Widow Of Zarephath

God gave women an in-born desire to help others. Thus the term "help meet." Yet, there are times when we will deplete ourselves physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally while doing it. When you live for the Lord and do His will, He shows you His plan for your life. God gives us opportunities to "give of ourselves" for others, and He uses it for His glory. I Kings 17: 8-12, "And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die." We get a little glimpse of her heart when she immediately stops what she is doing to go fetch Elijah some water. The next thing I noticed when reading this was the words "thy God," in verse twelve. Why does she say that? Does she not know God like Elijah knows God? It reminds me of people who say "your church" instead of "our church." It kind of gives you the impression that they are not close enough (or maybe involved enough) to call it their own. That’s just my opinion though. I also noticed that earlier in this passage, the Lord said that he had already commanded a widow woman to sustain Elijah. But when he arrived she was already out gathering sticks. Hhhmmm.... had she already decided she was not going to take care of Elijah? Was she intending on cooking their last meal before he got there? I ask because when Elijah asks her for the cake, that is when she uses the term "thy God." What kind of reaction would you have had? Would you have agreed to feed the preacher your last morsel, or would you have hurried to eat before he got there so you could say there was none left? Did she think that God was going to have her feed his man and then forget about her and her son? I wonder. Anyway, as we read further we see that the widow does have the courage to do what is asked of her. I Kings 17:13-16, "And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. For 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. And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah." Sometimes we don’t understand what is asked of us. As a mother, my children and their needs are of the utmost importance in my life. I want to see to it that they are fed the right things spiritually and physically. And I am going to see to their needs before I see to anyone else’s, even my own. Can you imagine the reaction in our world today, if this story was taking place in this present time? Most people would find it incredulous that this preacher told her to feed him before her own child! But she did. She sacrificed so that "others" could eat. When she does this, God blesses her for it. All she had to do was trust God, and have faith that he would supply their need. What other option did she have? Think about it. Before Elijah came by she was gathering sticks to cook their last meal (or so she thought.) If she had ignored him, she and her son might very well have eaten their last meal that day. But thankfully, she didn’t ignore him. And the Bible says that the widow AND her son, AND her house, "did eat MANY days." I wonder how many times we have missed out on a blessing because we were to scared to take that step of faith? Sometimes, real faith requires us stepping out a little farther than we think are capable of. We tend to get scared of what "might happen" but God already knows the outcome. The widow woman was able to sing,... "There’s oil in the cruse, meal in the barrel, since I fed Elijah. Baked him a cake when I didn’t have any, since I did, now I’ve got plenty. I’m glad I baked Elijah’s cake before I baked my own."