“The word of the LORD came to [Elijah], ‘Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.’ So, he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, ‘Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.’ And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, ‘Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.’ And she said, ‘As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now 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 first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, “The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the earth.”’ And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah.” [1]
She was busy gathering sticks which she would use to build a fire. She would then mix the last little bit of flour she still had with some water, perhaps adding some salt and a little olive oil to give the mixture some flavour, before making some small pitas on a flat rock heated beside the fire. Once these were made, the widow would give some of the bread to her son and perhaps eat one small loaf herself. After this, she would prepare for their inevitable death. The drought had devasted the land, and her meagre store of foodstuff was exhausted. There was little possibility that there would be any more food to be found. No one had anything left to share; everyone was starving. Already, her clothing and the robe her son wore were hanging on their thin bodies.
While gathering the sticks, a stranger had spoken to her. “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” Where he had come from, she couldn’t tell. It was a strange request especially since it was so demanding that she drop everything to act now. Nevertheless, she graciously went into her house and dipped a cup into the dwindling water in the pot she kept in the house and took it to the man.
When he had drunk what she had brought, he demanded of her, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” Indignant at such a curt demand, she almost bristled as she replied, “I don’t have so much as a pita, just a handful of flour in a bowl and some oil left in a bottle. Now I’m going to find some sticks so I can cook a last meal for my son and for me. Then we’re going to eat it and die.”
This stranger then said in a confident voice, “You can stop being afraid. Go and do what you said, but first make me a pita and bring it to me. Then make a meal for yourself and for your son, because this is what the LORD God of Israel says: ‘That jar of flour will not run out, nor will that bottle of oil become empty until the very day that the LORD sends rain on the surface of the ground’” [1 KINGS 17:13-14 ISV].
“Feed me; then you can feed yourself and your son.” Had this stranger actually said what she thought he had said? Did he actually say, “Put me first!” The audacity! What sort of request was that! No mother would willingly take food from her children to feed a stranger. Our children are our priority! People don’t have the right to demand that we feed them, especially if it means that our children will go without. Surely such a rude request would be met with defiance! Who would accede to such a blatant demand? And yet, there was something calming, something conveying confidence despite the sharpness in the stranger’s words. Despite whatever misgivings she may have had, the woman did what the stranger demanded of her. She wasn’t mesmerised; she was heartened.
Thus, the text informs us, “She went and did as Elijah said” [1 KINGS 17:15a]. Now, I find that to be startling! Surely it would make any of us who are the least bit prescient to wonder why she would respond in that manner. Did mothers in Israel in that day have a different view of their children than we hold in this day? Was this widow perhaps so resigned to a slow death from starvation that she no longer cared that she was hastening her child’s death? Perhaps there is something here that is easily overlooked. Perhaps there is a lesson here that can encourage us in our own lives. Perhaps we need to take time to study this text in order to learn what God is prepared to teach us.
BUT FIRST — “Elijah said to [the widow], ‘Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son” [1 KINGS 17:13].
The Prophet first allays the fear this woman undoubtedly felt, comforting her by urging her, “Do not fear.” Before she can act on what will be pleasing to the Lord GOD, she must put aside the fear that would otherwise paralyse her. Have you ever noticed that when a heavenly messenger addresses someone, that angel’s first statement is quite frequently “Fear not?” The angel appearing to the shepherds with the announcement of the birth of the Christ, first comforts them, saying, “Fear not” [see LUKE 2:10].
In a comparable manner, whenever the Master is about to tell His disciples something of great significance, He often prefaces what He is about to say with the comforting admonition, “Fear not” [see MATTHEW 10:31; LUKE 12:32]. And when the Risen Lord of Glory appears to the Revelator during his exile on Patmos, the Master comforts John, saying, “Fear not” [see REVELATION 1:17].
After addressing the fear she felt, Elijah admonished the widow to look ahead to fulfilment of what she knows must be done when he says, “Go and do as you have said.” Go prepare food for yourself and your child. However, all that the Prophet says is predicated on her moving past the fear that would have paralyzed most of us. And the ability to move beyond the fear that must surely have seized her was to look forward to something that was impossible, something that only God could do, and that was to feed her and her child in the midst of a famine. And the ability to look beyond the moment was built on faith, however tenuous that faith may have been at that moment. We see this when the Prophet says to her, “But first make me a little cake of [the flour and the oil] and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son.”
