Good Morning!
We begin another good day … a day that God has
given us to live and rejoice in. Many of you will head out to your place of
employment, hoping for a good day at work.
I would like to think that each of you see your job as a blessing from
God … but I know some do not. I am in my
seventh year of retirement … with many good memories of my co-workers who I
count as friends. God provided me with a
good job for almost fifty years. And His
provision of that joby has allowed me to live a good life in retirement. Praise belongs only to Him.
Our wonderful Wednesday lesson last night came
from Isaiah 17. A little background is
needed as we begin. Ahab had become king
of Israel … and he was an evil king who provoked God by doing two things …
·
He married Jezebel who was not an
Israelite and who worshipped the Philistine god Baal. His worship of Baal and Asherah
led the general population to do the same. God had warned Israel about
intermarriage with the people of the land, knowing that it would lead the
nation away from Him.
·
He built altars to the Philistine gods
… further provoking God by doing exactly what God had told the people not to do
… You
shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is
in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under
the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your
God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the
children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but
showing steadfast love to thousands[b] of those who love me and keep my
commandments.
God responded by sending a drought over
Israel. Unfortunately, the rain did not
fall on the just as well as the non-just.
All of Israel – righteous and unrighteous – suffered during the drought.
There was no water to grow crops … and no crops meant a scarcity of food. So, we come to our thoughts for this good day
… just a little goes a long way.
1 Kings 17:8-16 English Standard Version (ESV)
The Widow of Zarephath
8 Then the word of the Lord came
to him (Elijah), 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and
dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to
the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he
called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may
drink.” 11 And as she was going to bring it,
he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” 12 And she said, “As the Lord your God
lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil
in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and
prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.” 13 And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as
you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and
afterward make something for yourself and your son. 14 For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel,
‘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.’” 15 And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her
household ate for many days. 16 The jar of
flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the
word of the Lord that
he spoke by Elijah.
Many of us have faced desperate situations in
our lifetimes. This poor widow and her son were down to their very last meal.
Here comes this prophet of God who tells her to share her meal with him. Reason
would tell her to hoard the bread … it was all she had … but she chose to hear
Elijah and to obey. The result … her little
cache of flour and oil never ran out for the balance of the drought. Her little went a long way … because of her
faith in God.
How about our little? Are we willing to offer our little in faith,
trusting our Father who has promised that He knows what we actually need? Now, I am not advocating any prosperity
gospel … I am not hocking anointing oil or prayer cloths. What I am saying is that when we act on
faith, God provides. Over the course of my life, I have found that many of our
desperate situations served to teach us about the faithfulness of God to
sustain us.
God never wavers on His promise. If we live by faith and in faith, He will
supply our needs.
Agape’
Mr. Jim
Prayer: Father, as I look back on the events of my
life … the many times I feared the worse and the many times You stepped in … I
cannot help but know that You are faithful to me. Thank You for Your great
faithfulness in providing for me and my family. In the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.
Scripture for today: 1st Kings 17:8-16
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