Texts are from the NIV unless other wise stated
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"I have commanded a widow"
Elijah was to seek help from a most unlikely source, a poor widow.
1 Kings 17:8-16
My husband and I often laugh because when I try to listen to his sermons on a Sunday morning I often hear the Lord's voice leading me into a different direction than the way he is taking the sermon and scripture. This often is exactly how we approach problems as well. We start at opposite ends and God's answer is somewhere in the middle.
Saying that, my husband was preaching about Elijah's receiving provisions and answers from the Lord. His focus was on Elijah and the Lord. God drew my attention to the widow herself and to me. Often when I need help or need someone to pray for me I think about who might have the knowledge, ability, time or whatever to understand and or help me through a problem. In this passage I saw God using the most unlikely of people to help Elijah continue on doing the Lords's will.
The widow in that time was not at the top of the social scale and in this case she did not have any great monitory value. In fact she was down to her last dime and then was asked to provide for one healthy strong man.
If I had been Elijah I would have felt awful asking her to feed me, I would have wanted to help her. With this resounding in my head I realized that God always knows what He is about. I am confident that the widow's faith and Elijah's grew because of the circumstances that God chose to reveal his provision for them both.
Not only did God send Elijah to a poor old widow to receive food and shelter after the brook dried up but God sent Elijah into the very city where Jezebel (she who sought Elijah's death) was well known. In fact it was believed to be her home town. It seems that Elijah's new place of work and ministry was smack dab in the enemy camp.
God's word is a lamp unto my feet and light unto my path. I know this cause the bible tells me so. I believe this so much that I also know that God doesn't reveal His word without reason and purpose. With this concrete belief I started reviewing my life. Is there a place in my life where I need help? Is there a ministry that God has called me? Have I listened to God to reveal whom I should seek help from as I proceed on this path?
Yes to the first 2 no to the second 2. With the Lord I should have been saying yes to everything.
Who does God seek for me to partner with as I set out on this journey. This story reminds me not to evaluate the people who might be helpful rather ask God who has he designed to help me and pray for me. They could be someone that I think I should be helping but God's wants to bless there efforts not my compassion. My ministry may lead me into the enemy camp where many may laugh or not understand why I feel led to such an area. But I must go anyway.
Lastly I must ask God what is the right direction, the right prayer partner, the right place to go. He wants to be in the little details for it is the little details that bring glory to the one who is deserving of all glory. This is just another example of God's teaching if we are faithful in the little than there is more to come. God cares about who we seek out for help and our help may come from the poor, the young, the elderly, the most unlikely. Don't pick your prayer partner ask God who is the one to share their last bit of bread with you today.
Even now I am reaching out to anyone who may read this weeks reflection. Would you pray for me. I am in need of a great deal of discipline. I need to be disciplined in what I eat both physically and spiritually. It is so easy for me to get lazy and grab unhealthy food choices and to shorten my quiet time with the Lord. Please if God has called you to pray for me please pray that I will see the Lord's gift of self-control in my life and will not try to tune it out. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit and the one that I always try to hide or run away from.
If I can pray for you in any way please let me know if God so leads you to ask me.
In Christ's Service
penny
Any comments would be appreciated just leave them in the guest book because if any are like me we could use the encouragement to preserve in our faith and trust God completely.
This page was last updated: August 23, 2010
