The story of the widow of Zarephath is well known. But for those of you who are not familiar with it I will summarize…
There is a famine in the land. God sands Elijah to a widow in Zarephath to be fed by her.
When Elijah gets there he finds her and asks for water. As she is going to get it he asks her to make him something to eat. We’ll pick up the story here…
“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. 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.” 1 Kings 17:12
I want to stop right here for a second because it is important to note than in this story Elijah has practiced pure religion. Why? Because in James 1:27 we read, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep himself unspotted from the world.” (Bold mine)
This point is critical to understand as we look into the rest of the story. OK, back to the Book…
“And it came to pass after these things, [that] the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him. And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. And he cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again. And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth. And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou [art] a man of God, [and] that the word of the LORD in thy mouth [is] truth.” 1 Kings 17:17-24
Hmmm… it wasn’t until the son was raised that the confidence in the word as truth became a reality.
Sound familiar? It should. The pure religion that Elijah demonstrated, even though the widow and her house were fed, couldn’t do it alone.
She needed to see her son alive. She needed to see that she mattered to God. She needed to experience His love, not just the religion of someone who helped her.
And we are the same. Until we see the Son alive… until we feel that God loves us… religion does nothing by make us wonder.
Jesus IS alive! The Word is Truth!
We can live in it… forgiven, redeemed… loved!
SDG
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