Is it easier to trust God when you are living in abundance or when you are living in poverty? The obvious answer is that it is easier to trust God when you have plenty. However, I wonder if that is true. 

In the story of the widow of Zarephath found in 1 Kings 17:7-24, she is gathering sticks to fuel her last meal for her and her son when this cheeky prophet comes up and asks her to use the last of her flour to make him a loaf of bread first. And she does! This is so hard for me to wrap my head around while sitting in my warm house with a full pantry. She was practicing faith when she had no physical evidence that God cared for her. 

I have often heard of or read about people in poverty who are generous beyond comprehension. Poverty seems to give a perspective that plenty cannot see. In times of extreme difficulty people seem to have a clearer view of the Father. The connection somehow becomes stronger and more real. This leads me to my next line of thinking. Must I suffer to learn to trust God? I really don’t want to! 

Then I jerk myself back into reality and remember that we will all suffer at some point in our life. It is a reality of living in our frail bodies in a world of hardship. But it is not the hardship itself that makes us more connected to God, it is the preparation of our hearts that opens the boundary to God’s presence in those inevitable difficulties. The suffering isn’t what produces faith, it simply magnifies the faith we already have developed. We can know that when the time comes, if we choose it, we will experience a broader Divine connection.

We are not told in the Bible, but I’m willing to bet that the widow of Zarephath prepared her heart by choosing to seek God when she was happily married and living a life of plenty. I am basing that wager on my experience. When I practice freaking out over the little issues of my day, I freak out when the big issues arise. Just like in emergency medical training, they practice keeping a cool head when there is no emergency in order to be able to rely on that training in the real thing. Trusting God does not ordinarily come out of the blue. Like other attributes, it usually follows an organic pathway of practice and development over time.

So what should we be doing to prepare our hearts to receive this connection when we inevitably experience hardship? Actively seek Him. Seeking is not passive. As Priscilla Shirer states in her book, The Armor of God, it is “meditating on God’s word, internalizing its principles and implementing them in your life”. And meanwhile we should be comforted to know that no matter the circumstances, our God will hold us. By the way, the widow’s story ends well. Her jar of flour and oil miraculously do not run out day after day. God provides.

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