When we are feeling low, discouraged or empty? I know its not fun at all. I remember a few months ago driving from Mombasa one evening carrying my whole family with the empty light of my car already on. We were to stop over at Voi town for a preaching engagement and my prayer was simply, "Lord, help us get to Voi". The facts was that my fuel tank was almost empty, my bank account was empty, I had my wife and two kids with me and I was going to be driving through the Tsavo National Parks and it was past 6 pm. I encouraged everyone that we could make it to Voi but I was in desperation.
It was not fun at all to be in that condition but I got to learn a vital lesson in my faith walk. By being in empty mode, I had entered into a miracle zone. If the car tank was full, I would have prayed for journey mercies but that could have been all. Being in need stretched me to believe that God is able to make a car run on fumes or do like 100 kilometer on a litre of fuel. Sounds crazy but that was my faith. God will take care and He did. we got to Voi safely with the empty tank light still on. God works miracles. Actually, we had been driving around the whole of that day with the light on and hence I can attest to you that our arrival in Voi was nothing short of a miracle. I would not want to ever be in such a situation again but I can tell you that when we find ourselves in such circumstances, we should always remember that God takes us to such times so as to be able to grow our faith. Miracle zones occur in desperate situations of need and not in the periods of plenty with no challenges. J. Hudson Taylor once said, "if your exploits for God have no element of risk, then there is no need of faith".
Desperate situations of emptiness and need are actually situations of opportunity and we should learn to look at them as such. We need to learn to view our circumstances from that view point and not allow the desperateness of the moment to hinder us from seeing with the eyes of faith. We ought to live by faith and not by sight. (2 Cor. 5:7, NIV). In other words, we are to live expecting God to work in every situation we find ourselves in, standing on God's promises and not living in despair, troubled by the challenges that come our way.
In Mathew 15 verse 32, we read of Jesus telling His disciples of the need to feed the multitude before sending them away, the disciples reply was a typical human reply, "where could we get enough bread to feed such a great multitude?" They looked with their eyes and saw an impossible situation and that was it without realizing that the one they were talking with was the creator of the universe. They never even asked Jesus what they could do, for them, the case was closed. It was not possible to feed such a crowd under such circumstances. How many times do we talk to God in prayer and never even consider that He is able to do more than we can ever ask or thing of? How many times do we allow ourselves to think of situations from our perspective and not God's perspective? The God that you and I call father is the one that put together everything you see on planet Earth. He maid it from nothing and did not even need a workshop or tools, His word was enough. This God is our God. This God is our father. When we place our trust and faith in Him, we can begin expecting the challenging situation of our lives to be opportunities to see Him at work.
In 2 Kings 4:1-7, we read the story of the widow of one of the sons of the prophets who was in a very desperate situation; the husband was dead and she was left with two sons and a challenging debt that required to be paid immediately. She went to Elisha the prophet and his answer for her was simple, go get empty jars and lock yourself in the house with the little oil you have. Her situation of emptiness was compounded with more empty jars before a miracle could occur. God filled the jars yeah and it was indeed a great miracle. I know that but the focus of my writing today is to point us to the fact that the house was full of empty jars before the miracle happened. You might be facing a situation of emptiness right now, an empty car tank, a zero balance on your account, an empty fridge or cupboard, and wondering where the next meal would come from. May be its a challenging situation that you do not know how to deal with. Challenges that seem to keep on coming and are not giving you a break. Whatever the situation is, remember, the empty jars gave God an opportunity to perform a miracle.
Whether your need is physical, emotional or otherwise, its an opportunity for God to perform a miracle. Trust Him and wait on Him... your miracle is on the way.
Blessings
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