Old Mother Hubbard, Went to her cupboard, To fetch her poor doggy a bone. But, when she got there, The cupboard was bare, And so her poor doggy had none.
I found myself repeating that little rhyme late last week as I opened my refrigerator. I was down to the bare-minimum and it was time to take a trip to the grocery story.
I’m sure I have mentioned it before, but it bears repeating, I am not a fan of shopping. I put it off as long as I possible. In contrast, today, I want to talk about a woman that would have given anything to be able to do a little grocery shopping.
This story takes place in a small town about a mile from the Mediterranean coast near Lebanon. One of two main characters is a woman whose husband has died. She is raising one young son. The other main character is a man whom she has not yet met.
Now, she may or may not have had the money to buy food, that is not the issue. She may or may not have enjoyed shopping, that was not the issue. The issue is there is a drought. It has not rained for over 3 years, resulting in a deadly famine. But let’s go back…
Ahab was king, and had been king over Israel for twenty-two years.
He “did even more open evil before God than anyone yet—a new champion in evil!
“It wasn’t enough for him to copy the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat; no, he went all out, first by marrying Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and then by serving and worshiping the god Baal.
“He built a temple for Baal in Samaria, and then furnished it with an altar for Baal. Worse, he went on and built a shrine to the sacred whore Asherah. He made the God of Israel angrier than all the previous kings of Israel put together.
“It was under Ahab’s rule that Hiel of Bethel refortified Jericho, but at a terrible cost: He ritually sacrificed his firstborn son Abiram at the laying of the foundation, and his youngest son Segub at the setting up of the gates. This is exactly what Joshua son of Nun said would happen.” 1 Kings 16:29-33 The Message Bible
Chapter 17 begins with Elijah speaking to this evil king, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.” NKJV
And thus it began.
Elisha hid near a stream where God instructed and the Bible says ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening and he drank fresh water from the brook…until it too dried up. It’s time to move.
The Lord tells him, get up, go and stay.
“…I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.” And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”
“So she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, 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.”
“And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.’ ”
“So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah.” 1 Kings 17:8-16 NKJV
The flour and the oil did not run out. Can you imagine reaching into your egg carton and pulling out the last 2 eggs and the next day you open the fridge and the egg carton is full?
Can you picture what it would be like to take the last of something off your pantry shelf, only to have it full the next morning?
For someone like me, who hates to shop, that would be amazing, but for this woman, it was lifesaving.
Verse 12: “…I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, 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.” She knew all hope was gone. I can see this woman desperately trying to keep things as normal as possible but after 1 year and then 2 and then 3…she had nothing left. Can we realize her hunger or the hunger of her child? Can we begin to imagine what it would feel like to watch your child slowly starve to death? She must have been terribly weak, terribly thin, terribly sad. She was preparing their last meal!
Verse 15: “So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days.”
We don’t know how many days, but I have always had the impression that she had oil and flour for as long as she needed it. Verse 16 says “The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah.” The miracles God performed for Elijah; the miracle God performed for the widow woman; the miracles God performs for you and me daily, those miracles show God’s great love toward us. He wants to save us.
“The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save…” Zephaniah 3:17 NKJV
by Jeanette Stark – Thursday, June 1, 2023
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