On one of his visits to the school at Gilgal, Elisha healed the poisoned stew. “There was a famine in the land. Now the sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and he said to his servant, ‘Put on the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.’ So one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered from it a lapful of wild gourds, and came and sliced them into the pot of stew, though they did not know what they were. Then they served it to the men to eat. Now it happened, as they were eating the stew, that they cried out and said, ‘Man of God, there is death in the pot!’ And they could not eat it. So he said, ‘Then bring some flour.’ And he put it into the pot, and said, ‘Serve it to the people, that they may eat.’ And there was nothing harmful in the pot.” RR 89.2
Also at Gilgal, while the famine was still in the land, Elisha fed one hundred men with the present “a man from Baal Shalisha” brought to him— “twenty loaves of barley bread, and newly ripened grain in his knapsack.” When the offering came, he said to his servant, “‘Give it to the people, that they may eat.’ But his servant said, ‘What? Shall I set this before one hundred men?’ He said again, ‘Give it to the people, that they may eat; for thus says the Lord, “They shall eat and have some left over.”’ So he set it before them; and they ate, and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord.” RR 89.3
Again and again since that time, though not always so clearly and noticeably, the Lord Jesus has worked to supply human need. If we had sharper spiritual perception we would recognize more quickly than we do God’s tender dealings with the human family. RR 89.4
In Christ’s earthly ministry, when He performed a similar miracle by feeding the multitudes, people showed the same unbelief as did those associated with the prophet: “What? Shall I set this before one hundred men?” And when Jesus told His disciples to give that large assembly food to eat, they answered, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people.” Luke 9:13. What is that among so many? RR 89.5
When the Lord gives a work to be done, let no one stop to ask whether the command is reasonable or what the results of their efforts to obey are likely to be. The supply in their hands may seem to fall short of the need, but in the hands of the Lord it will prove more than enough. The servant “set it before them; and they ate, and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord.” RR 90.1
We should not waste time worrying about how small our resources appear. Energy and trust in God will develop resources. The gift we bring to Him with thanksgiving and prayer for His blessing, He will multiply as He multiplied the food Elisha gave to the sons of the prophets and that Jesus Himself gave to the weary multitude. RR 90.2