God don't Meet Needs, He Exceeds Them
"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all
that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,"
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The word exceeding comes from the root word,
excel, which means to be better or greater than. So this scripture literally
means that God will do greater or more than you, or I, ask or think. I'm glad I
have a God that knows my need, and will not only meet that need, but will do
greater than that need.
God expels his wrath upon Israel, the clouds
float away, the morning dew fails, God sends a drought through out the land. The
country begins to languish, the people begins to suffer, the nations morale
begins to erode.
Elijah the Tishbite hides at the brook called Cherith
and was fed by God appointed ravens. After a while the brook dried up and Elijah
moved to a place called Zarephath.
But in the mist of wrath God
remembers mercy. Divine love is rendered so glorious when it shines in the midst
of judgments. Fair is that lone star which smiles through the rifts of thunder
clouds, bright is the oasis which blooms in a wilderness of hot sand. Both fair
and bright is God's love in the midst of wrath.
In this scripture in I
Kings 17, God has sent a devastating, an all consuming, famine to the lands. The
land is parched, cooked dry, by the bright sun and the lack of moisture. The
people are lamenting, mourning, and repenting, because of the judgments of
Almighty God, whom they have rejected for the false gods of heathens.
Ahab and Jezebel had provoked the wrath of God, and God determined to withhold
both dew and rain from the sin polluted land. I have always wondered why people
will wait for the judgments of God to come before they will admit to their sins
in repentance before God who will forgive and bless.
But while God
poured out his wrath upon the land and the people, he took care that his own
chosen ones should be secure. God has, and will always, take good care of his
own. The words of David were, "I've been young and now I'm old, but I've never
see the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread." If all the brooks dried
up, yet would God reserve a place for his Elijah. Not only Elijah, but God had
prophets hidden by fifties in caves, that were fed, not by raven, but by a
prophet named Obadiah, and he was getting the food from Ahab's store of
supplies.
Come what may God's people are safe. If the world is to be
burned with fire (which it is), among the ashes there shall not be found a trace
of a child of God. If the
world should be again destroyed by a flood (which
it won't), yet should there be found another ark for God's Noah and family. If
God cannot save his people under heaven, he will save them in heaven.
Be
ye then confident, my good friends, when you hear of wars and rumors of wars,
when you hear of nation rising against nation, when you hear of famines, when
you hear of pestilence's, when you hear of earthquakes in divers places, when
you hear of false prophets, when you hear of iniquity abounding, and when you
hear of the love of many waxing cold, let no distress trouble you, rest under
the broad wings of Jehovah and be secure, and nothing by any means shall be able
to hurt you.
I. TEMPORAL THINGS RUN OUT:
Youth evaporates
into old age,
Health deteriorate into sickness,
Strength
declines and then comes weakness,
Money defaults and you're left as a
recipient of welfare
Friends terminate the friendship and you're left
detached and lonely,
Memory abandons you early and you forget easily,
Yes temporal things fail people every day, things that we hoped in,
things that we cared for, things that was a real blessing to us. They fail.
Temporal things certainly failed the little woman from Zarephath, listen to her
as she laments, IKing 17:12 "And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have
not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse:
and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and
my son, that we may eat it, and die."
There has never been as many
things failing as many people as there is in our day.
Because of the point
that people place they're expectations (on worldly things) is the reason than so
many in this generation are feeling defeated. Jesus asked the disciples once,
"Where is you faith?" I would take this time to tell you, if your faith is in
temporal things, get ready, because temporal things will fail you.
II. OUR NEED FOR SOMETHING LASTING:
This woman was no Hannah, I read not
that she had smitten the Lord's enemies like Jael, nor had she forsaken the
god's of her country like Ruth. She was no more noble than any other woman, in
fact she was a heathen from Sarepta, a city of Sidon.
But she had a need.
Having a need is where faith takes seed, it's were faith has it's birth.
I
want you to notice that her condition was one of misery in the very last degree.
Her husband had died, he left no inheritance, she had no money, and when you got
no money you got no future.
There's times when the love of God finds us
all in this condition. Most of us came to God because there was no where else to
go and no one else cared. Some of us tied a knot in the end of the rope and hung
on a little longer, but then when it was useless we finally give up for God.
Worst than temporal insolvency, is spiritual deficiency.
Mister the
world will let you down, but the scripture assures us that Jesus will never
leave nor forsake you. In a world of failing love, failing marriages, failing
families, failing governments, failing economics, we need something that we can
build our future on that will not fail. We need something that will become a
foundation that we can build a substantial life upon and the one thing in life
that is infallible is God and his word.
III. GOD EXCEED
EXPECTATIONS:
The first words this woman heard from the God of Israel
robbed her. "Fetch me a little water in a vessel," robbed her. "Bring me a
morsel of bread in thine hand," robbed her. God will not ask more than you can
give, but He does ask. He didn't ask Abraham of more than Abraham could give, he
asked for what Abraham loved, but not for more than he could give. Give, my
friends, obediently and cheerfully.
After she had obeyed the man of God,
and had given that last cake, she remembered the words of the prophet, "Fix for
me, and after make for thee and thy son."
There was a handful at night,
there was a handful by day. The barrel never filled, but never emptied.
My brethren, we have daily necessities. Maybe you think "because our needs are
so vast, the supply will surely run out. But rest assured, according to God's
word this cannot happen. Each day, though it bring its trouble, shall bring its
help. Though it bring its temptation, it shall bring its escape, though it bring
its need, it shall bring its supply.
You will see the sinner die, for he
trust his natural strength; you will see the proud Pharisee totter, for he
builds his hopes upon the sand; you will see your own selfish schemes blasted
and withered, but you yourself will find that your place of defense shall be the
"munitions of rocks." Your bread shall be given you, and you water shall be
sure. Isa 33:15-16 "He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that
despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of
bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from
seeing evil; He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions
of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.
The staff
on which you lean, shall never bend nor break,
The arm on which you repose,
shall never grow weak,
The eye that looks over you, shall never grow dim,
The heart that loves you, shall never grow weary,
And the hand that
supplies you, shall never be empty.
You have gone through spiritual
fires, have you been burnt?
You have walked through spiritual waters, have
you been drowned?
You have crossed spiritual valleys, have you been wearied?
You have experience spiritual trouble, did your confidence give way?
You
have faced mountains in your path, are you afraid of the climb?
Let past
experiences console you about the future, snatch an ember from the alters of the
past, and rekindle the dying flame of today. He that has been with you in time
past will not leave you in time present nor in time to come. Matt 28:20
"Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I
am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."
The "little"
in the barrel brought this woman into contact with God daily.
2 Cor 4:16-17
"For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward
man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment,
worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;"
