From Provision to Purpose

Early in my ministry, I worked with a pastor who had been a successful engineer in his younger years. His family owned a company in a niche industry, and the business had become quite profitable. But God intervened in this young man’s life, and he eventually sold his stake in the family business to enter full-time Christian ministry.

By the time I met him, he had already served the Lord for several decades. He asked me to join him on staff at a church that was struggling financially. After several months of ministry together, I began to notice something: there were times when he would go without his normal income so the church could pay its bills.

Somewhere along the way, his question had moved beyond simply, “How will God provide for me?” to something deeper:

“Do I trust God enough to let His provision for me become His blessing through me?”

It’s easy to focus on our needs and our desire for God’s provision. It’s much harder to ask what God intends us to do with what He provides. Yet God’s blessing was never designed to stop with us. What God provides for us; He often intends to use through us.

We’ll see that tension this week in 1 Kings 17 as Elijah’s trust in God takes him to an even more uncomfortable place. The brook is dry. God’s previous means of provision is gone. And now God sends Elijah somewhere completely unexpected to meet his needs.

Who will provide for Elijah next?

And perhaps more importantly, what does God intend to accomplish through that provision?

We’ll see this Sunday.