In 1 Kings 17 we find the account of the drought that God brought upon the nation of Israel. God sent Elijah to King Ahab to tell him, “…there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word” (v. 1). Immediately God sent Elijah to hide in a ravine where there was a stream and God told him, “I have ordered the ravens to feed you there” (v. 4). So Elijah hid in the ravine for some time and the ravens brought him bread and he drank from the stream.
But after awhile the stream dried up and God sent him out of Israel to Zarephath in the land of the Sidonians on the Mediterranean Sea. God was again providing for Elijah. He had commanded a widow there to take care of him. Upon his arrival in Zarephath, Elijah found the woman and asked her for water and a little bread. She was at the end of her resources. She only had enough to feed herself and her son one more meal before they would starve to death.
Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake 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 gives rain on the land’”(1 Kings17:13, 14).
Of course the jar of flour and the jug of oil lasted throughout the drought. Apparently Elijah stayed with the widow and her son because the first verse of chapter 18 says, “After a long time, in the third year, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: ‘Go and present yourself to Ahab and I will send rain on the land.’ So Elijah went…”
Here’s what I see here. Elijah had been suffering in very trying circumstances while he was hidden in the ravine. Yes, God had been faithful to him and had provided for him but he was still alone and it couldn’t have been all that pleasant to eat bread brought by ravens! Then the brook dried up! Imagine how Elijah must have felt about that! It was then that God gave Elijah the directions to go to the widow in a foreign country. Elijah went. Do you see what happens here? Elijah continued to obey God and trust God even though he had been through so much.
Then he ends up stranded with a widow and her son far to the north in Sidon for a couple of years. What lessons can we see here? First, Elijah suffered greatly and his suffering was not the result of his sin. Neither were the hardships suffered by the land directed at him. He was suffering due to collateral damage. How do we feel when we go through really hard times and can’t figure out why? Is there anger? Frustration? Does our faith begin to fade? Still, in the midst of his suffering Elijah believed God and trusted him. How do we know this? He obeyed!
Simply, this is the lesson that comes to me through this passage. To put it in more modern language, when I’m going through very difficult trials it’s not always all about me! It may very well have to do with what God is doing around me and I’m in the middle of it. The real test of faith is obedience. Will I continue to demonstrate my faith and trust in God by pressing on in obedience even when I can’t see what he is doing in my life?
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