“But she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I don’t have anything baked—only a handful of flour in the jar and a bit of oil in the jug. Just now, I am gathering a couple of sticks in order to go prepare it for myself and my son so we can eat it and die.” (1Kings 17:12)
Drought has struck the land as part of judgment upon king Ahab who an evil king. Because of his continued worship of Baal and Asherah the whole land suffered. Here we see the widow of Zarephath who is gathering a few sticks to make her and her son their last meal. God sent the prophet Elijah to her to ask her to give all she had left to him. I find this extraordinary, the poor widow is faced with certain death, and she will have to watch her son die. She is a widow and has already lost her husband. She has already suffered and has more suffering in front of her. Here at this moment God ask her to give what little hope she had left. But he does it with a promise. If she does what the prophet says her flour jar will not empty and her oil jug will not run out, but first she must make the prophet some bread. She acts in faith of a promise and trust in the word of the Lord from the prophet. As a result, she got to eat for many days, she is saved from the famine. Her flour jar did not become empty, and her oil jug did not run dry, she did not die, and her son lives!
I love this story for so many reasons. Every time I read this it warms my soul and I
find myself praising God. We too have
been asked to place our faith in a promise.
We too have been given the word of the Lord through the prophets and
apostles. We have received the promise
of the Son who would come. We can read
about his story and how he gave his life for our sin, our punishment was upon
him, he was crushed for our iniquities. He gave his life so that we might experience a
new life in him. In Him there is life,
life everlasting. Whosoever believes in
him has eternal life. The promise is the
forgiveness of sin and eternal life. We
will not fully understand our salvation or eternal life until we die and are
present with the Lord. Until then we live by faith in the goodness of the Lord
who keeps all his promises. We trust and
we live in this faithfulness. This is
the hope that compels us and drives us to live a life for his glory. Now is the time when we bake the loaf of bread
for a promise and hope for a promise kept.
Not sure where you are in life, but I want to encourage to keep the faith. Maybe God is asking you to take one more step and it seems impossible. Hold to the promises of God which are yes and amen in Jesus Christ. Place your faith in what Jesus has done for you. Embrace his word He has given to us, trust it and live your life with thanksgiving and praise for a God who loves and is good.
-Pastor Steve
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