Elijah And The Woman With Sticks (A Mothering Sunday Sermon) Series

Today is Mothering Sunday and in many places around the world the focus will be on mothers.

I think it is fair to say that simply having children does not make a woman a mother.

Abraham Lincoln said: No one is poor who has a godly mother

Napoleon said, “The future destiny of a child is the work of a mother”.

The Spanish say, “an ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy.”

Today I want us to consider a story from the Old Testament about a mother and the prophet Elijah.

In 1 Kings we are told a story of a mother, a single parent with a child, who was facing the type of financial difficulties that many parents still face today.

Except there were no benefits available for her, no credit cards to fall back on, no companies offering pay day loans with 1000% interest.

With no regular income coming in, she lived on what she could scrape together to live on.

And on this particular day, God works a miracle.

Listen to 1 Kings 17:8-16 Then the LORD said to Elijah, “Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there to feed you.” So he went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the gates of the village, he saw a widow gathering sticks, and he asked her, “Would you please bring me a little water in a cup?” As she was going to get it, he called to her, “Bring me a bite of bread, too.” But she said, “I swear by the LORD your God that I don’t have a single piece of bread in the house. And I have only a handful of flour left in the jar and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the jug. I was just gathering a few sticks to cook this last meal, and then my son and I will die.” But Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid! Go ahead and do just what you’ve said, but make a little bread for me first. Then use what’s left to prepare a meal for yourself and your son. For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: There will always be flour and olive oil left in your containers until the time when the LORD sends rain and the crops grow again!” So she did as Elijah said, and she and Elijah and her family continued to eat for many days. There was always enough flour and olive oil left in the containers, just as the LORD had promised through Elijah.

You would think that today, Centuries later, poverty would not be a problem. But it is, and not just in the third world.

Covid, the War in Ukraine, food and fuel prices, and many other situations and circumstances have brought difficulties and problems for many people.

In the current economic climate, there are many people, parents and single parents, struggling to make ends meet all around the world.

People are in despair and relying on food banks even in seemingly rich areas.

Years ago, there was a stigma attached to shopping at Lidl or Aldi now it is viewed as a sensible choice.

But still, people are struggling and it seems like every week a new food bank is opening somewhere to help those who really need assistance.

Maybe you know some people who are struggling or maybe you can identify with this woman.

Maybe at some stage in your life, you have struggled, maybe you are struggling now.

Maybe you know what this woman was feeling.

She had nothing left - and she was being asked to give what she did not have.

She was out of food, out of money, out of hope.

In fact, all she had left was enough to scrape together one last meal, and she wanted it to be a hot meal.

So out she goes to collect wood. So that she could cook over a fresh fire.

You know, when we are at our lowest, God will always find a way to speak to us.

Sometimes it's a verse of scripture.

Sometimes it’s a song.

Sometimes it’s His voice we hear.

Sometimes He will use a person.

And for this woman, God brings the prophet Elijah into her life.

We know a lot more about Elijah than we know about this woman.

In fact, we know very little about this woman apart from the fact that she was a mother and a widow.

Apart from that, we know almost nothing about her, we don’t even know her name.

We may know nothing about her - But God knows everything about everyone.

God had a purpose for this woman.

God had a plan for this woman.

God had chosen this woman for a specific task.