By Anita W.
Good morning, Father.
You were there before she got there. You made sure that Your students would be there, too. You made sure that they were paying attention to the lesson that she could teach them, if they were watching. What happened next thrills me, confronts me, convicts me, and inspires me all at the same time.
So many people were giving their offering that day. By Your design and directive to Moses so long ago, this money would be used to pay the expenses of the Temple and provide income for the priests who served there.
A great deal of money had been collected that day. In fact, Your word says that many rich people had come and put in large amounts of money. As is right. A 10% tithe is a fair expectation, after all.
But then she entered the room and class was in session! She had no idea that You knew that she was the most qualified person in the church to teach the lesson. So You let her. Most of the people there paid no attention. Most people missed it. But You didn’t. And You made sure that
Your students didn’t either.
She came in quietly, didn’t she? Your Word says that she was a widow. Not the widow of a prominent person in the community. Nope. Just, “a widow.” And she was poor. By most people’s standards, her offering would have been nearly insignificant; her presence that day nearly undetectable.
But not to You. As she left her gift and walked away You called Your students to attention and pointed out to them the profoundness, the preciousness, the holiness of what they had witnessed there that day and You told them, why it was so precious to you.
“She gave all.”
She didn’t give, “all she had budgeted.” It wasn’t, “all she had left.” She came to the Temple that day and she gave all she had. There was no guarantee that there would be food in the cupboard tonight. There was no assurance that there would be clothes on her back, or a roof over her head tomorrow. She let 100% of what she had in her grasp go 100% to You; and walked away from it leaving 100% of her future in Your holy hands.
Father, make me of me a woman like the poor widow! You have placed so much into my hands. You’ve given me an amazing husband, a beautiful home, great sons, and marvelous grandsons. You’ve given me sweet friends, abundant food, and fulfilling work. Beyond all this, I am secure as Your child and am on a first-name basis with the King of Kings! In spite of what I may think I lack, I know that truly am richly, richly blessed. My hands are so very full.
But Your hands, Lord! Your hands have held me all through my past. Your hands secured my eternity on the cross. Can they not also secure my present? Lord, help me mature to the place where I can lay 100% of who I am and 100% of what I have into Your holy hands and walk away from it, trusting You with 100% of my future.
Father, help me to learn the lesson that this beautiful woman teaches me today. As Spirit helps me to grow in my faith and maturity, help me also to grow to be like the “poor widow” who has truly become one of my favorite Bible class teachers.
I finally know what I want to be when I grow up, Lord. When I grow up, I want to be an “All Girl.”
Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more than all the others into the treasury. For they all contributed out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.” Matthew 12:41-44
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