Focus: The Word Is Everything

Text: 1Kgs.17:16

"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."

The widow of Zarephath tells Elijah of all she has left in her house. It was "an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse" - 1Kgs.17:12. It was the last meal in the house, and once they have eaten it, that is it. The next thing would be for her and her son to suffer hunger until death finally takes them.

But the God of providence would not let that happen.

By providence the brook dried up. By providence God sent Elijah to a widow in a foreign land, whereas there were many widows within the territory of Israel. God sent Elijah there to save her and her son from dying of hunger.

God knows where you are and what is happening to you. God wants you to give out of need. Whatever you give out of need becomes a seed. Don't wait until you have the whole world to be able to give. And don't think you are doing anyone a favor by your giving. You are simply sowing a seed for a future harvest. Each time you give, you do yourself a great deal of good. God uses what you give to make a way for you and meet a need in your own life.

Remember that Elijah had a means of surviving the famine. God was using a raven to feed him morning and night. The raven never missed a day from bringing his food - breakfast and dinner. It was the brook that dried up, not the raven that stopped bringing food. God sent him to save the lives of mother and son. It was a critical moment.

Destiny brought Elijah and the widow together. The prophet came to help the widow survive the period of economic hardship.

God commanded Elijah to go to the widow, and at the same time commanded her to sustain him.

God is always incredible. Just imagine sustaining a man from a little one time meal! How do you do that? Sustaining, for a period of time, a full grown adult, with a one time meal?

Everything God does, He gets done by His word. The widow having believed the prophet and obeyed God, the word of God then came into effect in her life. By the word of the Lord a one-time meal then lasted for the whole period of economic shortage.

The word sustained the food that sustained mother, child, and their guest, the prophet.

I pray: may God not bypass you in the day of blessing. God bypassed the widows of Israel to locate a widow beyond their borders.

One more thing, in the day of blessing, God makes a demand of us. What demand is God placing on you now? Realize that every demand God makes upon you is a blessing in disguise. Don't go against it. Demands and blessings are tied together. Obey God and see Him do the impossible in your life. Amen.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter