Trusting God like Elijah

08/24/21 – 09/04/21

Elijah’s Obedience

By Michael Youssef, Ph D.  08/29/21

No matter how small or insignificant we feel at times, God can turn our resources and talents into something substantial for His glory. When Elijah’s water source in the Kerith Ravine dried up, God sent him to the pagan—and potentially hostile—city of Zarephath. Even if the plan didn’t make sense to Elijah, he trusted God’s sovereignty.

During that time, God gave Elijah the opportunity to minister to a Phoenician widow and her son. When Elijah first approached the widow at the city gates, he asked her for water and bread, just as the Lord instructed him to do. “‘As surely as the LORD your God lives,’ she replied, ‘I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die'” (1 Kings 17:12).

Elijah could have responded that he would not impose on the poverty-stricken widow. He could have asked God for better accommodations. He could have complained that the widow was not only poor but also a pagan Gentile. Instead, Elijah followed God’s commands and believed and trusted God’s promise that, “The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain on the land” (1 Kings 17:14b).

God had already told Elijah about the widow, and Elijah knew that if she was to be part of God’s plan, then God was preparing her heart as well. Elijah understood that when God makes a plan, He also makes the way for it to happen. Therefore, Elijah did not worry about the details, or the danger he was in, or the grumbling in his stomach. God told him to go to the widow, and Elijah obeyed. The Lord took Elijah’s faith and the widow’s paltry resources and transformed them into big blessings.

Prayer: God, help me to respond in obedience like Elijah. Thank You that You are able to take what I have and transform it into something greater. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

“Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness” (2 Corinthians 9:10).