1 Kings 17:1-16
Obedience When It Hurts

Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word."

The word of the LORD came to him, saying, "Go from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the Wadi Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the wadi, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there." So he went and did according to the word of the LORD; he went and lived by the Wadi Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the wadi. But after a while the wadi dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you." So he set out and went to Zarephath.

When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, "Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink." As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, "Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand."

But she said, "As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die."

Elijah said to her, "Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the LORD the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the LORD sends rain on the earth."

She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah.

New Revised Standard Version

The Biblical stories about Elijah leave me in awe of this courageous, faithful man of God! We see him calling for the impossible, against fierce opposition, with complete confidence that what he heard from God will come about just as God said. However, when I think about Elijah only in terms of these superlatives, I overlook that he also was a human, and I miss some parts of his stories that I ought to apply in my life.

This particular story starts with a bold, brief confrontation between God's prophet, Elijah, and the wicked king of Israel, Ahab. Simply put, Elijah announced that God had begun a total drought on the nation of Israel because of their wickedness, and then Elijah left.

Elijah acted on faith; I would have hesitated. When I would have started thinking about the message, I would have recognized a pretty serious "flaw" in the plan that would have stopped me from acting. You see, for Elijah to declare a drought and resulting famine for all of his homeland meant that Elijah, too, would be without water and food. Rather than obey, I probably would have tried to negotiate an exemption for myself with God before I agreed to carry this message to the king--after all, it only seems fair that the faithful messenger wouldn't receive the punishment due the wicked people, right? We have no record of such conversation between Elijah and God, and I'm certain that's because Elijah's faith in God was so strong.

Indeed, God sent Elijah away to a little-traveled area near his home town where the angry king could not find him, and God provided a creek from which to drink, and ravens that brought Elijah each meal. It's a pretty nice arrangement! At least, it would have been nice for me until I discovered God only provided about "half" the miracle--the creek dried up in the drought just like everything else in Israel. Elijah offered no angry criticism of God when his water supply ran dry. He simply listened to God and obeyed.

Elijah obeyed, even when the command appeared foolish! God told Elijah to travel several days journey, without water, from east of the Jordan to north of Israel. There he would find a widow, who because she was a widow would be desperately poor, (the Hebrew word used for "widow" is the feminine form of the word "forsaken") and this impoverished, unemployable woman would provide him water and food. Instead, I would have asked, "Now, God, wouldn't it be more reasonable to have the ravens bring some water, too?" But without complaining, Elijah made his way to Sidon.

When he arrived there, he found the woman God selected, and he asked her first for water, then for bread. The woman had no hesitation getting water, which suggests the drought God brought to Israel didn't reach to Sidon. It was Elijah's second request that caused the woman to hesitate, and she explained to Elijah that she and her child were starving to death. I think it was only then that God finally told Elijah the rest of the plan, that God would work a miracle through this widow's obedience and generosity toward Elijah that would sustain him, her, and her son.

I want that kind of strong faith that can bring harm to myself without worrying how God will bring me through that circumstance. I want the kind of faith that doesn't assume God has let me down when God's plans appear to have flaws or problems. I want the kind of faith that acts when and how God nudges me to ask, without doubting that God has already provided for my needs.

But I am no Elijah. God has never told me to call fire down from heaven, God has never given me a dramatic confrontational victory over mobs of false prophets, and God has never given me defiant challenges to give to a king. Honestly, I doubt God would have any use for those actions in this age where I live, so I will not strive to do the mighty miracles that Elijah performed.

But it wasn't the miracles that made Elijah a great prophet of God--it was the faith. God promises to grow that kind of faith in each of us, if we will allow God to work in us continually, and if we will remain committed to trusting God more and more. I have strong habits of worry, cynicism, and doubt that God must break down and scrub away for my faith to grow, and I may never have even a small portion of the faith that Elijah had, but God is still at work in me...