Randy Suits

The Widow at Zarephath

My Kochana Eve,

1st KINGS: 1 Now Elijah the Tishbite (a prophet of GOD) from Tishbe[a] in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next seven years except at my word.” 2 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: 3 “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4 You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.” 5 So he did what the LORD had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. 7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the LORD came to him: 9 “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” 10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.” 12 “As surely as the LORD your God lives,” she replied (she perceived at once that he was a man of God) “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”
(Note the precise timing of God, who in providing for the needs of his prophet, comes just in time for the widow about to prepare the last meal for her and her son and multiplies her meager resources to feed her family for the remainder of the seven year famine). 13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what 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 sends rain on the land.’ ” 15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah.
In this brief account in the life of Elijah the Prophet (who symbolizes Jesus Christ) and the widow of Zarephath (who symbolizes mankind) we can clearly see how the Most High God works through His Holy Son Jesus to provide for the needs of his chosen and obedient servants. Through his faithful prophet Elijah, God had pronounced a 7 year judgement of drought on the apostate nation of Israel. After destroying the 250 false prophets of the false god, Baal. Elijah had fled for his life from wicked Queen Jezebel and was in hiding. When the the brook from which Elijah drank dried up, God provided a most unlikely strategy with which to save his prophet and a needy widow known to God whom he chose to save from the drought. God needed a hiding place for his servant and where was a more unlikely place than the ungodly Baal worshipping nation of Sidon, birthplace of evil queen Jezabel who had threatened to kill Elijah for destroying all her false prophets of Baal. God knew a godly woman in Sidon, an ungodly nation, whom he had chosen to save in preference to all the widows in Israel His chosen people. Speaking in the future perfect tense God said ‘I have commanded a widow to feed you’ before the prophet had approached her, for God knew that her spirit heard the call of God and she would obey His command when it was confirmed by the spoken word of His prophet Elijah. Though the widow had just enough to prepare one meal for her son and herself, Elijah in obedience to the command/plan of God and faith in His power to multiply a single meal into seven years of sustenance said, “Be not afraid,” for he believed that His God could provide for the womans family and himself even in the midst of a severe famine. He reasoned (it is written, ‘come let us reason together’) that God would reward the faithful widow and provide for all of them. She reasoned that she would make the portion of the prophet from her portion (an offering from her personal needs) and still give her son his portion as a mother will always sacrifice for her children. Daily, as she fed Gods’ prophet Elijah, she gave from her needs FIRST to provide for the plan of God which would save the faithful prophet and herself (a faithful believer and servant of God). Through this widow, God provided for Elijah, the widow and her family until the end of the drought. My Kochana, may we be encouraged by this example from Gods’ Word. As sure as He brought us together and joined us as one, He is able to to keep us together even though for short periods of time we must be apart. Our love of God and each other makes a bond stronger than the iron of discouragement or the brief winds of loneliness. The love of God is forever and He will give us joy unspeakable after the drought has passed. Let us drink of the love of God and eat of the love He placed in our hearts, one for another.

You fill my life with love, Kochany