1. Faith will cost you comfort (vv. 8-12)

Then the word of the Lord came to him, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” 11 And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” 12 And she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.” 1 Kings 17:8–12.

Could you imagine yourself in this woman’s position when Elijah comes up asking for some food and water in the middle of famine? I want us to pause on the point that, as far as we can tell from the text, she took no issue with the matter of bringing the prophet something to drink. Her pause came when Elijah asked her for something to eat. I can think of multiple different ways that I would answer him, but I can’t say any of them in church. 

As I studied the passage, I started to wonder something else. Can you imagine being Elijah as he is approaching this widowed single mother on the outskirts of the city gathering sticks? I’m using a little imagination here, but I wonder if there was a moment in his mind when the realization hit that this was the woman that God had appointed to help him in his travels, and maybe his heart dropped. I’m not Elijah, but imagine this man that is trusting in the provision of God because he wasn’t exactly the most popular guy in the land, then God commands you to go to this widow to feed you. When you walk up, you see a frail, defeated woman who you find out is ready to call it quits for not only her but her son as well due to lack of food and water.

The hard fact is this, God spoke directly to Elijah to find this exact widow to provide nourishment for him. This is wild when you think about it because this was quite literally going to be the last meal that this widow and her son had to eat. They were so down bad that they were planning on dying after this meal because it was all they had. 

Which, I must be missing something because there are plenty of verses like 1 Timothy 5:3 and James 1:27 and many more speak on taking care of widows instead of widows taking care of others.

Elijah and the widow had what you and I would call a [very valid] excuse to not do what God had spoken based on what they could see.

That is what I would like to drive home today. I would like everyone with ears to hear that obeying God’s Word or participating in His work is not always going to feel “natural” because it isn’t, it is supernatural. 

If you are here today, I want you to know that God does not want you to base your decisions or your life on your own experiences. Why, you may ask?

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9

Unfortunately, our first reaction isn’t to trust God when he asks us to do hard things that go against our nature. But we should grow to expect that right? 

There is one way to remedy a deceitful heart:

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10

2. Faith will test your heart (vv. 13-14)

And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; 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 flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’ ” 1 Kings 17:13–14.

The first thing that I want us to note today is that rather than allowing her valid fear keep her from the blessing that God had in store for her, Elijah believed firmly in the plan that God had spoken to, so he urged for faith rather than accepting fear. 

To the solo artists in the room, sometimes the music is sweeter when other folks are in the band. If it was up to the widow, had she got her way with the situation, she and her son would haved died from starvation. Elijah coming to her house in need was a blessing, even in the middle of a famine. There are some of us in the room today that would benefit from from looking up more than you look around. Not to pick up what we have already laid down, (stay with me because I promise we are going somewhere), but the situational awareness was focused on what momma was capable of doing, not what God was capable of. It took a spirit filled prophet to deliever what I sometimes take to be a vanilla message that shifted the perspective.

I am here today to do exactly that. If you are hungry, thirsty, feeling hopeless, filled with anxiety, stuck in grief, or just stuck in a rut, I HAVE A WORD FOR YOU:

It JUST TAKES A LITTLE CAKE.

This momma was already going to cook a some bread bread, Elijah just asked her for a little cake. Friends, you are already having a day, just give the Lord a piece of it. You are already stressed about your house or apartment, give some of that to God. You are already behind on those bills, give Jesus a little bit of it to see what He can do with is. 

You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. 2 Corinthians 9:11.

3. A little faith goes a long way (vv. 15-16)

And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. 16 The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah. 1 Kings 17:15–16.

There is an African Proverb that says, “A little rain each day will fill the river to overflow”

I believe that this is how the mother and son felt every day when it came time to eat and every day their bellies were full. God’s promises never run short church. That’s the only check that has never bounced. You can take it to the bank EVERY TIME

“ so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”  Isaiah 55:11

It is also worth noting the order that this blessing comes. It’s a demonstration of faith, then the blessing that follows. Have you ever heard the expression, “hind sight is 20/20”? It simply means that when you look back to reflect on a certain situation, it is easy to put all the pieces together because it all makes sense. 

I can’t help but think that is exactly how this mother felt as she sat at the table over the coming days with the prophet. We aren’t told that there was any hesitation when Elijah told her God’s plan, but I wonder if she was kicking herself for not jumping on the Grace that God extended her immediately. 

I can say this, when the next opportunity presented itself, she knew exactly where to turn. As a matter of fact, the next passage if you want to do some bonus reading later tells of that exact scenario. She was faced with an impossible situation and she knew