Then the Lord said to Elijah, “Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there to feed you.”
So he went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the gates of the village, he saw a widow gathering sticks, and he asked her, “Would you please bring me a little water in a cup?” As she was going to get it, he called to her, “Bring me a bite of bread, too.”
But she said, “I swear by the Lord your God that I don’t have a single piece of bread in the house. And I have only a handful of flour left in the jar and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the jug. I was just gathering a few sticks to cook this last meal, and then my son and I will die.”
But Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid! Go ahead and do just what you’ve said, but make a little bread for me first. Then use what’s left to prepare a meal for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There will always be flour and olive oil left in your containers until the time when the Lord sends rain and the crops grow again!”
So she did as Elijah said, and she and Elijah and her family continued to eat for many days. There was always enough flour and olive oil left in the containers, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah.
Faith is demonstrated by what I do!
By faith, I activate God’s supernatural plan!
Elijah was a prophet of God who told king Ahab that there would be no dew or rain few a few years, until God said.
In the meantime, God told Elijah to go and live by brook and the ravens would feed him. When the brook dried up God then told Elijah to go to the city Zarephath and there He had provided a certain widow to feed him.
Elijah had no other option, there was no food anywhere. He had seen God provide meat from ravens for some time, so with that miracle on his mind, by faith, he went to Zarephath.
I’m sure there was more than one widow, which widow was the one?
It seems as though Elijah spoke to the first woman he saw. Perhaps Elijah thought it would be process of elimination…whoever would feed him would the one.
But what about this woman?
The famine had most likely taken her husband. She had seen starvation and death all around her. She was well aware of all her provisions becoming less and less, with no more to be found anywhere.
That very morning she saw the bottom of her flour bin and oil jug.
The dry, dead sticks she was holding in her hands were the promise of one last meal, a cake of bread, and then she and her son would die.
That was this woman’s reality that morning.
With those sticks in her hand there came a man into her village, a man she never saw before. And he asked her for a drink. Though there was a drought, it seems as though she had some water available because she turned to get him some.
But then he went there, he asked for food!
Somehow this widow realized Elijah was a man of God, for she swore, “by the Lord your God” that she only had enough for her and her son.
Elijah asked for something he needed, but she wasn’t about to give him what she and her son needed.
My flesh is created to survive and when that is threatened I self protect.
But, what about my spirit?
Remember, there is always a battle going on between the flesh and the spirit.
Because in the spirit realm God had already seen her and her son, and He was well aware of their need.
God already had a supernatural plan in place so that they would live and not die!
Elijah realized her fear and told her not to be afraid. He told her the promise of God.
Now, this woman had a choice.
Her flesh told her one thing…
“I had a plan and I need to keep my food for myself and my son, can’t he see there isn’t enough already, I can’t share it with him.”
But there in front of her stood Elijah, a man of God, with a promise, a supernatural plan that seemed too good to be true!
Which should she choose?
So, by faith, this widow did as Elijah said and she and her son lived to see the impossible promise of God fulfilled in her own house!
