On Sabbath, August 26, 2023, I walked into my church’s kitchen on a mission. I was responsible for the necessary donations for a local soup kitchen. A team needed the food to make this afternoon’s meal. People were depending on me. I began to gather up and transport the donated food items to my car. Suddenly, I started to panic. There was not near enough food! There were only six dozen eggs! Sixteen to eighteen dozen are needed to make the 200 egg salad sandwiches. I saw no bags of coleslaw, and it takes six bags to make up the salad portion of the meal. There were also no green onions for the egg and tuna salad sandwiches. What was I to do?
As I loaded all the items that I did have into my car, I started problem-solving. My first thought was to go to the Real Canadian Wholesale Club and purchase six bags of coleslaw, twelve dozen eggs, and a package of green onions. Then a thought entered my mind, “Should you be buying and selling on the Sabbath, God’s holy day?” What followed is an example of Isaiah 1:18, where the Lord says, “Come now, and let us reason together...” The following is the silent “reasoning together” that occurred next.
Me: “Who would know? What else can I do? I need to make 200 sandwiches, and I need coleslaw, which adds nutritional value to the meal. I don’t need green onions, but they are how I would make my sandwich. Isn’t the fourth commandment of not doing any work and keeping the Sabbath holy only for my needs? This is missionary work, and it’s feeding others. Right?! And is it necessary for keeping the Sabbath holy—to not buy and sell on the Sabbath?” (See Exodus 20:8, Nehemiah 10:31, and Nehemiah 13:15-22)
God: “But don’t you trust Me? Do you think I can provide?”
Me: “Oooooohhhhhh, you want me to trust You. You want me to believe that You will give me what I need to make the soup kitchen meal? Aaahhhh, well, Father, I want to trust You (said very methodically and full of fear and trepidation). Still, I have a meal to put on, and it’s already 1:30 p.m. It doesn’t seem to me that You usually answer my prayers.”
God: “So, will you trust Me?”
A very long pause.
During this pause, there is a fight within me, and oh, how I would love to fall into His arms, knowing He will take care of everything. I want to say “YES, LORD, I will trust You!” with confidence and peace. But that desire is very quickly squashed with the doubt that He only does that for others. Other children of God have the answered prayer experiences, not me. However, I do proclaim to be His child. Scripture says He will answer my prayers (Matthew 21:22). Scripture says He adopted me and died for me (Ephesians 1:4-7). But has He answered prayers for me in the past? Fear, doubt, anger, and self-righteousness start to rise. My thoughts vacillate between trust and distrust.
"I want to trust Him.”
“You don’t need an old-fashioned principle. You have bought things before on Sabbath, and if it's a command, you have already broken it.”
“But trusting God is what I have been fighting for, praying for…”
“He is not gonna do it.”
“He will do it. He could do it.”
Should I trust, should I jump in with both feet? If I don’t have all the ingredients, I’ll look like a fool. People will think I messed up, and I can’t blame God. It’s never His fault.
“God, will You?”
I must make a choice. I am approaching the right-hand turn off of Taylor Road to head to the soup kitchen. I can turn or keep going straight towards the Real Canadian Wholesale Club. I finally make a choice in my mind that I will trust Him. I will not buy or sell on the Sabbath. I turn right (and console myself with the thought that if He does not come through, I can still go and buy what I need).
I meet Darby outside as I turn into the parking lot by the soup kitchen. I roll down my window and say, “Hey, Darby, how are you?”
Darby says, “Hi! Oh yes, just so you know, your coleslaw will be here at 2:30.”
How does one respond to the faithfulness of God? “What?? Really?!” I begin to think that God really will come through for me.
As we start bringing in the items, I share with Darby that I only have six dozen eggs and need eighteen. Darby says, “I think we have some eggs in the refrigerator from the food bank. You can probably use them.”
Upstairs, I open the refrigerator, and there sitting smugly are probably 25 dozen eggs, more than enough. The last time I saw eggs from the food bank was years ago. It is something the soup kitchen gets very infrequently, but there in the refrigerator are 18 dozen eggs I can use.
How does one respond to the faithfulness of God? Well, my response was SHOCK and AMAZEMENT! I was SHAKING and ELECTRIFIED that my Father’s faithfulness was visible in real-time. I have now seen His active provision and answer to prayer, and I have conversed with God. What does one do after that? Well, I prayed, “Father, You have humbled me and strengthened me, but don’t I still need green onions?”
God responds with, “Wanda, do you really need green onions? Couldn’t you just use onions?”
“Just onions? Yes, that will work.” And at the same time, I recall seeing a box of onions on the floor in front of the shelf.
Do our activities on God’s holy day matter? Yes, they do. He desires that time with us—a time to honor our Creator and set aside our daily work. Also, He will always provide a way for us to obey.
Call to Action
Philippians 4:19 says, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Isn’t our God amazing?! He longs to answer our prayers, and He wants us to ask of Him great and mighty things. Try it for yourself! I did, and it was ELECTRIFYING.
All Scripture taken from the King James Version.