Let me state as the essential truth that faith does nothing for us; and it would do nothing for this woman. It is the One in Whom she would place her faith that would ensure that she could move beyond the paralyzing moment. The Prophet is pointing to the Living God as the priority that can make the impossible happen.
If in the midst of a given crisis you may be experiencing, I should tell you to just have faith, that will be a meaningless statement. However, if I point you to look to the Lord GOD of Heaven and Earth, I am pointing you to Him Who can do whatever He pleases. One of the greatest prophets of God questioned the message God was giving Him. The Lord rebuked that prophet, challenging him to think. “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me” [JEREMIAH 32:27]?
When Sarah eavesdropped on the LORD’s promise to Abraham, hearing the LORD promise that she would bear a son, she questioned whether such a thing could happen. Well, would you be any more capable of believing what was overheard if you heard God stating that a ninety-year-old woman would have a son? The point is that the LORD knew that she doubted and responded to her doubt, “Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son” [GENESIS 18:14].
Faith is wonderful, but faith that is real will always be acted upon. Perhaps you will recall the presentation James makes when speaking of faith. James challenges, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also, faith by itself if it does not have works, is dead.
“But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead” [JAMES 2:14-26]. Look to the Lord, and don’t waste your faith by trusting in your faith.
So, the widow in our text might believe Elijah when he told her to stop being fearful, but until she acted on providing food for him as God would want her to do, her faith was essentially meaningless. Go back in your mind, and go back a few verses from our text, to note how Elijah happened to be in this particular place at this precise time. Looking at the verses immediately preceding our text, we read, “Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, ‘As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.’ And the word of the LORD came to him: ‘Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.’ So, he went and did according to the word of the LORD. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. And after a while the brook dried up because there was no rain in the land” [1 KINGS 17:1-7].
The LORD was bringing drought upon the land; but even in the midst of drought, God was providing for His servant. Ravens brought bread and meat each morning and each evening to ensure that the Prophet had food to eat. Elijah had water to drink from the brook. When the brook began to dry up, God again spoke to His servant, telling him, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you” [1 KINGS 17:9].
Throughout these interactions with the Lord GOD, I note that Elijah was to be in a specific place. He was not to go to any brook, but he was to take up residence beside the Brook Cherith. It was there, and only there, that the ravens would feed Elijah. God was providing a specific place for Elijah to be so that he might be cared for. After an unspecified period of time, again at God’s command, the prophet was to travel to the town of Zarephath because God had appointed a widow to provide for His servant there. God was in control; the LORD was responsible to make the provisions for His servant. Just so, you must know that our God has a place for you. He will provide for you in that place so long as you are serving Him and His cause. Take up residence elsewhere and you will surrender the provision that God is prepared to give.
Elijah obeyed, going to the place where God directed him to go, knowing that in the city of Zarephath resided a widow whom God had commanded to feed His servant. What is not immediately apparent is that in some way, though we are not told precisely how it happened, God had worked in the heart of this widow to ensure that she could feed Elijah. There is no outward hint that she would respond in a positive manner to the strange request with which she would be accosted. Nevertheless, the LORD was working, though no one looking on the situation would have been able to see His hand working.
It is so extremely easy for us to fall into despair at times, imagining that we are left alone to face the challenges looming before us. So very often we face challenges and fall into a funk, thinking that God doesn’t care. This widow watched her food supply dwindle day-after-day. We can readily imagine that she took prudent steps to conserve what little she had because it wasn’t only her own welfare that was at stake, she had a child to care for. However, throughout this famine God was working; and she wasn’t actually aware of His silent work that was preparing her for a blessing so marvellous that no one could imagine.
