Do you remember reading last week about Elijah who sat by the brook until it dried up? Then God told Elijah to go to Zarephath and dwell there, where a widow woman would provide for him.
When Elijah came to the gate of the city, he found the poor woman gathering sticks, and he asked her for a little water and a piece of bread. She was ready to give him water, but she had not a little cake or piece of bread to give him. She told him at once she had nothing but a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse. This she was preparing that she and her son might eat their last little cake, and then die of hunger.
Poor little boy and his mother, with nothing but death before them. Do you know how they felt? Perhaps you have never suffered from hunger, but if you are tinsa vett, there is something worse than death from hunger before you. Do you know that death and judgment are before you, because of your sins? “The wages of sin is death,” Romans 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23), and then “after this the judgment,” and you, my unsaved reader, are hurrying on to this, just as surely as you are a sinner.
“Make a cake for me first,” said Elijah, “and after that, for you and for your son.” Surely that was a hard thing to ask. The man of God would take from the poor woman the last crumb she had. Why? In order that God might bless her with every crumb she needed; all through the long hury months to come. Elijah added, “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.” 1 Kings 17:1414For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. (1 Kings 17:14).
Now the poor woman who gave her las’t crumb, looked in her barrel each day and found, not a full barrel, but enough. There was always enough oil too (just as we would use bread and butter) so that she and her son were satisfied, and the prophet too, for he lived with them. Her fear of death was gone, as surely as God’s promise is true.
From you, too, dear reader, God would take away all upon which you would lean for salvation—all you can provide, for it is not enough. Tell Him exactly how poor your own hope of eternal life is, and He will take even that poor hope from you! But oh to the poor empty sinner, God shows Himself a cheerful Giver. He will give you eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord, and He will give you day by day, enough to satisfy your heart of Himself.
Only one woman in Zarephath received the blessing of God that day. Will you, my dear reader, be the one to receive God’s abundant blessing today?
ML 11/04/1951