One day, I went shopping after service, wanting to get some polo shirts for my family and I. I walked around Chinatown Point, and when I stepped into Uniqlo, I saw polo shirts selling at $29.90. I thought to myself, “A polo-shirt shouldn’t be so expensive” and decided to look elsewhere.
I went to another floor and a Bossini shop had just opened 5 days ago. I found the shirts that I wanted, and they were only priced at $7 each. I chose 7 pieces and went to the cashier to pay. The cashier said that if my purchase exceeded $50, I’d enjoy a $5 discount. And so, I grabbed another shirt, for a total of 8 polo shirts at $51.
Wow… I was just amazed how the Holy Spirit had led me to find the better-priced shirts.
This pleasantly reminded me of another time some years ago when I had wanted to buy a birthday cake for my son’s birthday. I drove to a food factory in Simei and I thought to myself, “Surely there must be a shop where I can get a cake”. And so, I simply walked into a lift and randomly pressed a floor number. I think it was 5.
When I got out of the lift, I saw a man and I asked him, “Excuse me, do you know where I can get a cake, it’s my son’s birthday and I want to buy a cake, a big one.” The man replied, “You follow me.” And so, he brought me to a big kitchen where there were many people baking different kinds of cakes, and he asked “‘What type of cake you want?”
I replied, “I want a tiramisu cake, a big one at 30cm by 40cm.” While waiting for my cake to be prepared, I discovered that the man who brought me into the kitchen was the owner’s son. He had just happened to be outside the lift at the right time when my lift stopped. I walked out of the place with my big cake in hand, happy and amazed and full of thankfulness to God. When I shared with my friends about my encounter, they also wanted to have this good deal and asked me for the contact details. Upon calling, my friends were told that the factory sells its cakes only to hotels and they do not accept individual orders.
I remember a passage in 2 Kings 6-7 when Ben-Hadad, the King of Aram mobilised his entire army and marched up and laid siege to Samaria (6:24). There was a great famine in the city; the siege lasted so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver. The people were so hungry they even resorted to eating their own son.
It was in such a situation the prophet Elisha pronounced ‘Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of the finest flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.’
The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, ‘Look, even if the LORD should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?’
‘You will see it with your own eyes,’ answered Elisha, ‘but you will not eat any of it!’
This passage reminds me to trust God, to have faith in Him. I want to be able to see his provision, have my cake and get to eat it too.
Praise God for his faithfulness.