I apologize to my reader(s) (Hi Jodie!) for taking so much time off. I am letting stress and busy-ness confuse my priorities. But, I am back.
Today's reading: 2 Kings 5 - 2 Kings 15
The very first chapter has an account of Elisha providing food for a crowd during a famine. A man brought 20 loaves of bread and a few apples. Elisha told him to pass it to the people (100 men) to eat. As He did later in the stories of Jesus in the New Testament, God turned that small amount into enough for everyone to eat. But, it struck me this morning, that God, who knew exactly how many men there were, and how much each would consume, provided MORE THAN ENOUGH: there were leftovers! He also did this in the "loaves and fishes" stories in the New Testament (Matthew 14:13-21, Matthew 15:32-39).
Here's what jumps out at me from these passages:
1. God can make food out of nothing, but Elisha and Jesus started with the food that was brought (bread and apples; bread and fish); and
2. In all of these stories, God provided MORE than what was needed. This reminds me of the image of an overflowing cup in Psalm 23 .
Yes! And the MORE was 12 basketfuls, enough for each apostle to have an entire basket. I don't think that is coincidence. God is too purposeful.
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