In this lesson, students learn that God sustains the world.
Devotion
Colossians 1:17
. 17 He is before all things, and all things hold together in him.
When we studied our Brother Jesus--the son of God, we said that the Son has always been with the Father. Several times in the Old Testament, the Son of God appeared to people--several of those times to Abraham alone. In Paul's epistle to the Colossian Christians, God reports that the Son was involved in Creation, too. But in today's lesson we are studying how God sustains the world. The passage says that all things hold together in him.
We can think about what would happen if the nails holding the walls up would fail, or if the mortar holding the concrete blocks together would suddenly be gone. Everything would fall apart. That's the picture that God gives us of the work Jesus has. Unbelievers talk like there is no God. But we know that without Him nothing at all would work. Sometimes Jesus calmed storms or performed other miracles to show His power. But mostly He works through things in the world to sustain it.
One work that God has is in the weather. He causes it to rain at just the right times, the sun to shine, and the seasons to change. Because it seems to happen so naturally, people often don't notice God's work. May we never forget His work in the world.
The Bible tells us in another part that if God could send His son to save us from our sins and give us eternal life, He certainly could send us what we need for this life. So we should remember not just that God sustains the world, but also that He made us his children in Christ.
The lesson
17 Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe[a] in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” 2 And the word of the Lord came to him: 3 “Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 4 You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” 5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan. 6 And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. 7 And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
7 After some time the stream dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the Lord came to him: 9 “Get up! Go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there. I have commanded a woman there, a widow, to provide for you.”
10 So he got up and went to Zarephath. He came to the city gate, and there he saw a widow gathering sticks. He called to her and said, “Please give me a little water in a jar, so that I can have something to drink.”
11 When she went to get it, he called to her, “Please bring me a piece of bread.”
12 She said, “As surely as the Lord your God lives, I have no food except a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a pitcher. See, I am gathering a couple of sticks so that I can go and prepare it for myself and my son, so that we can eat it and then die.”
13 Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid. Go and do just as you said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from the flour and bring it out to me. Then go and make another for you and your son. 14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. The jar of flour will not run out and the pitcher of oil will not become empty until the day the Lord sends rain to water the surface of the ground.”
15 So she went and did exactly as Elijah said. He and she, as well as her household, were able to eat for many days. 16 The jar of flour did not run out, and the pitcher of oil did not become empty, just as the Lord had said through Elijah.
1 Kings 17:1 Septuagint; Hebrew of the settlers
Questions.
When else did believers get bread and meat from the LORD? The children in the wilderness
Why did God have the widow feed Elijah first and then she and her son? The widow by faith trusted the promise of food for her and her son.
How do we pray in the Lord's Prayer? We are sustained by God’s “Daily Bread.” Elijah, and also the woman could live life day-by-day trusting in the LORD to provide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAwuKUHKKBw
Giovanni Lanfranco (Italian - Elijah Receiving Bread from the Widow of Zarephath - Google Art Project