THURSDAY March 6th
Now today, I am going to take us to an Old Testament miracle that took place, and it required a lady to prepare a meal by faith. It covers a few verses, 1 King 17:8-16.
‘Then the word of the LORD came to him, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” And she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.” And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the earth.’” And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah.’
Now, the word prepare does appear in this story and it is in verse 12 where the widow tells Elijah that she is about to prepare one final meal for her and her son before they would die, because they would have nothing left as they were living during a great famine upon the land.
But Elijah challenges her to go and to make a cake, but not for herself, but for him, but then says after you have done that then make a cake for you and your son. ‘Hang on Elijah’, I can hear her thinking ‘haven’t you heard what I have said, there isn’t enough!’ But Elijah tells her to not fear but to do what he asks for the Lord will cause that the flour would not run out and the oil would not be empty until the Lord brings the drought in the land to an end.
This was a real test of the widow’s faith, firstly on the surface, faith in this prophet called Elijah, but more importantly faith in the God in which this prophet trusted.
‘Am I going to prepare just for my son and myself, or will I trust and believe in the word of God and prepare for the man of God as well. More so for the man of God first and then myself!’
Now we can learn so much from this miracle, it causes us to challenge our faith to believe that when all seems hopeless and that we cannot see beyond the next few moments, God is in control, for the widow it was all about the next meal. For you and I, it may be the next something else, but I see here a lesson that I have never noticed before and it was that she needed to prepare for the man of God before she prepared for herself, and I want us to look at it this way, that as we make our daily preparations, as we plan our day, as we plan anything and everything that we need to do for ourselves that we need first to prepare our lives for God, it is all about putting God first, presenting ourselves before him saying ‘Lord whatever I have to fill my day with today, help me to prepare in such a way that in it and through it all I am bringing glory to you, allow me to put you first before I seek to satisfy myself’.