Dig a Ditch

Yesterday our minister told us the story of the King of Israel and the King of Judah going to war together against the King of Moab. That’s found in II Kings chapter 3. Jehoram, King of Israel and Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, band together and march toward Moab. On the way they run out of water for their troops and animals.
The King of Judah asks if there is a prophet of God anywhere around who might invoke the Almighty’s help in solving this dilemma. The story is rather intricate and has the possibility of many points and lessons; however, the sum is that God tells Elisha the prophet to tell the kings that the water will come…if they dig ditches in the valley.
Our minister’s point was that God is often willing to do for us, but we must do our part as well. We must dig the ditches, so to speak. My guess is that had the kings not had the ditches dug, the water would not have appeared.
He and the story in the Bible are correct, of course. How often do we get ourselves into some kind of pickle, then ask God to magically fix it all for us? One of the examples he used to illustrate this is our getting into a financial mess through overspending, over borrowing, and greedy selfishness, then when the chickens come home to roost we ask God for a magic fix, like winning the lottery. God is more than willing to help; we must, however, dig some ditches. That is, we might develop a workable budget, find extra work, sell some things we don’t need, start giving to God’s work, start saving, etc. We then often find that God was right there all along, just waiting for us to come to our senses.
I’m not certain what your issues are for which you’ve asked God for help. I do know that most of the time He expects you to do something…to dig a ditch…in faith that deliverance will come.
Speaking of digging ditches and the example of giving to God’s work, I heard recently that the Barna Group discovered some time ago that overall church giving is about 2% of American income. And that giving to missions efforts are about 2% of that 2%, or 0.04% of total church giving. I’ll not comment on those numbers except to ask that you take them in and examine your own church giving in light of the command found in Judaism to tithe of the gross, and additional opportunities for offerings on top of that. The New Testament does not give any certain percentage for Christians to follow; however, it does talk a lot about being generous and giving joyfully. Is 2% generous in your opinion? Just asking. Would you answer with just a “yes” or “no” and not couch your answer in excuses and convoluted reasoning? Then perhaps it’s time you started digging a ditch.