Greetings.
Today, a gift from God, what will we do with the Present?
Nougat for June 27
And the Word of Jehovah came unto him, saying, “Arise, get the to Zarepath, which belongeth to Sidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain thee” 1 Ki 17:8-9
We revisit Zarepath, hostile territory, to consider a few things …
B. Being a widow suggests low income, or even pennilessness without a (male) relative to offer protection.
C. Women were in the minority
D. God had COMMANDED this widow to provide for Elijah.
Very few widows in the biblical narratives were known to be women of means, especially if they were not under the care/protection of a male family member. This widow also had a child for whom she was responsible.
When we meet her, She’s at the end of her rope … accepting defeat to the drought which had ravaged the land. She has just enough to feed a grown man, or enough to prepare for the last supper.
Some of us cannot imagine that kind of lack. Where we KNOW that death is digging at our heels, just waiting … because there is nothing left beyond this moment; beyond today’s food or finances.
But God!
God says to Elijah, I have commanded a widow there to FEED you.
There may have been other persons in Zarepath who could have easier fed Elijah. Those others, had they existed, may not have been on the brink of death. Those others, had they existed, were not being primed for an unmistakable supernatural intervention of God! They did not experience the utter and complete reversal of their circumstances based on a simple act of obedient giving.
But God commanded her … we already know the outcome. Do we really?
God commands us – who claim a faith in Jesus, the Son of God – yet we do not always obey.
What a test of faith, FEED this stranger who claims to be God’s servant and (perhaps) live; or FEED yourself and your son and experience the long night awaiting death!
She chose the UNPROVEN POSSIBILITY of life through God-ordained obedience!
When faced with similar circumstances;do we declare that there’s not enough to pay the bills AND tithe? Hmmmm.
When it’s a faith flip, on matters of life AND death; When God commands us to give, EVEN FROM our lack, how do we respond?
