The famous monarch Queen Elizabeth I of England had a man working for her by the name of Sir Walter Raleigh. Raleigh would come and ask the queen for ships, supplies, and people to go to the Americas. And anytime he was running low on resources, he would go straight back to the queen, she would oblige, and thus the British Empire expanded west.
It reached a point, in fact, where Elizabeth was very easily persuaded by Sir Walter. She gave him whatever he requested and couldn’t say no! One day, she said to him, “Sir Walter, when are you going to stop asking me for things?”
He responded, “When Your Majesty stops giving.”
When you and I pray, we come to a King who has the unlimited ability to meet our needs. Whatever it is we lack, God has those resources as well as the capacity to release them to us at any point He wishes.
The great Old Testament prophet Elijah once reached a point where he was running low. He was being hotly pursued by King Ahab and his wife Jezebel after Elijah killed the prophets of the false god Baal. That’s where we pick up the story in 1 Kings 19:2-4.
“So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, ‘May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.’
Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. ‘I have had enough, LORD,’ he said. ‘Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.’”
Elijah, this mighty man of God who had just called down fire from heaven in front of 450 false prophets, was now running scared. He quickly went from unprecedented success to unbelievable failure. He lost his servant… he thought he had no one on his side… and he wanted to die.
The Lord confronted Elijah and asked him why he was running. Elijah responded in verse 10,
“The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
But God told him in verses 15-18,
“Go back the way you came… Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”
God said, “Elijah, you’ve forgotten that I have unlimited resources. You believe you’re all alone, but I’m making things 7,000 times better!” Like Elijah, we must also remember that however desperate our situation may seem, our God has unlimited resources.
That means when you’re out of energy, He energizes. When you feel you’ve run out of love for your spouse, He refills you to love all the more. And when you’ve reached the end of yourself, He gives you grace to take the next step.
Whatever struggles you may be facing, remember the God you serve has unlimited resources. Pray to be replenished through Him when you’re running low!