source
sidenotes;
as;ldkjfa;e praise.
1 Kings 17
& then her son died. all of her hope in a single moment, destroyed. so Elijah took her dead son and prayed over him:
"At this crucial time in the history of Judah and Israel, the Prophet Elijah suddenly appeared."God led Elijah from his homeland, Tishbe, to Jezreel, where he was to pronounce a drought to the wicked King Ahab. & once Elijah's life was in danger for doing so, God led him to the brooks of Cherith where he was trained in communion with God, dependence on God's provision, and humility towards the vehicle of God's provisions (because God used a raven, a culturally disdained creature, to feed Elijah.)
"We must not be surprised, then, if sometimes our Father says: 'There, child, thou hast had enough of this hurry, and publicity, and excitement; get thee hence, and hide thyself by the brook - hide thyself in the Cherith of the sick chamber; or in the Cherith of disappointed hopes; or in the Cherith of bereavement; or in some solitude from which the crowds have ebbed away.'" (Meyer)and then the brooks dried up.
"Why does God let them dry? He wants to teach us not to trust in His gifts but in Himself. He wants to drain us of self, as He drained the apostles by ten days of waiting before Pentecost. He wants to loosen our roots ere He removes us to some other sphere of service and education. He wants to put in stronger contrast the rive of throne-water that never dries." (Meyer)so God led him to Zarephath to find an exceedingly poor widow to feed him. this requires faith on both ends: 1) Elijah needed faith to trust that God would indeed provide through this poor widow (who didn't even have firewood in a period of abundant wood b/c the drought did not effect it) and 2) the widow, a gentile woman, needed faith to prioritize feeding Elijah, a jewish man, over her own son in whom she had placed all of her hope of surviving in the future.
"She must be a woman of faith; she must make the little cake first, and afterwards she shall have the multiplication of the meal and of the oil. So the grace of God does not choose men to sleep and wake up in heaven, nor choose them to live in sin and find themselves absolved at the last; nor choose them to be idle and go about their own worldly business, and yet to win a reward at the last for which they never toiled. Ah, no! the sovereign electing grace of God chooses us to repentance, to faith, and afterwards to holiness of living, to Christian service, to zeal, to devotion." (Spurgeon)Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid...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 Kings 17:13-14
& then her son died. all of her hope in a single moment, destroyed. so Elijah took her dead son and prayed over him:
"A prayer full of powerful arguments. Thou art the Lord, that canst revive the child; and my God, and therefore wilt not, do not, deny me. She is a widow; add not affliction to the afflicted; deprive her not of the great support and staff of her age. She hath given me kind entertainment; let her not fare the worse for her kindness to a prophet, whereby wicked men will take occasion to reproach both her and religion." (Poole)what strikes me as particularly beautiful about this story is that the obstacles come one at a time, and God leads accordingly. He didn't give Elijah a master life map but rather led him from place to place with purpose at each location. God used the unexpectedly weak to humble and provide for Elijah. & as Elijah and the widow acted in faith, God responded with gracious provision. He is so good.
sidenotes;
as;ldkjfa;e praise.