Baloney!

The OT story of the widow and her two sons found in today's OYB reading is among those I find quite interesting. This woman was in trouble. And, it appears, her dilemma was of no making of her own; she was simply the victim of unfortunate circumstances.

Elisha is evidently 'thinking on his feet' as he asks what the woman has in the house - it would seem he had no preconceived idea what he would do. But the prescription he makes for her next actions is certainly unusual. He instructs her to take the little bit of olive oil she has and pour it into several jars (all she can find). It must have sounded as incredible to him as he said it as it did her.

The miracle of this event obviously occurs however long before the jars are ever gathered. She, obviously being a woman of at least some intelligence and functionality, surely reasoned immediately that her little flask of oil was in no way capable of filling all the jars she would be gathering. But she gathered the extra jars anyway. The woman was believing. She made a conscious choice to have faith.

I wish I could attach a lesson to this story for us today, but frankly, it's just too far-fetched... What kind of nutcase would ever ever presume to do such a thing? Who, in their right mind, would even give an action like this a second thought?

I believe it is the stories like this one that really qualify us as believers (or not). We are all fine and dandy with 'faith' - at least until it comes to attempting something absolutely idiotic like this. We have 'devotion' and 'commitment' to God, but, "Let's not get too carried away..."

I get so frustrated with all the Bible-thumpers who stick the Bible in our faces touting how it 'shows us how to live' - only to pull back when it comes to the miraculous. Oh sure, it all applies as far as us "obeying all the rules", but somehow is "all passed away" when it comes to God operating supernaturally.

Baloney! (Oh, excuse me... Bologna!)

Father, I really am frustrated with my own faithless condition. Quite frankly, the only consistency in my life regarding the miraculous is that I have repeatedly conceded that "...perhaps I was not in God's will" after all my failed grandiose attempts at miraculous faith. Father, if faith is indeed the only thing that pleases You, I must make You sick.