2024_02_19 Insight Post- Kim Feld
This week’s reading- 1 Kings 17:8-24, Luke 4:25-26
As I read about the widow of Zarephath this week, I was struck by her willingness to do what Elijah asked. If I only had a minimal amount of food left for my child and myself, I’m not sure I would be so generous. Yet, something about Elijah’s words caused her to do as he said. If we look at verse 8 of 1 Kings 17, it says that God had “directed” her to provide Elijah food. There’s no indication in the story that she knew beforehand that she would provide food for the prophet, but her situation was dire. The widow truly believed she was preparing the last food she and her son would eat before starvation overtook them. Perhaps a part of her felt she had nothing to lose. Or maybe Elijah’s words from God planted tiny seeds of hope in her heart.
The Life Application Study Bible notes had two sentences about this story that stood out to me. The first is “Faith is the step between promise and assurance.” The second is “But every miracle, large or small, begins with an act of obedience” (Life Application Study Bible, 2004, p. 544). I’ve been chewing on these two sentences and pondering their meaning in my life.
God makes many promises to us in His word. If I’m honest, some are easier for me to hang onto than others. As I’ve thought this week about the difficult ones for me to grasp, I’m struck by faith being the bridge between promise and assurance. I can take God’s promises and choose to believe they are trustworthy and are for me, or not. Yet, I will only get assurance once I exercise faith by choosing to believe. The ball is in my court. Elijah voiced a promise from God to the widow. Still, to experience the assurance that the promise was true, she had to have faith. I bet that act of faith was pretty scary, but she did it and was remembered for it.
Every miracle begins with an act of obedience. I want the miracle, but do I want to obey? Obedience is often costly and may even be uncomfortable or inconvenient. The widow’s obedience was undoubtedly costly. She gave the little she had to feed a stranger, knowing it would mean less for her and her child. But what if she had said no? She would have missed out on the miracle of never running out of flour and oil during a famine! Her obedience opened the door for God to bless her with a miracle.
I’m not saying there’s a formula to obtaining a miracle in your life. God is not a genie in a bottle who will give us what we want if we follow the directions. We may really want a miracle and be doing our absolute best to be obedient, yet not get it. Still, faith and obedience are vital components of our relationship with God. Faith and obedience may not result in a change in our circumstances, but they will definitely cause a change in us.
Kim Feld
Executive Director of Education and Outreach
Reference: Life Application Study Bible. (2004). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.