There are people who are hearing what I am saying even at this hour, and you are facing some challenges that seem so great that you have no idea how you will meet those challenges. You know that you love God and that you are seeking to honour Him. And yet, the overwhelming challenge looms ever larger in front of you. Here is what I want you to know—if you are where God wants you to be, if you are serving God with your whole heart, you must know that He is even now preparing you for success. Even now, provided you are serving the Lord as He appoints you to serve, He is working in the heart of some someone to ensure that you are not destroyed by the challenge you face.
We read the Scriptures, but we struggle to incorporate those blessed writings into our own life. We see Peter encouraging the one who follows the Risen Saviour, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” [1 PETER 5:6-7]. Despite seeing what is written and despite saying that we believe this to be true, we cast our anxieties on Christ, and immediately pick them up again. However, He cares for you. We know that we need not carry our worries on our own shoulders!
We hear the Master encourage us when He says, “Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
“Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” [MATTHEW 6:25-34].
Yet, though we hear His words and we are momentarily comforted by what He says, we question and doubt as we ponder how we will meet the challenges of the coming day. Because you are a child of the Living God, and because you are seeking to serve Him with your whole heart, know that He is at work even now ensuring that He will be glorified in you. Just as God was working in the life of that widow, though she was not even aware that He was at work, so the Lord is at work in your life as you seek Him and His glory. Serving where He placed you and doing what He assigned you to do, the Lord has far more at risk than you. He will ensure that you fulfil the task which He has given. That is His business; your business is to obey Him.
If I am able to instill one thought in your mind through this message today, let it be this—the object of faith is critical. Don’t settle for the bland, stupid mantra that is tossed about so casually to just believe. No! Put your faith in the Risen, Living Son of God Who conquered death, hell, and the grave. Look to Christ the Lord in order to know the full power that He exercises on behalf of those who serve Him.
This is the promise that our Lord has delivered to those who love Him. “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it” [JOHN 14:12-14].
Again, recall the promise that Jesus has given those who love Him and serve Him. “Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” [JOHN 16:23b-24].
It is not merely asking God for whatever we imagine we need, it is standing in the Name of Jesus and asking that He might be glorified in giving what we ask. We see little of the power displayed by the Apostles because we rely on our own strength, or we depend upon what “science” can give us. We need what Peter demonstrated when he glorified the Master by giving the power to walk to a crippled man. Perhaps you will recall the incident as it is recorded in the account Doctor Luke provides of the work of the earliest followers of the Way. The particular account is given in ACTS 3:1-10. There, we read of the power of God demonstrated in the life of two of the disciples of Jesus.
“Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, ‘Look at us.’ And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, ‘I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!’ And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.”
It was through standing in the Name of Jesus that Peter and John gave strength to withered limbs. When they were haled before the Jewish Council and that august body demanded an answer for what they did and how they managed to do it, Peter filled with the Spirit of Christ was enabled to respond, “If we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well.” Then, the Big Fisherman gave them even more than they had requested when he said, “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” [ACTS 4:9-12].
“But first…” Obeying God and standing in His authority, do what He commands, and He will be glorified, and we shall fulfil His will. We who follow the Risen Saviour will do well to remember His admonition to the disciples. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” [JOHN 14:15]. There is but one conclusion when we witness someone who fails to keep Jesus’ commandments. Such a person does not love the Saviour! And if that one does not love the Saviour, are they saved? How can we love the Son of God when we maintain the claim over our own life?
You may recall that John will echo the words of the Master when he writes in the first of the General Epistles that he wrote and which are included in the canon of Scripture, “By this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him” [1 JOHN 2:3-4]. Well, that is straight enough!
I remind you that the Master challenged people by asking a rather stern question, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you” [LUKE 6:46]? Why bother speaking of Him as Lord, as Master, if you have no desire to obey what He commands?
You have often heard me recite the words which the Apostle has written in the Letter to Christians in Rome. Inspired by the Spirit of Christ, Paul wrote, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” [ROMANS 10:9-10]. Either Jesus is Lord, or He is nothing. Either He is Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all. First things first! Carry on with your life, but first remember your responsibility to obey the Saviour.
