Lifting up another heavy stone, the old man used it to plug the hole in the small room where he was staying. It had been several days now since he had eaten, and his strength was starting to give out. Not long before, he had been living in a nice, large house in his Chinese village, with a double ration of rice given to him by the Communist officials.
He was used to being poor. Ever since he had been a child in school he had struggled. He had a hard time reading and so had left school and lived his life the hard way. When the Communists came to power in his area, all that changed temporarily. To prove a point, they had him live in that nice house and gave him plenty to eat. Plenty, that is, until they realized that the dear old Christian man was giving his food to fellow believers. And the nice house? It turned out to be a good place to invite other believers to worship the Saviour they loved. That’s when he was given the choice. Did he want to live for his Lord, or did he want to have the favors from the Communists? It was one or the other. Serving his Lord and Saviour and his poor Christian friends came first. And so the dear old man soon found himself with only water to drink in that little room with a hole in the wall.
It was only hours later that the old man noticed that now there was another large hole in his wall. With simple, unquestioning faith, he accepted it from his loving Lord. Not too long after, he noticed the whiskered face of a large rat poking its way through the hole. What would you do?
Many years ago in the middle of a drought, Elijah, by God’s instruction, hid beside a stream in the land of Israel. God hid him there to protect him from the wicked King Ahab. Then God sent daily deliveries of bread and meat. We might like to be served by a pleasant waiter, while seated in a comfortable chair. God sent a bird that eats dead animals or kills its own - a raven - to feed His servant. The Bible tells us that every morning and every evening the raven arrived with Elijah’s meal. He continued to come until it was time for God’s servant Elijah to move on to a new place where he stayed with a widow lady and her son.
Just as you might guess, the rat dropped off some food and then came back with several more loads. It had delivered some tasty sweet potatoes, nuts and vegetables for God’s servant to eat. The rat continued to come back every morning with enough food for the day. On days when the old man was expecting a visitor, the rat brought twice as much food. It continued to deliver food for several months, until God’s dear old servant no longer needed the deliveries. “Oh how great is Thy goodness . . . which Thou hast [carefully worked] for them that trust in Thee!” (Psalm 31:1919Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! (Psalm 31:19)).
Our God has His own power of miracles to provide for His own children. “The Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear” (Isaiah 59:11Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: (Isaiah 59:1)). He always sees the exact need of each of His children and provides perfectly for them. And though our God may not always choose to provide food brought by little animals, we know that He can provide for us in any way that He chooses. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:88Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. (Hebrews 13:8)).
ML-06/10/2001