3 May 2023 Humanitarian Aid ( https://news.un.org/en/ story/2023/05/1136332 ) The number of people who need urgent food, nutrition and livelihood assistance rose for the fourth consecutive year in 2022, due to conflict, climatic change, and COVID-19 impacts, the UN and partners said in a report published on Wednesday. Roughly 258 million in 58 countries faced acute hunger at crisis levels or worse, and people in seven countries faced potential starvation, according to the latest Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC). Tweet URL
This is the highest number in the seven-year history of the report, although much of the growth reflects an increase in the population analysed.
Here I am reading this information in July 2024. I don’t think much has changed on both the international and national front. Local providers of crisis food, Foodbank, Second Bite, and Oz Harvest tell the story of increased need. I am sitting in a warm room. I have just eaten yesterday’s left overs and feeling comfortabl y full. It turned out there was enough food for me in the leftovers.
But it’s not just food – is it? We can all find excess food in our home somewhere – or at least know where to get it. Nor is it simply meeting the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Theres something more important – something foundational. Something that we all need. This is what the Apostle Paul is speaking of in Ephesians.
“I pray that you and all God’s people will understand what is called wide or long or high or deep. 19 I want you to know all about Christ’s love, although it is too wonderful to be measured. Then your lives will be filled with all that God is.” Ephesians 3:18-19
I know and believe this truth and urge you to test it against all your needs, and live in it.
“The Lord has promised there will be more than enough.” 2 Kings 4:43
And when you test it, what will you discover? Not Enough? More Than Enough? Or perhaps Too Much of a Good Thing?
God knows what we need, even before we ask and he is always working to provide for the needs of the world – despite us and our sin. How does he use you and your household to provide for the needs of others? There’s a family conversation for you and your household.
