First

This week, we have been talking about trust and facing tests that challenge our trust. Today, we will look at one more story where a mother is asked to express trust when hope is gone and trust seems impossible.


1 Kings 17
8 Then the Lord said to Elijah,
9 “Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there to feed you.”
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 son 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.


First. When reading stories like this, it is easy for me to blow past the weight of the moment for the individual involved and move right to the conclusion. I hope you won’t do that with this story. Please take a moment and drink in the depth of the story. This woman was preparing to die. She had lost sight of hope. The thing that amazes me is that even in that moment of despair ... God doesn’t give, He asks. God has the audacity to ask this woman that has nothing, for something ... her trust. God was asking her to express her trust by putting His interests before her own. In other words, He was asking her to put Him first. Is there any area of your life where you have placed your interests before God ... in a relationship, with your finances, in your plans for the future, on your job? In other words, is there an area of your life where God isn’t first?