two copper coins gave a bigger offering than the Pharisee's bags upon bags of gold? (See Mark 12:42). In His might and power, He can and will multiply our gifts of love to fill His purpose!

See next Saturday's edition of The Nugget for Elisha, Part 11.

Love in Christ,

Lyn

Lyn Chaffart, Moderator, The Nugget, Scriptural Nuggets ( www.sermonillustrator.org/minisermons/  ), Answers2Prayer Ministries, www.Answers2Prayer.org ,