Festival of Lights - Flow

When I was in high school I would often go down to the Chautauqua Gorge and hike down stream. Sometimes I would go down for a few hours and emerge back at my car just before sunset. Other times I would bring my camping gear and spend the night. It was always an exciting hike and I felt it was pretty easy to navigate. I always kept near the Chautauqua Creek. As long as I had the water by my side, I knew where I was.

I was always fascinated by the flow of the water. I could just sit and watch the water flow over the rocks, around the bends, through the tree roots. The water just keeps coming, and coming, and coming - mesmerizing. Anytime I would decide to camp down there, as soon as I laid down in my tent I could hear the water rushing by. It would put me to sleep in no time!

I know! I’m a little off script with the Hanukkah thing. I’m getting there. Keep the water start in your mind…

I was reading the Hanukkah story again and it struck me how familiar it was. God sustained one day’s worth of oil for those entire 8 days. It truly is amazing. It’s a testimony on how God is faithful to provide for His people. But He’s done this before! He has supernaturally sustained His people forever! He just keeps doing it.

Just a few examples of miraculous provision come to mind but there are many!

• God providing the Manna from Heaven for the Israelites traveling through the desert. Exodus16

• The Lord held the sun still in the sky so Joshua and his men could defeat the Amorites. Joshua10

• Elijah prayers and God sends an abundance of rain (1Kings18:41-46)

• Simon Peter pulls in a HUGE catch of fish

• Jesus feeding the 5000 and then the 4000 (Matthew 14/15)

• Jesus paying the temple tax with the coin in the fish’s mouth (Matthew 17)

• The Holy Spirit is given (Acts2)

In fact, God is our provider. In Genesis 22 when Abraham had brought his promised son up to the mountain to be sacrificed, God provided the goat just in time. Abraham names that place Jehovah Jirah - The Lord who provides.

We see his provision all throughout scripture. He is a giver of all good things. And he has never stopped.

Jehovah Jirah fed His people in the wilderness. Jehovah Jirah multiplied the oil for Hanukkah, Jehovah Jirah fed the 5000.

His blessings and provision flow like water, freely. They flow through all the rocks and boulders in our lives. The roots that are tangled are no match for His gifts.

Jehovah Jirah does not change. The Flow of love from His heart will never stop. When we take the time to camp out and watch and listen to Him, we will most assuredly be mesmerized, awed, comforted, and overwhelmed by the rush of grace, mercy and love from the Heart of the Father.

Do not be afraid to ask the Father for His provision in your life. He will not fail you. He will provide. He will supply your needs.

What do you need to ask the Father for? Are you looking at a small flask of oil wondering how long it will burn? Maybe your flask of oil is your pocketbook, or your health, a relationship…

Are you ready to give Him what you lack? Can you believe by faith that He will cause that lack to become an abundance?

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

-Matthew 7:7-8