On Sunday, the preacher at my church told a powerful story
of a widow giving up everything that she had in order to follow God.
In 1 Kings 17, we are told a story of Elijah, during a major
Drought being provided for by a poor widow. First, he called her and asked her
for some water... this did not cost her as she just went to the well. But he
also asked her for some bread... this did cost her. She replied "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.”
This is kinda intense. Elijah is asking for the widows last
remaining food. This is the food she had put aside so that she could have a
final meal with her son before dying. Elijah responds by telling her not to
fear, but to go and make the bread for him, herself and her son, saying "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 this is what happened...
She had to show the faith before the results of faith were
shown... this is being really impressed onto me at the moment. I have been
reminded that if we are going to walk on the water, we have to get out the
boat... we have to make the first step... and sometimes the results of our
faith are not as obvious and sometimes we falter... but we need to remember to
live by faith and not by sight and not react to the things happening but to
what we know God is telling us.
