When You Are Desperate For a Miracle

Have you ever felt desperate for a miracle?  What if it doesn’t come? How could you imagine life being good again?  

Desperation is a terrible place to be….. Or is it? 

 Desperate is a state of being reckless or dangerous due to hopelessness and despair. Being desperate can make people do desperate things. It can bring a person to that place of not knowing what to do and being willing to look anywhere for answers. A place where you are ready to do anything to get relief. It brings people to their knees.

Is desperation for a miracle a terrible place to be? Or a powerful place to be? 

Perhaps desperate situations are a divine setup—a planned-out opportunity for God to do some pretty miraculous things in your life. 

Abraham Lincoln once said, “I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.” I keep a small pillow with that quote on a shelf in my dining room. It reminds me that when I am brought to my knees by situations out of my control, I have a place to go for help. 

Sometimes, God puts us in desperate, seemingly hopeless situations to intentionally drive us to our knees. It is there on our knees where our mustard seed of faith meets the desperate spirit of willingness to do whatever it takes to win or overcome.  It puts us in a place where we are willing to obey God’s word. And that changes everything. 

Desperation can turn to obedience. 

In II Kings 4, we read of a woman in a desperate situation, down on her luck and hopeless.  Her husband had died, leaving her with insurmountable debt.  She had no job, and her debtors were on their way to take her two sons to be slaves to work off her debt. She was wringing her hands, not knowing what to do. 

She cried out to Elijah, the man of God, “My husband feared God and served him, and here we are in this big mess.” Talk about despair. She felt that since her family served God and this had happened, who could help her now? 

Ever feel that even God couldn’t possibly help you? This is precisely what desperation looks like. 

This desperate widow felt she had nothing left, but God never leaves his people without a way out of any problem they face. Our way out is planned before we go in. That’s how God works- every. Single. Time.  Something this desperate widow found out.

The widow was concentrating on what she didn’t have and had missed what she did have.  She had one small bottle of oil left in her possession. Elijah instructed her to borrow as many empty containers as possible from her neighbors. Then, take them and pour oil from her small jar to fill them up. The plan was to fill them all, sell what she needed to pay off her debts, and then live off the rest. And this widow was desperate enough to try anything, including a crazy plan like this. 

Desperation can turn to the miracle of provision. 

I pondered her dilemma and the miracle she witnessed. I thought about how she put aside her desire to despair and pushed through her doubt. 

I am sure she put aside some pride to ask her neighbors for help. The same neighbors she had borrowed from before putting her family in debt were the same neighbors she had to go to borrow the empty containers she needed.

I imagined how she felt when she looked down at all those empty jars and held that small jar of oil in her hands, preparing to pour it out. Not just anxious for herself but knowing that her two sons were there to witness either a miracle or a letdown. I imagine her stomach was nervous and tight, and her hand started to shake slightly as she poured that last ounce of hope into those empty jars. 

Then she watched with her very eyes,  afraid to speak and even breathe, as the containers started to fill one by one. And how wonderful and unique it felt when her last ounce of hope manifested into provision. Right before her very eyes. 

So, I have good news today if you are desperate for a miracle…

If you find yourself in desperate times today, we serve the same God as the widow and Elijah served. Think about that for a minute….

The same God who is still working miracles despite what the world says. He still meets us when we are driven to our knees. And He still holds all the answers to our problems. 

He didn’t promise we wouldn’t face desperate and hopeless situations, but He did promise he would be our provision.

And he is still filling empty jars.

So, friend, bring your jars, and I will see you in the field,