We're going now to turn to our
Young People's Address and we're going to 1 Kings chapter 17.
So turn with me please in your Bibles to 1 Kings chapter 17. 1 Kings chapter 17. We're going
to be continuing in our study of the life of Elijah, and we're
going to be reading today from verse eight. 1 Kings chapter
17, verse eight, and we'll read down to verse 16. And the word of the Lord came
unto him, that is to Elijah, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath,
which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded
a widow woman there to sustain thee. So he arose and went to
Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold,
the widow woman was there gathering sticks, was there gathering of
sticks, and he called to her and said, Fetch me, I pray thee,
a little water in a vessel that I may drink. And as she was going
to fetch it, he called to her and said, Bring me, I pray thee,
a morsel of bread in thine hand, And she said, as the Lord thy
God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in a barrel
and a little oil in a cruise. 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
cruise 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 cruise of oil fail, according to the word
of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah. Amen. May the Lord bless to us this
reading from his word. Elijah, the prophet of God, had
hidden himself out of reach of King Ahab of Israel. He had hidden himself near to
the River Jordan beside a brook, a brook called Cherith. Now,
I'm pretty sure that the River Jordan would not be a fast-flowing
river, so when we think of this time of drought, we might well
imagine that the Jordan River itself soon dried up, and there
was just this little brook left that came out of the mountains
before disappearing into the sand. And there Elijah waited
during this time of drought. And he perhaps waited for about
a year. It's not too easy to tell the
timescale at this time. But we know that the whole famine
or the drought lasted for three and a half years. but perhaps
he stayed there for a year. He was supplied with food twice
a day by ravens and he drank water from the brook. But the
brook was drying up too. And that reminds us that God's
people are not spared the trials that afflict this world. However, it is interesting to
note that Elijah waited by the brook where God had put him until
after it had dried up. He waited on the Lord. He trusted
the Lord. He was content to believe that
the Lord who supplied him daily with food would manage his needs
even when the brook ran dry. He had faith in the Lord, and
the Lord proved himself faithful. The Lord did tell Elijah to leave
this place. It had been a safe place for
him, but he was to travel to a place called Zarephath in Zidon. And this place is called Sarepta
in the New Testament. And this is an interesting place
for the Lord to send Elijah because God chose this place where Jezebel
was from. Now, I mentioned Jezebel before.
Jezebel was the wife of Ahab, and she was a wicked woman. She
was a worshipper of idol gods, and she was a princess from this
very region where the Lord was sending Elijah. Zarephath was
outside of Israel. It was a Gentile town under the
control of heathen rulers. So that Elijah was like a refugee
fleeing from persecution in his own land and he was going right
into his enemy's backyard. But once again, the Lord had
prepared his way and the Lord provided for him. He told his
servant, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. And I feel sure that as Elijah
was travelling from the Brook Cherith all the way to Sarepta
or Zarephath, that he would be thinking about David's Psalm,
where in Psalm 23, David said, verse five, thou preparest a
table before me in the presence of mine enemies, and my cup runneth
over. Because that's exactly what the
Lord was doing here, preparing a table for Elijah in the presence
of his enemies. When Elijah reached the gates
of the city, these were not large cities by any modern standards,
but we read there that the woman, this widow woman, was there gathering
sticks. She had come out to the edge
of the town, the city, and she was gathering some sticks. And
I think it's useful for us to note the Lord's ordaining hand
upon this meeting. He sent the woman out there because
of her circumstances, just at the very moment that Elijah arrived. She was out to gather a few sticks
to cook her last meal before laying down with her son to die. Now I don't think that there
will be, many of us will ever be as hungry or as poor as this
lady. And yet what we discover is that
the Lord was providing for her too. Weary from his journey,
Elijah asked for water and the woman turned to go and fetch
some water for the prophet. but he called her back and he
said to her, when you're going to get me a drink of water, also
bring me some food. And this whole encounter is really
quite extraordinary. I suspect that Elijah realised
that this was the woman whom the Lord had spoken of. And certainly
by his requests, he would soon find out if it was not But I
think, too, that the woman likely realized that Elijah was both
an Israelite and a prophet, perhaps by his garment, perhaps by his
long hair. But probably, too, that he was
the man that she was to assist at the command of God. And I
think that this woman was a believer in God. I think it for several
reasons. First, she had been commanded
by God to look after his servant. So the Lord had spoken to her
and had commanded her to look after Elijah. I think she was
probably expecting his arrival, although I'm sure also that she
was at her wit's end knowing what to do with him when he did
arrive. The second thing is that she
believed the God of the Jews, the God of Elijah, was the living
God, as opposed to all the idol gods that were in her own land. And this perhaps is the most
astonishing thing of all. Here was a believer in God who
was a Gentile and who lived outside of Israel, dwelling amongst an
