So let's turn to 1 Kings and see where her story begins.
Verses 8-11
Then the word of the LORD came to him: “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”
Interesting information...
God sent Elijah to Zarephath where he was told that a widow would take care of him. Now, widow's in this time period were basically 2nd class citizens. No one cared about them. No one helped them. Since women could not provide financially for themselves, if they did not have any family around to help them, or a son old enough to work, then they would basically just die after their resources were used up.
Also - Zarephath was a good 80-90 miles away from Kerith, where Elijah was at the beginning of chapter 17. Zarephath is located on the Mediterranean near Tyre and Sidon, which is close to modern day Lebanon. So God was calling him to travel this great distance in order to get food from a widow...when Elijah knew how widow's were treated and their typical wellbeing at this time.
When Elijah sees this widow woman, he asks her for a drink of water (v.10)... She obediently goes to get some, and then he calls after her, asking for a piece of bread (v.11).
What do you think would be going through the widow's mind when Elijah asks her to bring him a piece of bread?
"Oh sure! You'd like bread huh? Well so would I!"
"Why don't I just go kill a cow and we'll all feast together... sound good to you?"
I can hear her having an inner battle of what to actually say to this man... but what actually comes out, is still sarcastic - yet it says so much about her...
1 Kings 17:12
“As surely as the LORD your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”
What a sarcastic, yet honest answer...
So what does Elijah say in reply to her? (verses 13-15a)
Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain on the land.’” She went away and did as Elijah told her.
First thing to note here - which my dad pointed out in class last night - that Elijah tells this widow "Well, don't be afraid - but you go do just as you have said"... which tells her to go ahead and make that meal & die...BUT before you do - why don't you make me something to eat! Haha Got to love the sarcasm that is all through this part of the story... She speaks to him with sarcasm, so he speaks the same right back to her!
Second - He is asking her to tithe... To give him the first fruit of all she has to him... Then, with what is left, take care of feeding herself and her son. Because she was willing to give this tithe, she was blessed miraculously...
Third - He provides her a blessing for doing as he asks/commands. If she is willing to do this thing he is requesting of her...then he tells her that flour and oil will not run out until the Lord sends rain to the land again. This is the same thing that God asks of us - give Him the first 10% of our income so that He may bless our remaining 90%.
Instead of cursing him and getting upset at his request, she obediently goes off to make him the food. She was probably wondering if God even saw her...if He even noticed that she existed. And now, some prophet was having her use some of the extremely small amount of food she had left for herself and her young son to feed him. She must have felt like this was the lowest of low...the worst of all situations. She could have turned Elijah away and said "No thank you" to all he was saying. But instead, she chose to believe and trust in God.
I have to wonder how long God had been preparing this woman for this very situation... Had she been praying everyday, watching the flour and oil go down on a daily basis, basically begging God to save her & her son? So when Elijah came, and told her the blessing of helping him, did she feel a peace, because God had been preparing her?
Her obedient response to Elijah's request showed her obedience in the Lord. The Lord honored His promise to her by ensuring the flour and oil did not run out until the rain came back to the land.
This miracle of God's continually supplying flour and olive oil was another protest against Baal, just as was the drought.
Baal-worshipers believed he was a fertility god, giving rain to make crops grow.
But Baal could not overcome the drought to make wheat and olive trees grow.
Only the true God could provide flour and oil in a drought!
5 But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God.
6 He made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He keeps every promise forever.
7 He gives justice to the oppressed and food to the hungry. The Lord frees the prisoners.
8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down. The Lord loves the godly.
9 The Lord protects the foreigners among us. He cares for the orphans and widows, but he frustrates the plans of the wicked.
10 The Lord will reign forever. He will be your God, O Jerusalem, throughout the generations. Praise the Lord!
These verses in Psalm basically overview of this widow's story.... verse 7 says that God will give food to the hungry - which God did for this widow woman and her son. Verse 9 says He will protect the widows, which people of her own town would not do. Verse 9 also says that God will frustrates the plans of the wicked - which God did when Baal could not.
God provided for this woman - once she put her trust in Him.
BUT - the story does not end here...
1 Kings 17:17-24
17 Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. 18 She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?”
19 “Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. 20 Then he cried out to the LORD, “LORD my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” 21 Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the LORD, “LORD my God, let this boy’s life return to him!”
22 The LORD heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. 23Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!”
24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth.”
And yet - no matter what she did - God once again was merciful and gave her son his life back. In doing this, He not only saved the son's life, but the widow's - again - as well. By giving the son his life back, God ensured that once he was old enough to work, he would be able to provide for his mother.
Her final statement in verse 24 is a shocking one - after everything God had done for this woman day after day after month after month... She says that after her son's life was returned to him, now she believes!
Now we need to think about this... This Phoenician woman learned about God first-hand from one of His prophets... We might be tempted to say, "Well, that was all fine and dandy for her back then, but we can't have the same experience today..." That is where you are wrong. We can. God has allowed for His people to work in churches as a way of providing us the first-hand help throughout our lives in the same way that He did by sending Elijah to this widow.
We need to remember all that God has done for us. This widow continually doubted. Every day for over 3 years God provided food for her and her family...yet she continually doubted that He would do it the next day. It took her son dying and God giving him his life back for her to truly believe.
How often do we forget everything God says and has done for us when a crisis comes up in our lives? We should be on our knees at the first sign of trouble asking God for His help and His mercy in the situation we are facing. Instead of calling our pastors to complain about God and what is going on - why don't we call them and tell them that we are thanking God for His provisions and thanking our pastors for standing with us?
What point do we have to get to in our life before we can truly believe God? We need to not doubt as much and as long as this widow did. It would help to start a journal... What are you thankful for everyday? What did God do in your life today? That way, when we feel doubt starting to come back up in our minds, we can look back over all that God has done and remember - which will eliminate doubt.
We need to stop doubting God & trust Him. Be thankful for all the He is doing in our lives...and not forget it as things get rough in our life.
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