I once saw a poor woman wearing a sweatshirt which said, “I have done so much with so little, for so long – I can now do almost anything with nothing.”
Not having enough is always disturbing. But it becomes even more crucial when it’s a matter of life and death. The widow of Zarapheth only had enough meal and oil for one more cake of bread. There was famine in the land, and no prospect of getting more supplies, so she and her son were going to eat the last morsel of bread and prepare to die. Then the Prophet Elijah came into her life and blessed her home. As a result, the meal and oil continued to stretch and never diminished. God had taken her little and made it much, and in the process, their lives were spared.
Now that’s a great story of God’s provision in troubling times, and it reminds us that He often supplies our need by making the little we have stretch beyond what we could imagine. In Psalm 46:1-2 the Bible says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear…”
The word “fear” is the common Hebrew verb for fearing something. It has the idea of experiencing dread – of anticipating something terrible. Now the Psalmist is saying that, as the people of God, we don’t need to fear. God is our refuge and strength. He will help us in our time of trouble.
The Jewish celebration of Hanukkah is also called the “Festival of Lights.” It commemorates the time when there was not enough pure olive oil to keep the lampstand burning at the rededication of the Temple in the days of Judas Macabees. According to the Jewish Talmud, God kept the lamps burning for eight days with that small amount of oil. It was a miracle of God’s provision as He stretched their little into much. So don’t be afraid! God can certainly stretch your little into much.
Say! God really can do anything with nothing. He created the entire universe by saying, “Let there be…”