Minimum Wage: Trusting Jesus

​As a travelling Evangelist, it is a challenge to get jobs that are suited to this lifestyle. I recently was working a minimum wage job on a bakery production line. It was one of those jobs, you walk into (hired on the spot) and many walk away from daily. It was fast paced, demanding and highly stressful. I have been led to plenty of these jobs since heeding the call to dedicate myself to all-time ministry. It always gives me an opportunity to get to know the people of an area. Many people complain about minimum wage, but as a Christian I have learned a unique perspective. 

A job, from a Christian perspective, should never be the means by which we survive. Our blessings come from God, and a job (whichever one we have) is a blessing from God. The pay is set low for a minimum wage job as it is designed to be an opportunity for someone to enter into the work force. This should be an incentive to do a good job, so that a person can get a work reference and get something better. As Christians, we should look to God to supply our needs and sometimes he does that by us doing our best at low paying jobs. It is a good part of our witness if we can learn to be content with our wages.

​I think of the jobs I have done since I have been on the road and it is such a wide spectrum. I have had higher paying jobs and minimum wage. I am always reminded of Paul, who said he knows how to abound and to be abased. We ought always to be grateful. Honestly, either way my first responsibility is to glorify God. In eight years, I have never seen God let me down, He has provided when I had little money just as steadily as when I had abundance. Here is the thing: God is no respecter of persons; what He’s done for me He would do for you. The question all of this constantly begs is do we trust Him?

Elijah was by the brook and God fed him with the ravens bringing him bread and flesh each morning and night[1]. When the well dried up he went to the widow of Zarephath, where he stayed for the remainder of the drought. Let us look at the conversation which took place between them.


[1] I Ki. 17
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​“ So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.
And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.
And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.
And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.
For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.” -I Kings 17 10-14

​Notice the boldness Elijah spoke with—the widow could not help but notice this. She must have been struck with his confident words, “Fear not…” these are the words of angels in the Bible. To speak with such command. This shows a security with God.  This is very important for us today. Do we truly trust Jesus? Before you answer know there will be a test! The test for the widow was laid out: would she do as the man of God commanded? What about you? 

​“And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.
And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.”-I Kings 17:15-16

​Look at the promise here if we are obedient to God the ‘meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail,’. Still, as we read on that wasn’t the final test. It is easy to praise God while the supernatural provision is taking place. Do we remember this testimony when the worst case happens? This is the test have we taken God and His blessings for granted? 

​“And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.
And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?”-I Kings 17:17-18

​Her son died, but not of starvation. She had been prepared for him to die when she met Elijah. Now she was holding Elijah accountable for her son’s life, and by recognizing him as a ‘man of God’ she was charging God for the great calamity she was facing. Even deeper under the surface we see her blame herself. “Art thou come…to call my sin to remembrance?”

The secret to living above all circumstances comes by true humility. In this account we can be sure that both the widow and Elijah were humbled. The widow entertaining all these conflicting thoughts and Elijah hearing the character of his God in question, both were forced to face God for the answer. This is one of the riches of God’s glory that most people don’t receive unless forced by some hardship. This is why Paul wrote in the fifth chapter of Romans that we glory in tribulations[1]. Tribulation will cause us to hope in God and will build our trust in Him, as we watch Him deliver us again and again.


[1] Rm. 5:3-5

​“And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.
And he cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?
And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again.
And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.”-I Kings 17:19-21

Elijah could have had no earthly idea what to do in this situation. He didn’t know any of his friends or relatives who had brought people back from the dead. All he had was faith. He was driven by the charge to God’s character and a desire to show the widow woman the power of the God that he served. In that moment it must’ve been that he put his mind solely on God, believing God would answer. Remember this, Elijah was no super-hero[1].


[1] Ja. 5

“Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit."
-James 5:17-18

Quite simply, Elijah was a man who trusted God. He had faced the tests and come through in victory. In doing this, he brought the widow and even her son along with him. This is the most valuable thing we can have in life. We must learn to count the worldly things we have compiled as a loss, looking to those things which build faith and hope as the most valuable things we have. So, learn to be ever grateful toward God. If you have a good job or career, praise God! If you are just starting out and are learning to do with little praise God! Little is much with God. Faith, a few drops of oil and a scoop of meal sustained Elijah, the widow and her son for quite some time. At the end of the test God granted the increase in all of their lives. He is no respecter of persons. He will do the same for you! Put your faith in and be glad to serve Him in every situation, for this is our reasonable service[1]!


[1] Rm. 12:1-

“Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.
Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.”-James 5:1-3

“Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife.”
​-Proverbs 17:1

Trust Jesus