In 1 Kings 17, the prophet Elijah was busy following God’s commands and teaching lessons to the people of God. At the beginning of the chapter, Elijah told King Ahab that it was not going to rain or even have any dew on the ground for three years. Wow! That’s a drought! There’s no question that people are going to suffer in such conditions, especially in a time when there were no modern conveniences that could bring water to thirsty citizens. And the people did suffer. Elijah, however, was cared for when God sent ravens to bring him food beside a brook.
Then the day came when the brook ran dry because of the drought and Elijah had to go elsewhere. He found himself in the town of Zarephath (which is where God told him to go), looking for a widow who would feed him. When he found her, he asked her to bring him a piece of bread. Here is what I find encouraging that I want to share with you today. The widow answered Elijah by telling him that she only had a little flour and oil left, enough to make one last cake of bread and then she and her son would die. Elijah said, “Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son. For thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth’” (1 Kings 17:13, 14). Now I don’t know about you, but my first instinct would have been to say, “Yeah, right!” I mean, come on! Doesn’t that sound like a line from a con artist?
Of course, you and I know that Elijah wasn’t a con artist. We know that he was a great prophet of Jehovah God. But this woman didn’t know that. Can you imagine the faith she had; the faith it took for her to use her last bit of flour and oil and make a cake of bread for this man, bread that could have fed her son and herself? I know the text says that God had commanded her to take care of Elijah, but the fact that she said this was her last flour and oil indicates that she was not acting like a robot. She made a choice here. And her choice was to obey God, even though it meant that she and her son might not eat. The rest of the story, of course, tells us that her flour and oil did not run out and they were able to eat throughout the drought (See verses 15 and 16).
So, do not fear! Do as the Lord has commanded you, even though it may seem like it will only bring you heartache. Your flour and oil will not run out! I don’t mean the literal flour in your canisters on the kitchen counter or the oil you have for cooking. I mean the care of your soul and your spiritual well-being. God will take care of you as long as you rely on Him. That doesn’t mean that you will never have heartache. This same widow’s son became sick and died in the time Elijah lived with them. God raised him from the dead through the prophet, but the hurt was just as painful. I find it terribly encouraging that when things looked their worst (she expected to die of starvation along with her son) this woman found the courage to help someone else and God took care of her and her family. Even when things look their worst in your life and someone gives you a line that sounds as phony as Elijah’s would have sounded to us, you can still submit yourself to God and rest assured that He will not abandon you. He will always be there at your side. He loves you and so do I.
Donnie Bates