Today’s Devotion
Topic: This Is What The Lord Says!
Text: 1 Kings 17: 7- 16
7 Some time later the brooks of Isreal dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah, saying: 9 “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.”
10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”
12 “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.” 13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son.
14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘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.’” 15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah. Amen
How we wish the word of God always came to affirm our expectations and at least became consistent with what we know as logically acceptable so that it is easy to recieve it as absolute without doubt or struggle. But well, mostly, it doesn’t. Or better still, it wouldn’t. Jehovah is just as His word is. He cannot be subjected to logical deductions and so is His word. He is far above what our thoughts and imaginations can comprehend.
He knows the end from the very beginning and knows how to take us to the end effortlessly. Not by our limited logically deductions though, but by His mighty power at work within us. It didn’t make any logical sense for Him to ask Elijah in a period of drought to go to a widow for sustenance, but the latter obeyed.
Did Elijah find the said widow according to the word of God? Yes! Did she have abundance to take care of Elijah till the rains came? Not at all! Is Elijah sure he actually heard from the Lord to go to this poor widow? Yes he did. So what is going on? Very simple:
In this period of famine and drought, God is seeking to save both Elijah and the household of the widow. So He sends His word through His prophet all the way to the widow. First of all, he (Elijah) acts upon the word received without questioning God. Then he shares it with the widow who chooses to believe it too and act upon it. Their faith and works, in accordance with the word of God, produced the miracle they both needed and sustained them just as God had said.
Do you now see that although the word that came to them was very contrary to what they may have expected to hear as far as their situation was concerned, both Elijah and the widow received it well and acted promptly upon it because it was from God; PERIOD.
In our lives, sometimes, the word of God comes to us in a way that only His mighty power can explain how possible that word is for our situation. Will you receive it well? Will you believe it? Will you act upon it in faith? Will you give your all to help another at His word, and trust that your jar of oil will never run out till the heavenly rains come?
Meditate on this word and begin to pray. Repent of all the resistance you have put up against God’s word because it doesn’t appeal to you logically. He created the world out of nothing, His word does not require anything else to be effective except our faith. Ask for grace to take God at His word, to rest upon His promises and to know thus saith the Lord.
In His word you will find peace, righteousness, joy, deliverance, healing and salvation. So as you make your way to church today, incline your heart to His word and see the wonderful blessing it becomes to you if you will act upon it. Tell all who hear His voice today, not to harden their hearts! For His word is life eternal, to those who will trust and obey. See you at church.
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