Earlier in our study of king Ahab and Elijah, we learned that the prophet told the king that God would cease allowing rain to fall on the land.
Ahab and his Phoenician wife, Jezebel, serve the pagan god, Baal. Israel’s neighbors believed that Baal was the primary deity responsible for rain and fertility.
Dating back to the founding of Israel (Genesis 12:1-3), God’s people were to bless the world by revealing the character of the one and only God.
When God’s people merge His worship with the idols of the world, people are at best confused and at worst deceived into following a worthless religion.
After Elijah delivered God’s word of remedial judgment to the king, he had to flee for his life. While a small wadi provided the prophet water and ravens delivered his food, all was well. When the water ran out, God moved his servant to another location.
Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there, for I have commanded a widow there to feed you” (1 Kings 17:8-9).
A Widow Experiences God
The next time you read the Gospel of Mark look for one of the central themes of the book – the training of Jesus’ disciples. Here are key elements in their development:
- They are called to be with Jesus. The privilege of all of Jesus’ followers is to have a dynamic relationship with Him.
- Jesus sends His disciples out to teach, heal, and set people free from the influences of evil and evil powers. We can read about Jesus’ disciples in Mark, but also throughout church history. This is God’s plan for all of us, not just a select few.
- The disciples in Mark, as well in our day, often misunderstand the purpose and plan behind Jesus’ mission. Jesus has to continually correct our attitudes and actions to conform us to what He is doing in the world.
Turn back the clock to Elijah’s time. God wasn’t content to have His prophet be a “one man show.” As we read the account of God’s prophet, we will find other participants in God’s work.
Like the “poor in spirit” in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3), God wanted to bless the widow of Zarephath. To do so, she had to be willing to trust God’s word through Elijah.
The first test of her faith was to provide food for Elijah, even though she had meager means.
So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.”
As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”
But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die” (1 Kings 17:10-12).
Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said, but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son.
The widow was faced with a crisis of faith, and she was required to trust the word of God’s prophet.
For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth” (1 Kings 17:13-14).
As we read the Bible and reflect on church history, the great acts of faith follow the same course as this woman. Will she – and we – fully rely on God’s word to us?
She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days (1 Kings 17:16).
How do humans experience God? We encounter His word that calls us to attitudes and actions that stretch our faith. We join God in His work and experience Him.
For this woman, she experienced God at the dinner table as she was able to feed His prophet and her son.
The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah (1 Kings 17:17).
A Modern-Day Illustration
Few of us will be tested with giving our last meal for a stranger, but as I think of the widow, I remember this one.
A friend of mine operates a company that cleans houses for a property management company. In a house where a woman died, the bathroom was filled with used adult diapers. For months, the woman had thrown her used diapers in the bathtub and filled it to overflowing.
This friend is no stranger to bad situations, but couldn’t stand the sight and smell of this house. He is also friends with people who live in a homeless encampment near his work. He told one of the men, “I have a job for you. I’ll give you a thousand dollars, if you will clean up this bathroom for me.”
The man agreed, cleaned the bathroom, and was paid. With a thousand dollars cash in is pocket, his first order of business was to go out and buy food for all the men and women in his homeless encampment.
I’m not sure how this story fully relates to the faith of the widow who responded to Elijah, but it is a great story of friendship, solidarity, and giving. I’m sure giving food to his friends was some sort of test. He passed that test with honors.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed this passage on YouTube today.
Real Voices 