Elijah and the Widow

Have you not being amazed how quickly the world is changing? On a geo-political level the last few years we have seen massive upheaval. Changes in balance of power, the rise and impunity of dictatorial empires and the weakness of western leadership are all very evident. The prevalence of natural disasters, including floods, droughts, viral pandemics, together with financial markets in recession of threatening to go into recession, make everything seem bleak. We can almost start feeling quite sorry for ourselves! But spare a thought for what was happening in Israel in about 870 BC. King Ahab is on the throne and it’s only about 60 years since the glory days of King Solomon! Things are changing very quickly, and if we thought our leaders are bad, when you compare them to Ahab and his wife Jezebel our politicians seem almost angelic! Baal worship is the religion of the day – this after only 60 years! Baal was their god who bought the rains and the bountiful harvests. Their sacrifices to Baal did not only include animal sacrifice, but child and infant sacrifice as well! Parents would literally bring their youngest children and under the prompting of the Baal priests, they would leave their babies on the altar to be sacrificed to Baal. Ahab and Jezebel were evil personified and its into this environment that Elijah suddenly appears.

We pick up the story in 1 Kings 17:1-7

Elijah Announces a Great Drought: 17 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”

2 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: 3 “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4 You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.”

5 So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.

7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the Lord came to him: 9 “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.”

Quite an unusual story. The first thing we notice about Elijah is that he does not come to comfort the people of Israel, but he comes and confronts them. And when you confront a King like Ahab there is no doubt that there will be unpleasant consequences. Even today there does come a time in the lives of leaders where it is necessary to confront what is wrong, despite some unpleasant opposition. Not confronting what is wrong just shows apathy and Elijah certainly did not show apathy!

Its interesting that within two chapters, of these verses, in 1 Kings 19, Elijah is again on the run and in need of food, and an angel provides him with a cake of bread and a jar of water

In 1 Kings 19:5 5 Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.

All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.

Why did an angel not simply provide food at the Kerith Ravine? And why a raven?And what can we learn from this experience at the Kerith Ravine. So lets look at a few of these points

Well firstly why a raven? We know it is regarded as an “unclean” bird to the Jews. We read in Leviticus 11 “These are the birds you are to detest and not eat because they are detestable: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, the red kite, any kind of black kite, any kind of raven….”. So practically Elijah would not just kill this raven and eat it as some of might be tempted to do! I mean imagine if you were a quail, you would think oh, oh remember what happened in the desert with Moses, quail in the evening and manna in the morning. A raven on the other hand sends a clear message I’m not food!
Secondly, there is an important theme that is recurrent throughout the bible and its based on Matthew 6:34 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

We find this teaching not only here in Matthew, but also in the story of manna being supplied on a daily basis and Elijah being fed on a daily basis. We also we see it in the Lord’s prayer where Jesus taught us to pray “Give us this day our daily bread”. But the lesson here is not only about God’s provision but of having faith. This principle applies to us mentally and spiritually as well. We don’t need to worry about tomorrow, or next week or next month. We need to understand and have the faith that God will sustain us in every way. And it may be in ways we can’t even imagine, like being fed by ravens! Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We need to learn to take one day at a time and enjoy God’s presence one day at a time and experience and be thankful for what He has given us one day at a time.

Thirdly no matter what adversity you may be experiencing you are precious in God’s eyes!

Luke 12:24 New International Version

24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!

No matter what droughts and famines we go through we are more valuable than any bird especially a raven! We may even despair of life as Elijah did in 1 Kings 19 but Paul writes and reminds us in 2 Corinthians 1:8-10

We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us,

We don’t have ravens to feed us now, but we have the miracle of the Word of God! And when we face the Ahab’s, the Jezebels, the droughts and the famines, we do just as Paul said in Corinthians, we rely not on ourselves but God because its’ in Him that we set our hope. And you can trust Him because you are precious in His eyes! Just as Elijah trusted Him.

The next point worth noting is that God has appointed the beginning and ending of every season of life. There is a time for everything. Just as an appointed time came where the brook dried up and Elijah had to go to the widow at Zarephath just as she was about to run out of food, so too has God a plan and a season and a timing for our lives. So we don’t need to stress wondering when, and if the brook is going to dry up, or if the ravens are coming back with food. Corrie Ten Boom was having trouble going to sleep one night because she was so worried about the affairs of her life. She tried praying but it didn’t help. Finally, the Lord said to her, “Go to sleep, Corrie. I’m going to be up all night anyway.”

Getting back to our story about Elijah

1 Kings 17:10-16 NLT

10 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?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called to her, “Bring me a bite of bread, too.”

12 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.”

13 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. 14 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!”

15 So she did as Elijah said, and she and Elijah and her family continued to eat for many days. 16 There was always enough flour and olive oil left in the containers, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah.

Can you imagine the dark place this widower was in? She had lost her husband and she and her son were about to die of starvation, but little did she realise, God had chosen her for something very special and her story would be told into eternity. She was about to be blessed in a very special way. This traumatised, weakened and broken lady would soon be a lesson of faith to an uncountable number of believers for all of time! There is victory just around the corner!

There is so much to be learnt from these few verses.

Firstly no matter how hopeless a situation may look, there is no hopelessness in God. Even when we do not see a way through our circumstance, in God there is always a way! Joseph puts it this way Genesis 41:16 “I cannot do it, but God will……...”

Secondly we don’t lack for anything in God. In this chapter in 1 Kings 17 we read 16 There was always enough flour and olive oil left in the containers.. All our provision is from God and it is all sufficient! This widow was running out of flour, of oil, of hope, but… Elijah was on his way. And so she had always enough flour and olive oil left. In the same way in John 6 we read

5 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. So we are in this enviable position where we lack for nothing! We are living in that time now!

God will provide us with all the wisdom we need, when we need it.

God will provide us with all the strength we need, when we need it.

We are living in the time of abundance- a time of jubilee when there is always enough flour and oil for us

Thirdly, ‘a little is a lot’! This widow only had a little flour in the jar, a handful of flour. Then Elijah says 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. 14 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 even though she only has a handful of flour left, Elijah asks her to make him some bread first before her son and her! Then he goes on to tell her of God’s promise of ongoing supply. In faith she takes the little she has and gives it to Elijah first. What a mighty step of faith with very little. We may feel we have very little to offer, very little talent in anything, little ability, little hope, little health, but that is not of significance to God. Remember the little boy who had 5 loaves of bread and two fish that fed the 5000 people? So don’t lose heart, because when God is in you, you are a giant, and if you have God you don’t need anything else. Nothing in this world can snare you because as Paul says, this world has been crucified to you and you to the world. This is what happens when we fix our eyes on what is unseen, what is eternal.

So in conclusion let’s have the faith to believe that God will follow through on His promises. Remember Ps 22 says You are enthroned as the Holy One, you are the praise of Israel. In you our fathers put their trust, they trusted and you delivered them. They cried to you and were saved, in you they trusted and were not disappointed

History has proven God’s continued care for all His people, so in the turmoil of this world, we need to keep strong, keep believing for His provision, for our families, for our church for our nation. Yes we will have times of drought and famine, but our Father will never give up on us and His unfailing love will always comfort us and His tender mercies will always surround us. No matter what happens! Amen