What do you have?
Drought was prevailing in the land of Israel, thanks to the declaration of Elijah. God had told him to go east and hide himself near the brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan. The brook was to supply him with water to drink. God also commanded the ravens to bring him food. Elijah obeyed the Lord and went and stayed by the brook. He drank water from the brook and the ravens brought him food every morning and evening, but after a while, the brook dried up because of lack of rain. It’s for this reason that God directed him to the widow of Zarephath.
‘Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” ~ I Kings 17:8-9 NKJV
When Elijah came, he found her gathering firewood and asked her for a drink of water. As she was going to get it, he called out and asked for some bread. She didn’t have bread, but she said that all she had was a handful of flour in a bowl and a drop of olive oil in a jar. That was her only hope. She was gathering firewood to go and cook the last meal and she and her son would starve to death. Elijah told her to go ahead and prepare her meal, but she was to prepare a small loaf first from what she had and bring it to him, then prepare the rest for her and her son. He went ahead and gave her a promise which she believed and did what he told her. As long as the drought lasted, she didn’t lack.
The book of 2 Kings 4:1-7 recounts the story of another widow who existed during the days of Elisha. Her husband owed money to someone. He had failed to pay while he was still alive, and she couldn’t pay him either. So the man had come to take away her two sons as slaves in payment for the debt. She explained her predicament to Elisha who asked her, what she had. She replied that she had nothing at all, except a small jar of olive oil. Elisha advised her to go and borrow as many empty jars as she could, go into the house together with her sons, close the door and start pouring oil into the jars. She did as she was told until the last jar was full and the oil stopped flowing. Elisha advised her to go and sell the olive oil and pay all her debts, and there would be still more money left for her and her sons to live on.
These two widows found themselves under circumstances that were not too good. Both of them seemed to have reached the end of the rope and didn’t know what to do. In the first instance, the widow was going to cook her last meal and then starve to death. That’s all she had, until of course God showed up at her door through His prophet. Feeding Elijah first with the little she had was an act of sacrifice that God honored in addition to her obedience and faith in Him. In the second, the widow didn’t know what to do to raise the money she needed to save her sons from being taken as slaves, but God showed up through Elisha and He saved the situation. These two women may not have known that their situations weren’t as hopeless as they thought. They had something in their hands that could help them, yet they didn’t know. One of the biggest problems we have is that we overlook what we already have and begin to look for solutions from other places. I submit to you right now that you have something God can use to bring you out of your mess, make your life better and also change other people’s lives.
Another situation existed at one point in the ministry of Jesus. The people were exhausted and hungry and Jesus was not willing to release them like that. His disciples saw impossibilities in the whole situation and they knew that there was nowhere they could get enough food for so many people. But there was a boy in the crowd who had something and thanks to his generosity, he released it to Jesus. And this is what most of us need to do for the Lord to intervene in our lives and fix our situations. Holding on to what we have instead of surrendering it to the Lord sometimes is what hinders the breakthrough we so much need. The widow of Zarephath shared with Elijah the little she had and God honored her sacrifice. This was not just about the food, it was also about her faith. And it’s some of these things that pleases the Lord and also rewards.
Elisha instructed the widow to close the door behind her and begin to pour out the little oil she had to the jars and from her obedience as well, there came much abundance that she was limited by the jars, not the oil. Closing the door behind her for us means going back to the secret place – a place of intimacy with the Father who has all the solutions. It’s in this place where we conceive His will for us and the solutions for our situations.
