GIVE OF YOUR FLOUR & OIL – OR DIE!
1 Kgs. 17:7-17, 22-24
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: THE FEMINIST
1. A young woman was attending Wellesley College in Maine, a school that is steeped in the feminist movement and agenda.
2. She herself was president of the women’s lib group on the campus. She looked for opportunities to promote her cause. She boarded a crowded bus with no seats left.
3. To her consternation, a nice young man rose to his feet, ostensibly to let her have his seat.
4. She said, “No! You must not give up your seat for me! We women aren’t going to be beholden to you men. We don’t need any special treatment. I insist you keep your seat!”
5. The man, still standing with raised eyebrows, finally replied; “You may insist as much as you like, Lady, but this is my street where I get off!”
6. Sometimes we too get the wrong opinion of people we meet. The passage we’re looking at was a time when that could have happened.
B. TEXT
7 Sometime later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the Lord came to him: 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. 17 Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. 22 The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. 23 Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!” 24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”
C. THESIS
1. Imagine this dusty, dirty, raggedy prophet who hadn't had a bath in a year and a half! Chapped lips, raven’s feathers in his beard, coming up to you!
2. God has always taken care of His people, actually those who are doing His work. Sometimes He does use unusual methods.
3. So it should not seem far-fetched, when we read our Scripture tonight, how God takes care of Elijah.
4. We’re going to see how God worked in the lives of a widow & a prophet to bring about a miracle.
5. Title “Give of Your Flour & Oil – Or Die!”
I. THE WIDOW
A. A WOMAN DESTINED
1. In reading the Scripture, one gets the idea that this widow just happened to wander out the gate of her city, accidentally, at the right moment. That’s often how spiritual things look.
2. But God said, “I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food” (vs. 9). But she is not even aware of God’s command.
3. Luke 4:25-26. God could have sent Elijah to many widow’s houses, but He chose this one.
4. Who was this woman -- that God Almighty should notice her?
a. She was no Hannah, the godly Jewish woman God heard.
b. She was not a foreigner like Jael who put to death Sisera, one of the Lord’s enemies.
c. Not even like Ruth, who left her idolatry and family to serve God.
5. No – this woman was as lost in idolatry as anyone, yet God chose her.
6. And God chose you and I too! Hallelujah!
7. Jesus said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit…” (John 15:16).
8. In spite of our drawbacks, problems, and blackmarks – God chose us because He loves us!
9. No matter how:
a. Unworthy you feel,
b. Unlikely to be chosen,
c. How miserable your life is at the moment,
Don’t despair, He has chosen you and is going to do a great work in your life!
B. A WOMAN DESTITUTE – not God’s will people suffer
1. It was the sin of idolatry that brought judgment on these countries, and great suffering.
2. COSIDER HER SITUATION:
a. Her husband had died, poss. because of famine;
b. A single mother, w/o extended family support;
c. Resources exhausted, food gone; next step = death.
d. Her boy – prob. too weak to walk through starvation.
e. She is preparing her last meal before she and her son lie down together and die of starvation.
C. SHE REPRESENTS US
1. This is where the Grace of God found us – in the depths of poverty and misery.
2. Not physically, of course, but spiritually.
3. The human tendency -- as long as we have our own resources [goodness, righteousness, religiosity], we don’t need God and God can’t help us. Salvation, etc.
4. God’s supernatural work in your life can’t begin until your own efforts run out.
5. Are you ready to give up your little bit?
II. THE PROPHET
A. ELIJAH’S PREPARATION
1. God has a purpose for your life. Sometimes it seems like He’s with you and sometimes like He’s momentarily forgotten you. But He hasn’t. He has a plan!
2. God’s great aim is to grow you into the image of His Son and use you for the Kingdom!
3. God was preparing Elijah to turn back the entire nation of Israel back to God. (Chap. 18).
4. God had 2 Phases in His Training”
1½ years of Bootcamp at Brook Cherith,
2 Years of Advanced Training at Zarephath.
Following these he was ready to combat the 450 prophets & call down fire from heaven.
5. THINK OF HIS EXPERIENCE AT THE KERITH RAVINE:
a. His wonder at watching God provide thru ravens;
b. But later, the stream got smaller and smaller. I bet the ravens quit coming as often. Perhaps Elijah’s faith was drying up as the stream disappeared.
c. Vs. 8 must have been marvelous words of hope to Elijah.
d. The Word of Hope is this: GOD KNOWS WHERE YOU ARE!
*Are you walking thru cancer?
*Are you involved in divorce proceedings?
*Are you exper. Parenting problems?
*Are you on the verge of financial collapse?
GOD HAS NOT FORGOTTEN YOU!
