The Grace Of The Lord In The Midst Of Famine.

THE GRACE OF THE LORD IN THE MIDST OF FAMINE.

1 Kings 17:8-16.

“Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months” (James 5:17).

This may seem an audacious thing to pray for, but the prophet's main concern was no doubt for the honour of the LORD, whose wrath and curse is pronounced against even the nation of Israel if she should turn aside from Him: “Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; And then the LORD's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD gives you” (Deuteronomy 11:16-17).

After living some time by the Brook Cherith where he was fed by the ravens, Elijah was commanded: “Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belonged to Sidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee” (1 Kings 17:8-9).

That this woman had received the gift of faith was seen early in her encounter with the man of God. She professed the inability to feed him with the words: “As the LORD thy God lives, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die” (1 Kings 17:12). It has been well observed, that her desire was to feed her son, rather than to eat him as some Israelite women had done to their sons during a famine!

The circumstances might have seemed discouraging, yet even before receiving Elijah into her house, the widow woman knew that the LORD God of Israel was the true and living God! Perhaps even Elijah's sudden appearance was an answer to her prayers?

Certainly her felt needs were being met when Elijah responded: “Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the earth” (1 Kings 17:13-14).

So grace could truly be said in that household for the time to come: she had received the LORD's grace, and the gift of faith, the gift of prayer, and now the gift of answered prayer - all she had to do was to obey: “And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah” (1 Kings 17:15-16).

In His inaugural Sermon in Nazareth, Jesus said: “Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country... Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow” (Luke 4:23-26).

A distinction was being made by the Lord between this Sidonian widow, and the Israeli widows. She had been singled out “not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13).

"But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on His name" (John 1:12).