Last week, during our Zoom conference, Chosen and Anointed, I shared the story from 1 Kings 17:7-24, about the widow of Zarephath and how God used her to meet Elijah’s need during a time of famine. I’ve continued to reflect on this story and how it illustrates God’s surprising grace and care for the tiniest details.
The story opens with a global famine because of lack of rain which the prophet Elijah had prophesied would happen. Elijah himself has been protected so far as God had led him to a certain brook that gave him water and caused the ravens to bring him food. (Remember nothing is impossible with God!).
Then, suddenly the brook dried up. We can all hit those times of sudden barrenness in our lives. Maybe God has been blessing you. You’ve seen wonderful answers to prayer, you’ve felt close to Him and known the joy of worship. But now everything seems futile, your prayers feel like empty words, serving him is a struggle and it’s a long time since you felt any joy. Is that you today?
For Elijah, it was a literal brook that had dried up and he desperately needed to find a new source of food and drink. God told him to go to Zarephath in Sidon as he had directed a widow there to supply him with food.
Why would God send his prophet to a nation hostile to God and why would He want to use one of their people to provide for him? It doesn’t make sense and even more so when we see that this widow was in terrible need herself, starving and expecting to die? Why couldn’t God have sent Elijah to someone who, because of their wealth, was able to source the water and food they needed? But God’s ways are always beyond our understanding, infused as they are with His amazing grace and love for all. He cared for that foreign widow just as deeply as He cared for Elijah. Psalm139:3 says that God is intimately acquainted with all our ways, and we see that in this story when Elijah arrived at the town gate after his long, arduous journey and there was the widow gathering sticks! The detail of this divine encounter was incredible and it’s so important for us to drink in that God knows us completely. Every detail of our lives matters to Him. His love for us is wider, deeper and higher than we can ever imagine. He is constantly working out beautiful things that are beyond our understanding, but which are wholly good.
This widow did not know God but God knew her and had chosen her to be part of His plan. That is true for us all for He says we are all chosen. He knew her heart was open to Him. He wanted to do a miracle for her, not just to prevent her and her son from starving, or to provide for Elijah’s needs, but to restore her son to life when he later became ill. He wanted to reach out through her into this region that worshipped other Gods and reveal His glory there.
Out of her own great need, He asked this widow to give to Elijah first. What a tough call! But He assured her that if she did, her own need would be abundantly met. And it was so! She made bread for Elijah out of the tiny resources she had left and then miraculously, she was provided for to continue feeding herself, her son and Elijah throughout the remainder of the famine.
Be encouraged that God’s plans are always much bigger than us but He uses us in amazing ways to fulfil them. He cares deeply for each one of us. Nothing is hidden to Him and He always acts with surprising grace to both meet our needs and make His love and glory known.
May you know the joy of a divine encounter today and see Him working in your life in surprising ways.