6. A wonderful word of hope came to Elijah.
B. ELIJAH’S REFINING
1. Elijah faced two new trials:
a. Leave his hiding place & travel 100 miles through regions with no water or food.
b. Second, to seek a home in Sidon, the place where the hated Baal worship originated.
2. God sent him to Zarephath.
a. Zarephath means a “workshop for the melting and refining of metals.” So God was smelting his prophet!
b. How strange that God sent Elijah to be fed by a woman who was about to lay down and die of starvation.
3. But God was about to work a Double-miracle that would save Elijah AND the woman.
4. God would also use Elijah to raise her sickly son from the dead.
III. THE MIRACLE
A. THE PLACE OF TRUST
1. For the widow to be helped by God she had to trust God. Not just theoretically.
2. ILLUSTRATION: THE PENDULUM TEST
a. In a college speech class a student taught on "The Law of the Pendulum." The law of the pendulum is: A pendulum can never return to a point higher than the point from which it was released. Because of friction and gravity, when the pendulum returns, it will fall short of its original release point. Each time it swings it makes less and less of an arc, until finally it is at rest.
b. The student attached a 3 foot string to a child's toy top and secured it to the top of the blackboard with a thumbtack. He pulled it to the top of one side and made a mark on the blackboard where he let it go.
c. Each time it swung back he made a new mark. It took less than a minute for the top to complete its swinging and come to rest. When he finished the demonstration, the markings on the blackboard proved the law of the pendulum.
d. The student then asked how many people in the room believed the law of the pendulum was true. All of his classmates raised their hands and so did the teacher. The teacher thought the lesson was over; in reality it had only begun.
e. Hanging from the steel beams in the middle of the room was a large, crude but functional pendulum made from 250 pounds of metal weights tied to four strands of 500 pound test parachute cord.
f. The student invited the instructor to climb up on a table and sit in a chair with the back of his head against a cement wall. Then the student brought the 250 pounds of metal up to the teacher’s nose.
g. "If the law of the pendulum is true, then when I release this mass of metal, it will swing across the room and return short of the release point. Your nose will be in no danger."
h. He asked the teacher, "Sir, do you believe this law is true?" There was a long pause. Huge beads of sweat formed on the teacher’s upper lip and in weakly he nodded and whispered, "Yes."
i. The student released the pendulum. It made a swishing sound as it arced across the room. At the far end of its swing, it paused momentarily and started back.
j. The student later testified that he had never seen a man move so fast in his entire life as the teacher literally dove from the table (Ken Davis, How to Speak to Youth, pp. 104-106).
B. GOD WANTS TO WORK A MIRACLE IN YOUR LIFE
1. It's always been true: "Man's Extremities are God's Opportunities."
2. FIRST, Recognize:
a. God works all things together for good…
b. God works in impossible situations.
c. Big Issue: Trusting God. For the widow -- that cake was all that stood between her and death. Would she give it up to God? Yes!
3. Have you surrendered your life to God?
a. "For anyone who keeps his life for himself shall lose it; and anyone who loses his life for Me shall find it again" Matt. 16:25, Living Bible.
b. The only way you can get God's life is to give up your own.
4. Same is true of your –
Sickness finances
Marriage Fill-in-the-blank.
5. God is saying, "GIVE IT UP! Surrender it to Me!" "Quit hanging on to the rags of your life; give them to Me!"
6. Victory comes with allowing God to have it all. Die out to your efforts, dependencies, your plans for your life.
7. LET GOD THE YOUR SOLE SOURCE OF SURVIVAL!
8. You can’t out-give God! The widow’s son was destined to die, but because she was obedient to God in faith, Elijah was around to raise her son from the dead!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. Emperor Charles V was trying to assassinate John Brenz, a friend of Martin Luther.
2. Hearing of the plot, Brenz barely had time to grab a loaf of bread and duck into his neighbor's hayloft. There he hid fourteen days.
3. The bread was quickly gone, but the Lord sent a hen that showed up and laid an egg each day for fourteen days. In this way, Brenz was kept alive.
4. On the fifteenth day the chicken didn't come, and the reformer wondered what he would do. But from the street below came the cries, "The cavalrymen are gone at last." [Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, p. 383]
5. God can and does use the simplest things to provide for us. Know that you are loved and protected by the King of the Universe. He will take care of you in times of trouble. Keep looking up!
B. ALTAR CALL: WHEN THE OIL FLOWED
1. It didn't start to flow until she gave up all she had.
2. "Give and it shall be given back to you, pressed down, shaken together and running over."
3. Because of her surrender -- the oil flowed and the flour grew for two years. She traded one meal for 2,190! The blessing far outweighed the sacrifice!
4. Is there an area where you need God’s provision to come to bear on your situation?
5. Let’s take it to God in prayer and expect a miracle!
6. Prayer.
