What does it take to see a financial miracle?

“I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn’t work that way, so I stole a bike and asked God for forgiveness.”

That meme is humorous, but the reality is, God does work that way. God does answer our prayers for things, and not always just so we can barely get by. Our common thinking, though, is that God just answers our spiritual prayers, such as our requests for forgiveness. God is, however, our source in all times of need—and sometimes he provides miraculously. I want to encourage you to expect miracles wherever they are needed: whether in your body, your marriage, your family, and yes, even in your finances. 

So many of the miracles we find in the Bible are miracles of provision. They are financial or material miracles. The Feeding of the 5,000, the only miracle in all four Gospels, is a miracle of material provision. This miracle, like many miracles of provision, has powerful spiritual significance, too. Miracles don’t just meet a need; they point to God. Through the miraculous feeding of the 5,000, Jesus was demonstrating the compassion of God. He was also declaring that these crowds of people were invited to the table of the Messiah. The material provision contains a spiritual lesson.

Are you selfish when you pray?

There are times when our prayers for material provision might just be selfish. Knowing that, we can go too far the other way. Too many of us don’t pray for material blessing or provision at all. After all, we don’t want to pray selfish prayers.

I have a question for you: Do you think the person who prays for a financial miracle is more likely to be selfish? More likely to be unspiritual? More likely to be immature spiritually?

Dependence on God is spiritual

The truth is that depending on God as our source to provide for our material needs makes us less selfish. Depending on God as our source actually makes us more spiritual. We are less spiritual when we don’t depend on God for our material needs. Depending on God for our provision makes us realize we need God’s Word, too. That was the lesson of Godʻs miraculous provision of food for the people of Israel:

He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Deuteronomy 8:3 (NIV)

Like the feeding of the 5,000, Godʻs provision of a material need has a powerful spiritual lesson.

Are you truly dependent on God?

Certain political philosophies divide the world into the haves and the have nots. That division is not of primary importance when it comes to your relationship with God. A better perspective is to ask, “Am I fully dependent on God, whatever my material status?”

People who are truly dependent on God can be wealthy and humble (though that is a huge hurdle according to many passages of the Bible, including Jesus’ teaching). People who are truly dependent on God can be poor and filled with peace and hope. Paulʻs declaration, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” is about this very issue. Paul learned how to be content in prosperity and content in times of lack through his dependence on Christ. 

A person can be either rich or poor and still be materialistic, greedy, prideful, and reject God as their source. We want to learn how to be humbly dependent on God for all our needs, thanking God for his provision during times of abundance,  and expecting a financial miracle when we need one.

A lesson of dependence from Elijah and the Widow at Zarephath:

We have a great story of miraculous material provision in 1 Kings 17. God had prepared the widow at Zarephath for a miracle.  We don’t know how God had done this, but he told Elijah that he had done so: “I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” We don’t know if she was fully conscious of what God was doing to direct her. Elijah didn’t say to her, “I’m the man God told you about.” But God was working on her! God is working on you, too! If you already know God, be listening. If you need a financial miracle, listen to God!

The miracle didn’t happen apart from a man of God.

The widow didn’t just get a miracle all by herself—and you probably won’t either. God has made us dependent on one another, even though that goes against our personal independence. Who does God want to use in your blessing? The widow could easily have cut Elijah off since she was not a Hebrew herself. This story certainly presents cultural/racial challenges. Even Jesus points to such the situation in Luke 4:26. God may want to break some social barriers in his miracle of provision for you. In the case of Elijah and the widow, God had a spiritual purpose in this intercultural exchange. 

The drought had come upon both Israel and Sidon, the location of Zarephath, due to idolatry, the worship of Baal. Baal worship had been promoted in Israel due to the influence of the wicked Queen Jezebel, the wife of Ahab King of Israel. Interestingly, Jezebel was a Sidonian princess, and Zarephath was under the king of Sidon—Jezebel’s father! God was making a statement about his power: God has power even in Baalʻs home territory, and Baal himself is powerless. 

Elijah as a Hebrew prophet would not have chosen to go to Sidon. The woman should have naturally been reluctant to welcome a Hebrew prophet, especially the very prophet who had prayed for it not to rain. Neither position makes sense culturally. The conclusion is that they needed each other. Elijah needed the widow since he would be living off the miracle God was doing for her. The widow needed Elijah because the miracle happened due to her response to Elijah.

What was the response the widow needed to have?

Elijah promised the widow that God would not let her flour and oil run out, but first she had to do something for him. Before she could make what she thought would be the last meal for herself and her son, she had to prepare a meal for Elijah. That would take faith. 

We would not normally give our last little bit of hope to a stranger. We would not give our child’s last meal to a stranger. Elijah recognized that what he asked her to do was frightening. It would run contrary to all of her feelings. Elijah was making an already frightening situation even more so. He was potentially moving up the timeline for the widow’s and her son’s deaths. Nevertheless, “She went away and did as Elijah had told her.” A key point: she had to act in faith, not feelings. She had to believe what Elijah said over what her feelings said, and Elijah said, “You will not run out.”

God looks for faith, not perfection.

Often, when we begin to pray to God for something, we become painfully aware of our faults and sins. We begin thinking, probably with a little help from the enemy of our souls, “I canʻt expect God to help me.” The widow of Zarephath was not perfect, either, but God still provided miraculously. 

We know the widow had a sinful background because when her son died, she blamed Elijah for bringing judgment for her past sins upon her. Her sins, however, were not why her son had died, and they didn’t keep Elijah from raising her son from the dead. The widow’s sins did not keep God from doing the miracle of provision for her, either.

It doesn’t mean that her sin didn’t matter to God. But God forgives sin. Godʻs grace was greater than the widowʻs sins. God’s grace is greater than all our sin, too. Some of you are in financial trouble through no fault of your own (as was probably the case with this widow, since a famine had come upon the entire land). For others of us, our sins might be why you are in financial trouble in the first place. Either way, God’s grace is greater. God wants you to depend on him, regardless of your past. God wants to be your provider.

Pastor Ed’s Notes:

Photo by Emilio Takas on Unsplash.