Originally posted: 03/09/2020

However, the Lord was not willing to destroy Judah, for the sake of David His servant, since He had promised him to give a lamp to him through his sons always, (8:19).

While one woman of faith is pointed out as being spared from a famine, the rest of the chapter goes on to exposes the wickedness and downward spiral amongst God’s people and their kings, living no differently than the surrounding pagan nations. And a wretched portrait emerges of God’s chosen people descending into the ways of Ahab, the former evil king of the northern kingdom, into the way of idolatry and perverse wickedness.

The famine should have brought the people to their knees in shame and sorrow. If only they would have remembered His Word and His severe warnings of the curse of famine incurred through rebellion and disobedience. This famine was yet another opportunity offered to turn back to Him in repentance.

“for the Lord has called for a famine, “(8:1).

“But it shall come about, if you do not obey the Lord your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you… ⁴⁷ “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a glad heart, for the abundance of all things; ⁴⁸ therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things; (Deuteronomy 28:15, 47-48).

Yet, as an entire land is suffering the penalties of rebellion, we are provided a clear view of His grace and restoration to one who obeys His Word, entrusting her possessions and future to the Lord.

As the story pivots, from one godly woman to a pagan king’s demise through fulfilled prophecy of appalling evil to be unleashed, our attention is turned to Judah, also in the midst of judgment. And had it not been for His Promised Provision, they too would have been destroyed.

The Promise of His Provision was His gift, His Predetermined Plan to Provide a lamp, or light.

From Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance: “5216. נִיר niyr,  נֵר nēr,  נֵיר neyr: A masculine noun meaning lamp, light. This word referred to the lamps of the Tabernacle (Ex. 27:20); the lamp in the Temple with Samuel (1 Sam. 3:3); the Word of God that lights the way (Ps. 119:105)… The lamp can be used figuratively, as when God promised that David would always have a lamp before Him in Jerusalem (1 Kgs. 11:36; 2 Chr. 21:7).”

The lamp would be a symbol of His Promised Presence, Predetermined by Him to Protect and Preserve His children, and would one day be fulfilled in our Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, descendant of David, Light of the World and Light of Life.

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life,” (John 8:12).

Consider His Promised Provision

• His Promised Provision… His Predetermined Plan from the Beginning
  • “And I will put enmity
    Between you and the woman,
    And between your seed and her seed;
    He shall bruise you on the head,
    And you shall bruise him on the heel,” (Genesis 3:15).
  • Now the Lord said to Abram…
    ²  “And  I will make you a great nation,
    And I will bless you,
    And make your name great;
    And so you shall be a blessing;
    ³ And I will bless those who bless you,
    And the one who curses you I will curse.
    And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed,” (Genesis 12:1-3).
  • In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men, (John 1:1-4).

• His Promised Provision… His Protection over His People
  • then the Lord will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy. ⁶ There will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain, (Isaiah 4:5-6).
  • But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one, (2 Thessalonians 3:3).

• His Promised Provision… His Preservation of His People
  • Let the groaning of the prisoner come before You;
    According to the greatness of Your power preserve those who are doomed to die, (Psalm 79:11).
  • And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen! (2 Timothy 4:18 NKJV).

• His Promised Provision… His Presence amidst His People
  • You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of man;
    You keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues, (Psalm 31:20).
  • teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age, (Matthew 28:20).
  • I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; (John 14:16).

• His Promised Provision… His Pardon for His People
  • “Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now,” (Numbers 14:19).
  • But, to prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on earth to pardon sins” –He then says to the paralytic, “Rise, and take up your bed and go home,” (Matthew 9:6 WNT).

• His Promised Provision… His Prosperity for His People
  • The Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your beast and in the produce of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you, (Deuteronomy 28:11).
  • And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; (2 Corinthians 9:8).

• His Promised Provision… His Perpetual Promise for all eternity
  • However, the Lord was not willing to destroy Judah, for the sake of David His servant, since He had promised him to give a lamp to him through his sons always, (8:19).
  • “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life,” (John 3:16).

How do we respond to His Promise of Provision?

While we are so blessed to know Him, we also know life on earth can be so very difficult. It is especially in the painful times of trials and suffering that we must intentionally remember His Promised Provision. When it feels as though we can’t seem to see Him, when the darkness threatens to snuff out the light, it is exactly in those times that we must, by faith, take hold of His Promised Provision.

• Today, let us remember the Shunammite woman who “arose and did according to the word of the man of God, and she went with her household and sojourned…” (8:2). The Lord is faithful to Provide during our times of need as we, in obedience, step out in faith and entrust our possessions and future to Him.
  • “For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope,” (Jeremiah 29:11).
  • Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, (1 Peter 1:3-4).

• Today, let us remember His Faithfulness to us in the past, that we would choose to deliberately recall and focus on His wonderful works of grace and mercy we have experienced thus far.
  • I shall remember the deeds of the Lord;
    Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
    ¹² I will meditate on all Your work
    And muse on Your deeds.
    ¹³ Your way, O God, is holy;
    What god is great like our God?
    ¹⁴ You are the God who works wonders;
    You have made known Your strength among the peoples, (Psalm 77:11-14).

As we intentionally set our hearts on remembering His faithfulness bestowed through His Promised Provision, He will break through our darkness with renewed hope and light.

Consider the words of Charles H. Spurgeon from his daily devotion, Morning and Evening.

“Go back, then, a little way to the choice mercies of yesterday, and though all may be dark now, light up the lamps of the past, they shall glitter through the darkness, and thou shalt trust in the Lord till the day break and the shadows flee away.”

Today, let us choose to remember His Word, that we would mediate over today’s verses and intentionally remind ourselves of His Promised Provision.

I shall delight in Your statutes;
I shall not forget Your word…
⁹³ I will never forget Your precepts,
For by them You have revived me, (Psalm 119:16, 93).

Let’s Grow Together!