When God Speaks for the Hungry

Greeting, brothers and sisters in Christ.

We are God’s hands and feet. It is the role of the Church, i.e., the Body of Christ, to feed the hungry, take care of the needy, and spread the Gospel.

It is true that works do not determine our Salvation, but:

James 2:26: For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.

When we give, we experience the fullness of God. When we don’t, we miss out on some incredible blessings.

I could just about write a book on this subject, but it’s a blog post. I’ll confine this to a few real life examples to illustrate my point.

Hebrews 13:16: Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

One day, my mother and I were going back home after buying some groceries. We lived out in the country, so it was a bit of a trip. While she drove, I was looking out the window at the houses scattered about along the highway.

As we passed one house, the Holy Spirit said:

The people in that house need groceries NOW!

It was one of the most urgent messages I ever got from God.

I said to my mother, “God just told me the people in that house need food!”

She turned around and pulled up in the driveway. I went up to the door and knocked, with some trepidation. I really hate when God sends me into an unknown situation. I didn’t know who might live there, what they would be like, or how they would react. But, there was no answer. I didn’t hear any noise and I didn’t see a car.

I went back to the van and my mother and I got together some groceries. I took them and left them by the front door.

The next day we went back. This time there was a car in the driveway. I very nervously knocked on the door. An older man opened it and looked at me quizzically.

Me, trying not to stutter, “Ummm, do ya’ll need some groceries?”

He looked puzzled and asked, “Are you the one who left the groceries yesterday?”.

“Yes”.

Then his wife came up, and asked, “Who told you we were needing food? Nobody knew that”

“Are you Christians?”

“Yes!”

Then I felt safe in saying, “God told me”. And I told them what I recounted above.

The relief and joy that suffused their faces! The whole story came out. They were in the midst of a financial crisis. They had no money at all, and when they heard my knock, they had just gotten up from their knees, where they had been praying for help. When I left the groceries the day before, they had two cans of green beans in the pantry and that was all.

My mother and I were able to help them for the next two or three months until they were able to get on their feet again.

Luke 12:24: Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!

Some years before the above incident, I was living in a low income neighborhood. There came a day when I had no money on hand, no prospect of money anytime soon, and I don’t think I had 2 days worth of food in the house.

So there I was, sitting at the kitchen table, worried and feeling sorry for myself. Suddenly the Holy Spirit spoke.

Get a pen and sheet of paper, and make a grocery list for what you would buy if you went into the grocery store.

I was perplexed and asked, “Why? I don’t have any money”. (Why do we always question God?)

The Word came again:

Just get a pen and paper, and write a list of what you need.

Ummmm, okkk… But I did as instructed. I got paper and pen, sat back down at the table, and made my list. The thought was going through my mind that maybe I was going to find some money in the street or something.

The next day I was carrying some trash out to the alley to throw in the dumpster. As I approached the dumpster, I saw two paper grocery bags sitting on the ledge at the top where the lid was attached.

Curious, I took them down and looked inside. Well, how about that? Every single item I wrote on my list was in those two bags. Some unknown benefactor had heard and obeyed. I’ll never know who they were, and they’ll never know who they fed, but God knows.

That’s the one and only time God ever had me make a list! But more times than I can count, I have been in need of something when the situation looked hopeless, and such crazy things have happened to meet those needs, they can only be described as miracles.

It’s the same way when God has told me to give something, when I don’t have it to give. Something off the wall happens, then I have it to give.

2 Corinthians‬ ‭9:8: And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that you may always have enough of everything and may provide in abundance for every good work.

One time my mother was on the giving side of that “list” situation. Like me, God had frequently told her to give groceries to someone. But normally, she would just go through her pantry, get some stuff together, and take it to the intended recipients. But this one situation was unique.

A family with several children had moved to the outskirts of town less than a year before. I will call them the Taylors. My mother got to know them at church, and even visited Mrs. Taylor at home a few times. It was a short walk from our house, and we kids went there a lot, because the Taylor kids always had some fun outdoor activity going on.

Mr. Taylor was an officer at the Air Force base. Not a general but way up there in rank, and he had a good salary. But they were a frugal family, good stewards with their money.

One day, the Holy Spirit spoke to my mother, The Taylors are needing groceries. This startled and confused her. She answered, “But why? Mr. Taylor makes good money”. He answered, telling her again that they needed groceries.

Somewhat dubiously, she asked, “But what groceries do they need? I don’t know what to give them”.

Came the answer, Get some grocery sacks out, and I’ll tell you what to put in them.

So she got the paper grocery bags out (this was before the ubiquitous plastic kind), and God guided her item by item. Which item, and how many of each. By the time she finished, she had 6 or 8 bags stuffed full.

She loaded the bags in the van, but now she was in a quandary. There was ALWAYS someone at home there. Mrs. Taylor seldom left home, but when she did, there were always at least a couple kids there. None of us had ever seen that house empty since they moved in. And although they were the nicest and most wonderful people you could ever know, the thought of receiving charity would have scandalized them.

So my mother prayed: “Please, Lord, let there be nobody there, and make sure there’s an unlocked door”.

When she got there, nobody was home! She knocked on the front door. Nothing. She turned the knob. Locked.

So she drove around to the back of the house, and discovered the back door unlocked. She quickly moved the grocery bags inside the door, closed it and left. She was shaking all the way home, worried she had been seen, or that she would see one of the Taylors and they would figure it out. The relief she felt when she got safely inside her own house was palpable.

Several months later, she found out why they had needed groceries. There was some kind of paperwork snarl at the base – just your regular military SNAFU – and Mr. Taylor did not receive a paycheck for about 3 months! Their situation was getting more and more desperate, before he finally got his missing checks, and then received them regularly again.

Habakkuk 2:3: God, we pray you would help us to wait, rest trustfully in you, and not be anxious.

I’m not saying God will bail you out of everything. Sometimes bad things still happen, but He stays with the faithful all the way through it!

I’m not perfect. I have miserably failed God so many times. I have done things He told me not to, and didn’t do things He told me to. But He’s a forgiving God. When I’m in a bad situation, I worry and get anxious. I know I shouldn’t, but I do.

I’m certainly concerned with the way things are going in the world. I’m watchful. I do what is within my means to be ready for whatever may come. But fear of the future? No, I’m not afraid, because I know God has my back.

The key is, be God’s hands and feet, then let Him work in your life. Depend on Him instead of yourself. Let Go and Let God. When you do that, miracles will happen and you won’t need to be afraid of the future.

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