God knows I need assurance
By Goldie Chong
Over Christmas
Let me share my personal thought about possible harmful food, especially leftovers. My habit when we eat out is always to ‘ta pao’ “打包”(pack unfinished dishes) because I do not want to waste good food. It has become a family joke that whenever I take some dish to our family dinner, they are sure to ask, “where did this come from? How long ago?” They are very concerned that they don’t eat anything that is past the expiry date, so they do not think that my “feast of the leftovers” is funny. In reading Elisha’s story, I feel the Lord is assuring me that my food will not harm the eaters. So, I told the family they need not be afraid to eat my leftovers. Sure enough no one has complained of stomach-ache so far.
Enough and extra
In the same passage is an account of a man who presented Elisha with 20 loaves of bread which he made from his first-fruits. Elisha had 100 prophets with him and they wondered how 20 loaves would be enough to feed so many. During the Christmas season I was a bit anxious that with all the meals there may not be enough food and with the shops closed I would be in trouble. Elisha told his followers not to worry but to distribute the bread. He predicted there would be enough and with leftovers to boot. Our last party was a pot-bless for the bible study china scholars. I was hoping there would be food left over for the family dinner the next day. But being a pot-bless, at the end of the evening everyone took his own dish home. But when I told Jane who had brought a whole chicken with potatoes to take it home she said no because she had other parties to attend. So I shredded the chicken and with two cans of Campbell chicken soup and two cans of mushrooms I was able to provide spaghetti a la king which went very well with the Christmas meal. True enough as God said, there was food enough and even chicken left over which I was able to use for several other meals.
PS. I must explain that these passages must not be applied generally to everybody but in my particular case, at that particular time, in my need for assurance, it shows that God really understands me and spoke personally into my concerns. That’s the kind of God He is.
