1 Kings 17:13, 15, 16
"...make me thereof a little cake first. And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah...and the barrel of meal wasted not...”
This is a most interesting narrative in the book of Kings. This single mother who has lost her husband is just hours from disaster and yet she was able to move the hand of God towards her. We need to know she has been praying a desperate prayer. She was in a famine with only a small bit of food left yet this woman has been heard by God and He has spoken to her. I believe that she walked close with God because He had manifested Himself in a voice and asked her to feed his prophet Elijah. You can check the bible for yourself and find out that very few women have ever encountered God at that level. Unfortunately when we refer to her, most often we centre in on a brief moment of uncertainty that caused her to refuse to do what God had asked of her. I would suspect that this was probably the worst moment of her life instead of her best. Therefore, we need to be very careful in viewing her. Remember she was a single mom on the brink of starvation and her son was also in the same predicament. Her husband had died and she had no one to share her life with. What was even worse was that her son was dependent. How many of us have been in that position; having nothing, starving, and ready to die yet asked by God to give the little she had left.
I do not think she began praying on the day of her last morsel when she was scraping the bottom of the barrel. She certainly had been asking about her dwindling supply for days. We need to notice that nothing happened. Things just appeared to get worse. Yet this dear woman has to fend off all of her fears by giving up her last meal on that dreadful day Elijah was at the door requesting a drink of water and something to eat. When prayer does not seem to be answered, we can feel like we are at the end of it. It can be hard to pray when the resources are dwindling and it appears that God does not care. Elijah said something significant to her. His first thing he did was break off her connection with fear. His words were, “Fear not.” Fear can literally turn us away from God’s very best intentions for us.
The marvelous part of this whole story is that once she was over her initial hick up, she trusted God for the answer that would come through Elijah. You know the rest of the story. God did provide and she and her son and the man of God were preserved. Let me encourage you that no matter how it looks, trust that God sees you and hears you and will answer your prayer.
I do not think she began praying on the day of her last morsel when she was scraping the bottom of the barrel. She certainly had been asking about her dwindling supply for days. We need to notice that nothing happened. Things just appeared to get worse. Yet this dear woman has to fend off all of her fears by giving up her last meal on that dreadful day Elijah was at the door requesting a drink of water and something to eat. When prayer does not seem to be answered, we can feel like we are at the end of it. It can be hard to pray when the resources are dwindling and it appears that God does not care. Elijah said something significant to her. His first thing he did was break off her connection with fear. His words were, “Fear not.” Fear can literally turn us away from God’s very best intentions for us.
The marvelous part of this whole story is that once she was over her initial hick up, she trusted God for the answer that would come through Elijah. You know the rest of the story. God did provide and she and her son and the man of God were preserved. Let me encourage you that no matter how it looks, trust that God sees you and hears you and will answer your prayer.
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