Scripture to meditate on

1 Kings 17:7-16

7 Some time 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 of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place 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 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 cake 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 gives 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.

The blessings of the Lord works both ways.  In giving and in receiving.  Elijah had to humble himself to ask a widow woman for food and drink in a season of famine.  Too often we limit God's ability to bless us when we look at our surroundings.  Many of us would have argued with God about asking a poor widow for her last offering.  But his obedience to the Lord is what provided the blessing to the widow woman and all her relatives.

When the widow woman wavered in giving the prophet what he asked, the prophet told her not to fear and do as told for in obedience she would be blessed.  That takes faith to do!

Too often we allow fear to stop God's flow in our lives.  The receiving of the prophet and the giving of the widow woman set the stage for God's blessing to a group pf people.  Take God at His Word and obey your way to the blessing!