This is a message for those who can’t fathom how exactly things will work out where they are. You know this is where God has asked you to stay but, in the physical senses, nothing may seem to work out; you do not meet the requirements for all of what is expected. You can’t just match up what you have on ground to be sufficient for all that is needed to be done. Imagine knowing you will build a house of your own in three months and your current salary cannot buy ten bags of cement? Somewhere in your head when you think about it, you just feel you don’t match up with the requirements.
There was a woman in Zarephath, a widow, who was dying of hunger. Prophet Elijah had been instructed by God to go to same place as the next stop for his physical sustenance. The Lord instructed him that a widow in this town will feed him.
“Then the Lord said to him, “Go and live in the village of Zarephath near the city of Sidon. There is a widow there who will feed you. I have given her my instructions” 1King17:8-9
This is quite profound. The Lord knew there was a situation; this woman of Zarephath was in lack, in fact, what she had at that time, was all she had left. It then becomes questionable why God would send the Prophet to a woman who is in need to make for the prophet’s sufficiency. The woman didn’t have the requirements obviously.
On getting to the woman, the Prophet made it known to her that she should get him bread. The woman replied immediately in a way that could have warranted pity from the prophet to show she didn’t meet the requirements.
“But she said,”I swear by the Lord your God that I haven’t a single piece of bread in the house. And I have only a handful of flour left and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the jar. I was just gathering a few sticks to cook the last meal, and then my son and I must die of starvation” v12
How could God have directed the Prophet to be fed by a woman who obviously had no capacity to feed herself? This defiles common reasoning. The source to which God chose to keep the Prophet alive was where there was no requirement for the actualization of the need. In real sense, the Prophet should have been sent to a place where there is abundance, but God has it all planned out to bring out abundance from where it was least expected.
The response of Prophet Elijah showed the attitude we need when confronted with requirements needed towards fulfilling God’s word. He knows the workings of God and had understood the dimensions of the Spirit. So, he told the woman not to worry, instructing her to go ahead and bring the last meal which could have sustained her and her son. He assured her that afterwards there would still be enough food for her and her son. Elijah’s business was not to bother if the requirements were met by the person God was sending him to, all he needed was to obey.
Many times, the requirements may not look like it. So, we lose hope easily. Even though we know God is the one initiating the vision, we match up the outcome with the requirements and quickly give up on what could be achieved. It is natural to calculate in your mind how exactly God is going to do the intended miracle, however, the requirements are not your business, obedience is. It is not out of place to wonder how the promises will all be fulfilled; what is not permitted is worry.
Quit worrying about how the process would pan out. Elijah did not even need to pray, neither did the woman had to embark on a fast. It was purely a product of trust in God from both sides. Don’t be bothered about how it’s all going to work out, concentrate on rest; rest in what God has said He would do.
Prophet Elisha prophesied that by this time tomorrow two gallons of flour or four gallons of barley grain will be sold in the markets of Samaria for a dollar. This is just as saying the Nigerian Naira will be equal to the American dollar in just a space of 24hours. This defiles every economic explanation. There were no indices that would favour the possibility of this. In fact a very intellectual officer of the King in Samaria said this could not happen even if God made windows in the sky (2Kings7v1). He wasn’t wrong. The requirements were not any way there. But when it comes to God, it is not about the requirements; it is about the integrity of His word. It all happened exactly as Elisha prophesied.
If He has said it, no requirement is powerful enough to hold you back. You are not at a disadvantage. Requirements are not your business, obedience is. Just stay obeying!
Be Innovated
Olufemi Ibitoye
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