1 Kings 17

1 Kings 17 has Elijah coming onto the scene.  His first job was to deliver some bad news to Ahab.  “Elijah….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”.  Pretty bad news for a king – no rain for three years – that will mean a whole lot of hardship and unhappy people.  So what does Elijah do after giving the bad news?  He gets out of town.  The Lord tells him to flee to a brook and that He will feed him with his birds.

That worked for a while but then the brook at Cherith dried up and God told Elijah to move to Sidon and have a widow there provide for him.  Elijah walks into town and sees the woman, and asks for some water and bread.  She tells him she doesn’t have anything to eat, and was down to the last of her flour and oil.  But Elijah persists and promises that if she does as God said, she will not run out.  “She went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days”.

Obedience always turns out good.  This woman did as God instructed through Elijah, and is blessed.  “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”.  It wasn’t a temporary blessing.  The jar does not go empty.  When we trust God and do as He commands, He takes care of the details.  We don’t have to wonder if He will do as He says.  We don’t have to wonder if He’ll run out of resources.  We just have to obey.

A bit later the son of this widow dies, and she is distraught and unhappy with Elijah.  So Elijah goes to God and then “he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord….the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived”.  God does a miracle through His prophet.  Elijah intercedes, and God responds.  He prayed and sought God’s touch, and God hears and answers Elijah’s prayers.  The woman says “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth”.  He brought glory to God and restores this child to his mom.