From Drought to Daily Bread
By Dean Collins
Difficult times may be the gift of God to deepen your trust in him. And through your difficulties, God may just lead you to a place where you can help someone who is on the verge of giving up.
We sometimes think of our challenges as the result of our mistakes, or possibly as the work of someone who is focused on themselves and doesn't realize how their selfishness may deepen your struggles. And many times, our challenges and difficulties come to us simply because the world is filled with brokenness that will not be restored fully until Jesus returns.
The encounter between Elijah and the widow at Zarephath is a remarkable story of two people from different backgrounds and faith traditions experiencing difficulties because of a drought. The prophet Elijah did not cause the drought, but the words he spoke to Ahab at God’s command began the drought that would continue for the next three and a half years.
As you read 1 Kings 16 and 17, you notice that Israel’s kings were getting worse and not better. In 1 Kings 16:25, we read that Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord – more evil than all who were before him. Later in the same chapter, we learn that Omri’s son, Ahab, did evil, as well, and that his evil was worse than his father’s. Then Ahab took things to a new level when he chose to marry Jezebel, who was from Sidon and a worshipper of Baal. God sent Elijah with a weather forecast that would get Ahab’s attention: no rain for an extended period of time.
As soon as Elijah delivered the message to the king, God told the prophet to head to Cherith, where he would drink water from a brook and ravens would deliver daily meat. Elijah obeyed, and God provided. But even as God provided, the consequences of his proclaimed drought caught up with Elijah, and the brook dried up.
Things can sometimes get worse around us, even as we obey God’s instructions. But as things got worse, God told Elijah to move to a new location about 85 miles away. Here is where the story of 1 Kings 17 gets even more interesting. Elijah shows up on the doorstep of a non-believing widow who had one son, and she was about to make a small final meal for her son before they both died of starvation.
Elijah made what might seem like a simple request: a little water and a morsel of bread. But when you have only enough for your son and yourself before you are completely resourceless, then even a simple request feels extremely difficult. And if you weren’t even the same religion as the person making the reques, you might have a bias to help someone more like you than less like you if you thought you could.
But God moved again in Elijah’s life and now in the widow’s life. The prophet explained that if she honored Elijah’s request, she would experience an ongoing supply of oil and flour: "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."
The drought was impacting the righteous and the unrighteous. And in the case of Elijah and the widow, God made provision for both, as Elijah followed God’s instructions, and the widow followed Elijah’s.
There are so many passages in Scripture that remind us to trust in God with all our heart and to lean on him both for understanding and for provision. I cannot tell you the number of times I have witnessed the provision of God in the middle of scarcity. And as I meet my brothers and sisters from all over the world, I hear the same stories of how God met them in their darkest hour with just what was needed.
Just last week, I quoted Romans 15:4. It seems that this verse may be applicable today, as well: “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
Jesus's words in Matthew 6:33 apply here, too: “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
We cannot change our circumstances, but we can determine how we will respond. And we do not have to guess in determining what might be the best response. When we turn to God in faith, seeking him with all our hearts, he adds the things we need at the moments that we need them.
Father, today as we face various difficulties, we choose you and your kingdom first. You are our everything, and we ask that you meet us in our moments of scarcity and difficulty with an outpouring of your grace. In Jesus's name, amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
1 Kings 16:25, 30-33, 17:1-16 ESV
Photo by Mae Mu on Unsplash
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