GOD AS PRIORITY — “She went and did as Elijah said” [1 KINGS 17:15a]. Putting God as a priority for life by obeying the voice of the Prophet was costly for this widow. We tend to rush ahead and read the conclusion of the story, but it does not change the truth that at that moment Elijah called her to go against her basic instinct. She was challenged to do what is almost impossible for a mother. When life is pressing down, and you feel you must focus on your immediate felt need, can you easily set aside your fear to do the seemingly impossible by doing what God asks, especially when doing the will of God seems so hard? When serving God seems to take away love for your child, can you serve Him? We tend to act on instinct rather than knowledge. We tell ourselves that if we don’t take care of our own needs first, we won’t be able to care for the needs of others.
Heartless people may ignore the needs of those they presumably love while promoting their own welfare, but that is the exception, or at least rational people hope it is the exception. We do witness an incident when a woman surrendered her son to feed herself in the Historic Books of the Old Testament. The incident caused a king to threaten a prophet of God. Here is the account as recorded in 2 KINGS 6:24-31.
“Ben-hadad king of Syria mustered his entire army and went up and besieged Samaria. And there was a great famine in Samaria, as they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver. Now as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, ‘Help, my lord, O king!’ And he said, ‘If the LORD will not help you, how shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the winepress?’ And the king asked her, ‘What is your trouble?’ She answered, ‘This woman said to me, “Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.” So, we boiled my son and ate him. And on the next day I said to her, “Give your son, that we may eat him.” But she has hidden her son.’ When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes—now he was passing by on the wall—and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth beneath on his body—and he said, ‘May God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today.’”
We are rightfully horrified when we read of a mother who sells her child into prostitution in order to feed a drug habit. We are grieved when we read of a mother selling a child into slavery—actual or virtual—to provide food and clothing for the rest of the family. We recognise such actions grow out of desperation, whether justifiable or not, whether imposed by circumstances beyond her control or brought upon herself by her own foolish choices.
The Apostle writes of conditions in the last days, noting, “Understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power” [2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5a].
In the normal course, a mother would rather go without food than see her child starving. A mother would rather wear rags and shiver with the cold before she would permit her child to be unclothed. A mother will sacrifice herself for her child, just as a father will sacrifice himself for his family. However, the mother in the text before us is asked to act contrary to what we would anticipate to be the normal action of a mother.
In reality, this widow in our text was being presented with a challenge. She could focus solely on the immediate, and she would possibly extend her life by hours at most, and then she would die. Or she could heed the call of God and live. The choice was stark, demanding. Years ago, Christians living in the southern United States might hear the admonition, “Don’t sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the temporary.” It was a pointed saying that cautioned against becoming so focused on what lies immediately before you that you fail to prepare for what stretches out beyond the horizon. Don’t become so consumed with addressing the immediate that you fail to address the eternal.
Your life, and more particularly in light of the example provided in our text this day, the manner in which you live out your life before your family reveals your priority. If your primary concern is acquiring “things,” I’m speaking of the baubles of this world which must fall into ruin with their use, do not be surprised when your children turn from your pleas for them to follow Christ so they can instead embrace the attitudes of this dying world. If your primary concern is exalting yourself through tearing down others, it is likely that your children will become gossips, growing ever more petty in their relationships. You trained them to treat others as though people have no value! If your primary concern is maintaining a façade that does not match the reality of your life, it is almost certain that your children will esteem the image they maintain rather than cultivating character. You are the primary determinant in what your children become.
In contrast to the dark portrayal I’ve just provided, know that if you walk humbly before the Lord, confessing your utter dependence on Him and His grace, you will have put power behind your words. And that example of dependence on Him will have a greater chance that it will resonate in the heart of your children. You may have heard that old saying that cautions us as parents, “You are what you do, all else is mere talk.” And you may be certain that your children will mirror you as result of the life you are living.
YOUR PRIORITIES — This is Mothers’ Day, the day we set aside to honour Mothers. And as you might anticipate, I am especially intent on encouraging our mothers with this message, though I am confident that each of us can draw encouragement through our study of what took place in that Sidonian village so many millennia before this day.
