Some time ago I wrote about God’s mathematics (God’s Mathematics) and my views on how He works things out numerically haven’t really changed! Every week Dave and I count the weekly offering and we are amazed at how God multiplies the congregation’s giving: when we look at the number of people present and then count the monies given, we’re not quite sure what goes on between the giving and the counting, because there seems an awful lot more than there ‘ought’ to be! God is able to multiply our giving and can do so much more with what we give than you would expect would be possible.
This same principle of divine multiplication seems to be in operation with regards to the food boxes we are collecting to donate to needy families in Goldthorpe. The original vision God gave to one of our members was to have one box of tinned food per month to give for at least a year. We started with a cardboard box and quickly filled that, so we progressed to a larger box. That soon was filled to overflowing.
Now, just three months into the scheme (officially two since we started, but we’ve definitely collected more than enough for two months!), we have two large boxes and that doesn’t seem to be enough!
I cannot possibly explain this and feel rather like David did when he viewed all the gifts given so generously for the building of the temple: “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.” (1 Chron 29:14) We can only acknowledge God’s provision and blessing on our own lives and thankfully return all we can to help others out of the abundance He has given to us.