The Widow Who Shared Her Last Meal
Daily Scripture
1 Kings 17:8-16
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The LORD’s word came to Elijah: Get up and go to Zarephath near Sidon and stay there. I have ordered a widow there to take care of you. Elijah left and went to Zarephath. As he came to the town gate, he saw a widow collecting sticks. He called out to her, “Please get a little water for me in this cup so I can drink.” She went to get some water. He then said to her, “Please get me a piece of bread.” “As surely as the LORD your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any food; only a handful of flour in a jar and a bit of oil in a bottle. Look at me. I’m collecting two sticks so that I can make some food for myself and my son. We’ll eat the last of the food and then die.” Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid! Go and do what you said. But first make a small loaf of bread from what you have and bring it to me. You can make something for yourself and your son after that. This is what Israel’s God, the LORD, says: The jar of flour won’t decrease and the bottle of oil won’t run out until the day the LORD sends rain on the earth.” The widow went and did what Elijah said. So the widow, Elijah, and the widow’s household ate for many days. The jar of flour didn’t decrease nor did the bottle of oil run out, just as the LORD spoke through Elijah.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
Elijah was a prophet in Israel about 850 years before Jesus. Only a couple of generations earlier, God’s people had split into two kingdoms, Israel in the north and Judah in the south, and Israel’s kings had drifted far from God. The worst of them was King Ahab. He married Jezebel, a princess from the neighboring kingdom of Sidon, and together they led Israel into worshiping Baal, the god her people believed sent the rain and made the crops grow.
Elijah confronted Ahab with a message from God. No rain would fall until God’s prophet said so. If Baal really controlled the rain, this was his chance to prove it. Month after month the sky stayed empty, and the fields dried up.
When Elijah’s own water ran out, God sent him to the last place anyone would expect, a small town called Zarephath in Sidon. It was Jezebel’s home country, the place her Baal worship came from. If God could provide there, in Baal’s own backyard, there would be no question who was really in charge of the rain.
God told Elijah a widow there would feed him. Widows in that world were among the most vulnerable people in any town, often with no one left to provide for them. Elijah found her at the town gate gathering sticks. When he asked her for bread, she told him she was about to cook the last of her flour and oil so she and her son could eat one final meal and die. The person God had chosen to feed his prophet had less than almost anyone in Zarephath.
Elijah asked her to make him a small loaf first, and he gave her a promise from the LORD. Her flour and oil would not run out until the rain came. She took God at his word and shared her last meal with a stranger. From then on, there was enough for Elijah, the widow, and her household every day until the drought ended.
Elijah needed her bread, and she needed the promise he carried. When she shared, God fed them both.
The widow was showing that God’s care often reaches us through what we share. God’s promise came to her before she baked a single loaf, and in Baal’s own territory, during a drought Baal could do nothing about, Israel’s God kept her jar from running empty one day at a time. We’re called to share even when we’re running low, trusting God to provide for us and for the people we share with.
- The widow had less than almost anyone in Zarephath, and God chose her to feed his prophet. Why do you think God so often works through people who seem to have the least to give?
- Elijah needed the widow’s bread, and the widow needed the promise Elijah brought. Who might God be inviting you to share with this week, and what might God provide for you through them?
Prayer
God, you are the one who sends the rain and keeps the jar from running empty. When I feel like I’m running low, help me trust your promise enough to share what I have. Thank you for the ways you care for me through other people. Open my eyes to the people you are sending my way this week, and give me a generous heart toward them. Amen.
GPS Insights
Jaime Kernaghan
Jaime Kernaghan, MS, LMFT works as an Experience Project Manager at Resurrection Leawood. She has attended Resurrection for over 20 years, and serves as a Confirmation Mentor, and on the Foster Adopt Committee. She has three kiddos and four pets among her very busy household.
When I think about the widow making a choice to trust Elijah versus providing for her son, it strikes me this ask was not small. When he told her, “Don’t be afraid,” he also gave her a promise from God. She chose to act on that promise, and her household ate for many days.
Her story does not ask us to pretend that scarcity isn’t frightening or that every act of generosity will bring a miracle. It invites us to bring our real fears to God and ask what trust might look like today. Sometimes that may mean sharing what we have. Sometimes it may mean receiving help.
I think about all the times I struggle to ask for help and to trust that others will come through. It can be difficult, especially depending on the ask. I try and remind myself that although trust feels scary, it is so much easier to ask God for help rather than go it alone. He always comes through, even if it doesn’t look exactly like we’d hoped.
Where is fear making it hard for you to trust God or care for someone else? Maybe we can try to lean in to our fears and allow God to do what he does best, just show up. And in the chaos that is trust, we can try our best to show up, too.
