Invite Someone into Abundance – 1 Kings 17:8-16

A text – 1 Kings 17:8-16

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah, saying, ⁹ “Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there, for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” ¹⁰ 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.” ¹¹ As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” ¹² 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.” ¹³ 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 afterward make something for yourself and your son. ¹⁴ 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.” ¹⁵ She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. ¹⁶ 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.

A reflection:

Yes, it’s the story of another widow. And Elijah is a man who asks her for everything she has, in return for a promise that she and her child will not starve because God will provide for them.

The widow lays out the facts to Elijah. She is preparing a final meal for her son and herself with the last of her provisions. Death is imminent. That is the way it is when you are in a drought and you are a widow. But God has already been feeding Elijah by means of sending ravens with meat to him as he hides in the wilderness (much the way God provided food for Moses and the people in the wilderness). Elijah knows that God keeps Gods promises. When he tells the widow that her jar of meal and her vat of oil will be kept full for the duration of the drought, he is inviting her into a new story, abundance, rather than her current situation, imminent death.

There should be a giant pause in the story – a big section where nothing is printed on the page while we wait for the widow’s decision, shouldn’t there? I am picturing, if it were a little movie, the wilderness-dirtied Elijah telling the widow his crazy prediction about God providing for them, and the widow staring at him, weighing imminent death and a full supply of meal and oil. Can she believe him? What has she got to lose? And will it help to save her boy if she does as Elijah asks?

She decides to do it. And they all have enough to eat. God keeps God’s promises. That is the word to remember from this second widow story. We know that God is partial to widows and orphans and to strangers. And here we have an example of three people, whom the odds are against in a time of drought, whom God keeps safe and feeds abundantly. God is also partial to you. God will bless and keep you, no matter what. When you love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself, God showers you with more than you need, so that you can invite someone else into the abundance.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for the story of Elijah and the widow. Help us to see your abundance around us every day and to invite others into that story. We know that you keep your promises. You are the fount of our many blessings. Amen.