We are living in a lawless age, and for the first time in history, we witness a strange phenomenon of men assuming they are really women despite biology. Let me say without reservation, no male, no individual having the chromosomal designation of male, can ever be a mother. A man can be a father, and when compelled by situations beyond his control, a man can be a father to a motherless child, but that man can never be a mother—nor should he! I was raised in a home without a mother, and I bless the Lord that He gave me a godly dad who taught me to be a man. He instructed me to respect women, including my own mother who had deserted her place as a mother and a wife.
Certainly, I encourage each of us to honour our mothers who are still alive, just as I encourage all to honour the ideal of motherhood. Nevertheless, I especially want to encourage mothers with the message I am delivering today, while making every effort to provide wisdom for the journey each mother is now making as they raise the children God has entrusted to them. I want to instruct all who are mothers, and all who may one day become mothers, through emphasising truths that honour God, equipping us for His service. However, what I have to say is applicable to each person sharing our service today; so, I don’t want any gentlemen tuning out as I speak today.
So, allow me to be pointed in my closing statements. You who are redeemed have a responsibility to serve the Lord God. Your first priority is to honour God with your life, obeying Him in all that He says. I would hope that you recall the command that Jesus emphasised when He was challenged to point to the first and greatest commandment. A scribe had asked Jesus, “Which commandment is the most important of all” [MARK 12:28b]? And you will no doubt recall the answer Jesus gave this scribe. “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” [MARK 12:29-31]. The pharisaical scholar got a twofer; he received two answers which really cannot be separated. For if you love God supremely, you will love those among whom you live.
Here is the importance of that answer: we are to be fully committed to God, serving Him without hesitation. He must be our priority for life. And if He is our priority, we will not neglect those for whom we are responsible in the home. However, if we attempt to elevate our family above our responsibility to serve God, we will dishonour God and we will soon neglect our family.
Allow me to bear down on that thought by pointing you to Jesus as He was giving some of the final instruction to His disciples. The passage is found in John’s Gospel, where we read, “‘If you love me, you will obey my commandments. Then I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he resides with you and will be in you.
“‘I will not abandon you as orphans, I will come to you. In a little while the world will not see me any longer, but you will see me; because I live, you will live too. You will know at that time that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you. The person who has my commandments and obeys them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him.’
“‘Lord,’ Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, ‘what has happened that you are going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?’ Jesus replied, ‘If anyone loves me, he will obey my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him. The person who does not love me does not obey my words. And the word you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me’” [JOHN 14:15-24]. Love for Jesus is equated with obedience to Him. And when we obey the Saviour, we are obeying God.
On one occasion, a woman attempted to bless Mary, the mother of Jesus, but Jesus corrected her by responding, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it” [LUKE 11:28]! Here it is precisely. We are to know the Word of God, for therein is found the will of God. And when we know the will of God, we are to do what God commands. Sometimes, as in the case of the woman in our text, the command of God will challenge us to go against our natural instinct. However, our priority is always to do the will of God, rather than doing what makes us feel good or what is convenient.
But you must know that it is impossible to do the will of God until you have received the Son of God as Master over your life. To attempt to be ruler over your own life rather than submitting to the reign of Jesus will only result in failure to do what God commands. Jesus must be Lord over your life; until He is Lord, you are powerless.
I often point to the promise of God that is delivered through the Apostle Paul. Writing to the Christians gathered in Rome, the Apostle spoke of the freedom offered to all who are willing to receive Christ as Master over life. In the tenth chapter of that book, Paul writes, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and if you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved. We believe with our hearts, and so we are made right with God. And we declare with our mouths that we believe, and so we are saved. As the Scripture says, ‘Anyone who trusts in him will never be disappointed.’ That Scripture says ‘anyone’ because there is no difference between those who are Jews and those who are not. The same Lord is the Lord of all and gives many blessings to all who trust in him, as the Scripture says, ‘Anyone who calls on the Lord will be saved’” [ROMANS 10:9-13 NCV].
This promise certainly is extended to you. If you have not called out to the Lord Jesus to save you, now is the time to make Him Lord over your life. Believe that He died because of you and that He rose from the dead for you. Believe Him today. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
