I love the way the Lord can give you a fresh word from a passage of Scripture that you have read many times before, don’t you? In my personal study time this week I read a story about Elijah from 1 Kings 17: 8-16 which says:
1Ki 17:8 Then the word of the LORD came to him (Elijah):
1Ki 17:9 “Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food.”
1Ki 17:10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?”
1Ki 17:11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”
1Ki 17:12 “As surely as the LORD your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”
1Ki 17:13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son.
1Ki 17:14 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.’ ”
1Ki 17:15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family.
1Ki 17:16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah.
I had never stopped to ponder the circumstances and the faith of this woman. Think about it for a moment:
- Did she realize that she had been commanded by God?
- We don’t know if this lady even knew who Elijah was before she met him at the town gate. He could have been a total stranger.
- We know that she was a desperate woman because she was a widow and she was down to her last bit of flour and oil. She is anticipating a long, slow tortuous death for she and her son from dehydration and starvation.
- She was being asked to take some flour and oil and make a cake of bread for this stranger, leaving even less for she and her son.
- I don’t think we can be certain she was a believer in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob because of the way she addresses Elijah in verse 12, i.e. “As surely as the Lord your God lives… She certainly does not seem to have had a personal relationship with God at this point, but all that was about to change if she was obedient to what Elijah requested.Put yourself in this woman’s place. Alone, starving, desperate, and perhaps angry at God for seemingly abandoning she and her son, she has every right not to be obedient to Elijah’s request, doesn’t she? I fear the self-centered fleshly nature in me would have said, “Forget you, I’m taking care of me and my son.”
That isn’t what she did, though. Verse 15 says she went away and did as Elijah had told her and oh my goodness, was her obedience ever rewarded!!
Yet again, I am reminded that God wants so desperately to bless us but we must take a step of faith and trust Him—even when it doesn’t seem to make sense. So often we examine situations from the earthly perspective, and when it doesn’t fit into the box that we think it should fit into, we become resistant to activating our faith. God is so much bigger than we can ever imagine. He loves us so much and longs to bless the socks off of us, but we must trust Him!!
