YAHWEH JIREH (The Lord Provides)

Being unemployed has reminded me of the time when I first experienced God personally as Yahweh Jireh - The Lord Provides.

It was in 1974. I was a young wife and mother, and my husband had been laid off from his job. After exhausting our savings and available resources, we were down to a half of bag of dried pinto beans. There was no salt pork or ham hock to add to the beans. There was no meal or flour for making bread----just beans.

I remembered the story of Elijah, a widow and her son during a famine in the land of Israel. The woman was about to use the last of her meal and oil to make bread for her and her son to eat, and then die. Elijah told her that if she made his bread first, God would not allow her meal and oil to run out. So she did. She made Elijah’s bread first and in return her meal and oil never ran out (1 Kings 17:8-16)!

I prayed, "Lord, just like the widow and her son, my household is in a famine. All I have is a half a bag of pinto beans. Please Lord, multiply these beans until the famine ends. Thank you Lord, amen."
We (my daughter, husband and I) ate pinto beans for breakfast, lunch and dinner for several days----the pot never ran out. The beans continued to multiply until the famine ended.

At another time, hungry guests unexpectedly came to visit. I was in the kitchen frying fish for dinner. I had just enough for my family. "Lord, what am I going to do? I can’t just turn them away----and I can’t take food from my family’s mouth to give them!" Immediately I saw in my mind the boy who gave to Jesus his lunch of two small fish and five barley loaves. Jesus took his lunch, blessed it, and fed more than five thousands people (John 6:5-13). I asked God to bless and multiply the fish to feed my household and my hungry guests. Every time I put my hand into the meal bag there was more fish to fry! There was enough fish to fill each hungry belly sitting at the table.

Down through the years God has proven Himself to me as a faithful provider. He has multiplied gas in the near empty tank of my car (2 Kings 4:1-7); opened doors to employment that were once shut in my face. He has dressed me in fine garments that I could not afford to buy for me. The Lord has even blessed me out of my need to bless others who were in greater need than I.

Needless to say, Yahweh Jireh continues to be my provider. He is more than enough for me.