idolatrous people, and yet a trophy of distinguishing grace. I don't know how this woman came
to know about the Lord, but I'm confident the Lord had so completely
prepared the way for Elijah as to place him into the house of
a believer just like him. The woman, as we noticed in her
reading, did not protest Elijah's request. She was willing to do
what he asked, but she did explain how desperate she and her son
were. And that was part of explaining
that she literally did not even have a little cake to bring him. but her reference to the living
God was all that Elijah needed to assure him that this was the
Lord's appointed person. So he told 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
thy son. For thus saith the Lord God of
Israel, the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the
cruise of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain
upon the earth. Elijah told her not to be afraid. That barrel of meal would keep
giving meal to her until the rains came. That cruise of oil,
that little vessel of oil would keep pouring out oil until the
rains came. Don't be afraid, Elijah said. You know, a lot of Christians
are afraid of things that they shouldn't be. But this was a
wonderful promise for a needy soul, and yet it still required
faith. The first cake was to be for
the prophet. This was not greed on Elijah's
part, although I'm sure he would be hungry, but rather it was
a call to exercise faith on the part of the woman. And what a
trial of faith it was. She must deny her son and herself
of the little that they had in hope of gaining more upon the
word of this stranger. She might have wondered, if he
were a prophet of God, why not make the cruise flow and the
meal increase and then we could all be fed at once? But God's
ways are wisest, and by this means, both Elijah and this believing
woman would be preserved for many months to come. Faith trusts
the Lord. Quietly, without complaining,
she went and did according to the saying of Elijah. She took
Elijah at his word, and she took the Lord at his word. And we
read, and she and he and her house did eat many days, and
the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruise of oil
fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah. Here are a few lessons that we
can draw from this passage today. The first one is this, we should
not overlook the gracious work of mercy in the life of this
woman. We've already mentioned the word
distinguishing grace. What that means is that God,
in the midst of all the people of that land, had chosen this
woman to bless and to give His grace and mercy to. In a foreign land where idols
were worshipped, the Lord called this widow woman to faith in
Him and to obedience to His will. I don't know how she knew about
God. I don't know how she knew and understood about the God
of Israel. I don't know who had told her. All I know is that
in her heart, she was a willing follower, ready to trust and
obey the will of her saviour. And he was preparing to bless
her with an abundant table and the company of God's foremost
prophet in the land at that time. So here is our first lesson.
Let us never limit God's ways even when we are surprised by
his means. The second thought that I want
to leave with you is this. The faith of this woman enabled
her to put Elijah first when he asked for food and water. It would have been easy to say
I've not got enough for my own son. Why give it to a foreigner? Why give it to a stranger? Perhaps
that is what the writer to the Hebrews was thinking of when
he wrote, be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby
some have entertained angels unawares. Had this widow not
been kind to Elijah, The Lord could not have been kind to her,
and may we too be enabled to put the Lord first in our lives,
and He will be the fruitful supplier of all our needs. The Lord does
not need anything from us, but He will be first in our lives,
or not at all. Serving his church, serving his
people, serving his body is serving him. In that day of final judgment,
we read of those who ask the Lord Jesus this question. They
ask, Lord, when saw we thee and hungered and fed thee, or thirsty
and gave thee to drink? When saw we thee a stranger,
and took thee in? Or naked, and clothed thee? Or
when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the king shall answer, and
say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done
it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it
unto me. And here's the final thing I
want to leave with you. Consider with me this meal barrel and
the cruise of oil. How thankful this woman must
have been to have it supply her household day after day. It would do so until the rain
came. Now the famine lasted three and
a half years. Elijah may have been with her
for two of those three years. And even after he had gone, the
provision of God's grace remained. This is a wonderful picture of
the sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is all that we need. His supply of grace and mercy
shall never run dry. He who is the bread of life will
feed our soul with spiritual food. He will anoint our hearts
with the oil of gladness and he will cause us to drink the
waters of life. Yes, the Lord will look after
us as far as the provisions of nature and our body are concerned. and he will look after our soul,
and he will preserve and protect us, and he will bless us who
put him first in our lives. I encourage you to trust in the
Lord. He supplies faith and hope, forgiveness
and cleansing, and everlasting life. And oh, so great salvation. It might seem that the history
of Elijah was long, long ago and hard to fathom and difficult
to get our heads around. But the principles are the same
today. Those who trust the Lord Jesus
Christ will find him faithful and true. Those who put him first
in their lives will find him loving and kind. Those who serve
his cause will find him a generous master. May the Lord enable us
to be people of faith like the widow of Sarepta. Amen.