Transforming the World Through Giving

Then the LORD said to Elijah, "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." (I Kings 17:8-9, NLT).

I watched a man stop and help a man holding a sign asking for money on a street corner. He stopped and gave him a big bag of groceries. It was during the rush hour . . . when everyone is in a hurry to get where they need to go. Now, I don't know if the man on the corner was helped by receiving the groceries . . . but I was . . . I saw compassion and hope . . . a rare commodity. The world changes when someone helps another person.

Elijah faced the adversity of drought in the ancient days. He was not the only one. . . resources necessary for life had dried up all over the land. A widow is mentioned. Widows had a lower status and typically lacked resources. To mention the woman to be a widow seems to emphasize she lacked a way to be resourced. Imagine the lack the widows and orphans experienced during a drought . . .It is common that people lose faith and eventually hope when it seems there is nothing left. That said, the widow, who lacked resources chose to give out of her meager resources to someone that had nothing. Her act produced hope.

The exchange process of one individual giving to another transforms the world. Giving is not dependent on what we have but what we are willing to give.
Choose to transform the world. . . give.
Learning with you to give no matter what,
Shalom,
Kerrie
(All devotions written by Kerrie Palmer ©2008 All Rights Reserved)