What Do You Have?

I’ve commented on this before, but this morning I’m seeing it in a bigger way. God asked Moses, "What do you have in your hand?" Oh, just a rod. God used the rod in Moses’ hand to set Israel free. The prophet asked the widow, "What do you have in your house?" Oh, just a little bit of oil. When she was willing to pour the oil, God used it to deliver her and her sons from debt and the prospect of slavery. A prophet asked another widow, "What are you doing?" Oh, just gathering some sticks so I can make one last meal for me and my son before we die. Because she was willing to first feed God’s messenger, her action provided for her and her son for a long time.

God is not bound to any method, but He seldom brings something big and fabulous into our lives in order to bring something big and fabulous into our lives. Instead, He asks what we have in our hand, what we have in our house, and what we are doing. From time to time one hears of the Lord miraculously giving, out of the blue, some huge thing to an individual in order for them to fulfill their mission in life, but most of the time—and this has been true so far in my life—He asks what we have.

I have a strong desire to build homes for Mercy Ministries. So, Charissa, what do you have in your house? Well, it isn’t even my house—I don’t own a house—but I have a hundred dollars. Excellent. Give Mercy Ministries the one hundred dollars that you have. And within a couple years I was buying a nice little house … and able to give even more … which in turn will become … building homes for Mercy Ministries?

When we have a big desire or a big need or consider anything big, we have a tendency to believe that God must give us something big. Often we aren’t willing to believe He is promising us something big, merely because we don’t see big things in our lives. I know of a woman who has a gigundous world-wide ministry; she claims that all she had in the beginning was a mouth, which she gave to God. All Peter had was a boat, but after he’d allowed Jesus to preach from his boat, Peter was in a position to cast out his nets and bring in a haul. When Abraham was one, God called him and made him many.

Forget about what you don’t have and what you can’t do. I’m serious. God is serious. God isn’t worried about what you don’t have or can’t do; don’t you worry about it, either. Don’t gripe that you don’t have hours to spend with the Lord; give Him the ten minutes you have. He can do unimaginably enormous things by His power that is at work in what we have.

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