Borrow Not a Few (Part 1 of 3)

If you’re gonna pray for rain, carry an umbrella. If you’re gonna ask God for help, get ready to receive it.

There’s a great account the Bible gives about a poor widow who had a debt she couldn’t pay, and the creditor was about to come and take her two sons to be his slaves. She was in a helpless situation. Despair, really. What mother wouldn’t agonize over the prospects of losing her two sons, and that on the heels of losing her godly husband? (See 2 Kings 4:1-7).

She needed a miracle. So she went to the man of God, Elisha, in whose company her husband used to serve. She pled her case, crying out for help, knowing that “the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are attentive to their cry” (Psalm 34:15). She came knowing that “the Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know Your name will trust in You, for You, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek You” (Psalm 9:9-10). She came because she had highlighted and memorized 1 Peter 5:7 which says, “Cast all your cares upon the Lord, because He cares for you.”

Friend, do you need a miracle today? Are there circumstances in your life beyond your ability to control? Problems in your marriage or other relationships? Family conflicts? Loneliness? Grief? Depression? Health concerns? Financial debts? Addictions? Abuse? Bitterness? Suicidal thoughts? A difficult decision? Do you feel overwhelmed by your desperate situation?

Why not bring your case before the Lord right now? Almighty God in heaven has made a way for you to come before His throne of grace with confidence. At His throne you will receive mercy and find grace to help you in your time of need (Heb. 4:16). That Way is through His Son, Jesus, whom He gave out of His own great love for you. The Bible tells us that “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

And if He was willingly to give up His own Son – “how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). Did God refuse to deliver the Israelites from under the oppression of their slavedrivers when they cried out to Him? Did He turn a deaf ear to Jonah when he cried out to the Lord in his distress from inside the belly of the fish – even though he had deliberately disobeyed God? Did the Lord Jesus ignore the shouts of blind Bartimaeus as he cried, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”(Mark 10:47)?

Our Father in heaven knows what you need before you ask Him, but how He longs for His people to come humbly before Him in prayer, depending upon His goodness and mercy to meet their daily needs. God is greatly glorified in our dependence upon His provision for our needs. He loves to pour out His the riches of His grace in Christ Jesus, that He may be glorified in us as we are satisfied in Him.