Dealing with Scarcity

      Based on the title some of you might be reading this because (or despite) a belief that I am writing about economics. I'll just make it clear right now that I'm not. Don't get me wrong, I love economics. Since 2/3 of my current courses are on economics, you may get a post or two about economics in the near future. The title actually comes from some thoughts I had while reading the scriptures this morning. Specifically 2 Kings 4:1-7

 1 Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord: and thecreditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen.
 2 And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.
 3 Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few.
 4 And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.
 5 So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out.
 6 And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There isnot a vessel more. And the oil stayed.
 7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.

      I think this is my first time reading this story. From what I gather, a woman's husband dies and leaves her with a large debt burden. She doesn't know what to do, and so she seeks help from the prophet Elisha. The prophet tells her to go get as many pots as possible, and to start pouring the little oil she has into the pots. She does so, and miraculously she fills them all up. So many pots, in fact, that there weren't any left in the neighborhood. Then she sells all the pots of oil and pays here debts.

      For me this was reminiscent of events in Christs life: the feeding of the 4,000, the feeding of the 5,000, the two times the Savior instructed his disciples to let down their nets to find fish that were so elusive just moments before. It also reminds us of an event in the the life of another widow that met Elijah, who miraculously had enough meal to keep her and her son alive through the drought. In all these cases, there seems to be something created out of nothing. Some kind of magician's trick - like pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Where once all we saw was emptiness, now we see abundance.

      The central problem in all of these stories is one of scarcity. When Christ had 4,000 men (plus the women and children), he had seven loaves of bread and a few little fishes. Was food scarce? Yes. But did Jesus Christ see scarcity? No. He trusted in His Father's abundance.

      A little more thought on the matter helps us see that the scarcity of mortality is ever present. We live in a world of scarce time, scarce energy, scarce resources. We all face and must deal with the idea of scarcity. But when we put our trust in God and live faithful to Him, the scarcity of mortality is always accompanied by the abundance of eternity. Elder Holland makes the point that God wants to pour out blessings. He has an abundance, and is anxiously waiting to provide.

...surely the thing God enjoys most about being God is the thrill of being merciful, especially to those who don’t expect it and often feel they don’t deserve it.

On another occasion he said

God is anxiously waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has. But He can't if you don't pray, and He can't if you don't dream. In short, He can't if you don't believe.

      I believe that God is a God of abundance. I believe that when we feel the constraints of mortality, that we can trust in God's ability to create something where all we see is a lack. If there is anything we can learn from the life of the Savior, it is that "He lives to bless in time of need" (Hymn 136, "I know that my Redeemer Lives").