Go! And Trust The God Who Provides Life! - 1 Kings 17:7–24, Luke 4:25–26 Series

Go! And Trust the God Who Provides Life! - 1 Kings 17:7–24, Luke 4:25–26

Opening Prayer

Lord God Almighty, You are the Giver of life, the Sustainer of hope, and the One who speaks and it is done. Thank You for Your Word—living, active, and powerful. Today, as we study the story of Elijah and the widow, open our hearts to Your truth. Reveal Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, and draw every heart closer to You. May Your Spirit stir repentance, faith, and renewed trust in Your perfect provision. In Jesus' name, Amen.

1 Kings 17:7–24 (NLT):

7 But after a while the brook dried up, for there was no rainfall anywhere in the land.

8 Then the Lord said to Elijah,

9 “Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there to feed you.”

10 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?”

11 As she was going to get it, he called to her, “Bring me a bite of bread, too.”

12 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.”

13 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.

14 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!”

15 So she did as Elijah said, and she and Elijah and her family continued to eat for many days.

16 There was always enough flour and olive oil left in the containers, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah.

17 Some time later the woman’s son became sick. He grew worse and worse, and finally he died.

18 Then she said to Elijah, “O man of God, what have you done to me? Have you come here to point out my sins and kill my son?”

19 But Elijah replied, “Give me your son.” And he took the child’s body from her arms, carried him up the stairs to the room where he was staying, and laid the body on his bed.

20 Then Elijah cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, why have you brought tragedy to this widow who has opened her home to me, causing her son to die?”

21 And he stretched himself out over the child three times and cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, please let this child’s life return to him.”

22 The Lord heard Elijah’s prayer, and the life of the child returned, and he revived!

23 Then Elijah brought him down from the upper room and gave him to his mother. “Look!” he said. “Your son is alive!”

24 Then the woman told Elijah, “Now I know for sure that you are a man of God, and that the Lord truly speaks through you.”

Introduction

This moment in Scripture is intense and raw: a drought, a starving widow, and then the death of her only son. The setting is Zarephath—a pagan land outside Israel, in modern-day Lebanon, near Sidon. And yet, God sends His prophet, Elijah, not to a wealthy household, not to a powerful leader, but to a poor, grieving Gentile widow.

In the New Testament, Jesus Himself draws attention to this very story in Luke 4:25–26 (NLT): “Certainly there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the heavens were closed for three and a half years, and a severe famine devastated the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them. He was sent instead to a foreigner—a widow of Zarephath in the land of Sidon.”

Jesus was making a vital point: God’s grace is not confined to borders. God’s mercy and provision reach the outsider, the Gentile, the hurting, the helpless.

Point 1: God Provides in Unexpected Places

Elijah obeyed God’s Word. God told him to go to Zarephath—enemy territory, where Baal worship dominated—and trust that a widow would care for him. Humanly speaking, this made no sense. Widows were the most vulnerable people in society, and Zarephath was the centre of idolatry.

But in that hopeless place, God was at work.