Grit&Grace- Not Just Another Pretty Face~ The Widow, Desperate Yet Obedient

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So here we are with yet another post in our Grit&Grace series! 
Geez, life has been busy lately! I'm tired. I have a headache. But the Lord is faithful. He always provides for our needs according to the dictates of His will, am I right?

He is. His faithfulness and provision are exactly what today's thought is about.

Hidden inside the book of 1 Kings, is a small portion of a chapter dedicated to the account of Elijah and a Widow. While only a few verses long, this piece of Scripture gives us some insight into the character of a woman that the Lord and His prophet loved, even without telling us her name. 

1 Kings chapter 17 tells us that the land of Israel was in a terrible drought. [17:7] It tells us of a widow that lived in the land there and her son. Pulling from the recap of this account in James (5:17), we can guesstimate that this drought had been going on for a year or so already. That's a long time without water, especially for the hot climate of Israel. 

We don't know how old the Widow was, but we know that she was married at some point, consequently later widowed, and that she had a son. Since the son was still living at home with her, he most likely wasn't very old; thus, she probably wasn't very old either. Again, I'll estimate her to be around our age, Ladies. Widowed, a drought, and who-knows-what-else-beforehand. This poor woman had been through a lot; was , in fact, still going through a lot.

I know that you have been through some tough things in life- maybe some really tough things. Maybe you've felt like this Widow, alone and desperate for provision. Maybe you've felt the weight of suddenly having to take charge. Maybe you've experienced the burden of others being dependent on you and you alone. If so, then you can probably relate to this beautiful soul. 

After everything she had been through, she could have chosen to become bitter. She could have sealed off herself from any outsider. She could have closed her life off to God. But she didn't.

In verse 8 Scripture tells us that the Lord sent Elijah, a man of great faith in God that the Lord used powerfully as recorded throughout the book of Kings, to Zarepeth- where the Widow lived. As a matter of fact, the Lord sent Elijah to that region SPECIFICALLY to stay with the Widow and her son. Verse 9 records the Lord telling Elijah that He DIRECTED the Widow to take care of Elijah. 

Geez, again we see the Lord using unlikely candidates to fulfill His greater purpose. Last week we discussed His using Rahab, the prostitute, a most unlikely candidate if there ever was one, to bring about a victory in His battle. Now we see The Lord using a poor, helpless Widow to care for His power-exhibiting man, Elijah.

The Lord sends Elijah to find this Widow, and he goes looking! He eventually finds her gathering sticks by the town gate. Now picture this for a moment. You are this Widow. You are poor. You are widowed. There is a nation-wide drought going on and you are being hit hard by it. You have a son that needs you. You're probably not sleeping much from all the responsibility. You probably look quite the sight! And now, you're spending your morning gathering sticks out in the sun. Do you have the mental image? Can you picture the bags under her eyes? Can you feel the sweat beads on her brow and the calluses on her hands from hard work? Do you see the worry lines etched on her forehead? 

Now, keep that image. Verse 10 says "So he [Elijah] 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?”.

Like COME ON! Man of God or no, can't the guy see that she's working hard at the moment? The first thing he says to her is to ask her to do something?! Okay, I get that customs and such were different in the days of the Bible than they are today. I respect that! But I probably would've been a little rude and told the man where the well was and to get it himself.

Did she though? No, she went immediately to get him the drink. [17:11] That's grace. 

Elijah even went on to ask her to make him something to eat, as the Lord had instructed him about [17:9]. He knew they were experiencing a drought. He probably knew, too, that this woman was in a tough situation. But the Lord was at work in this circumstance.

The woman exhibited another huge outpouring of grace when she replied to his request with-->
"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.” [17:12]
"13Elijah 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.’” [17:13-14]

Say what?! 

The dear Widow was gracefully, yet blatantly, honest with Elijah. She basically told him that she and her son were starving and literally only had enough flour for one last meal. That was it. 
One. Last. Meal.
Certainly not enough to feed an extra full-grown man.

And yet The Lord, through the mouth of Elijah, told her "Don't be afraid." She was instructed to, not only, continue on with her meal as originally planned; but to FIRST make Elijah a loaf, and afterwards make her and her son some. 

Y'all, this woman had next to nothing. She had a son that she couldn't promise a meal past this day. She was preparing her mind for death due to her lack of resources, and yet here she is being asked- again by God only through His vessel Elijah- to set herself aside, to set the life of her son aside, and be obedient to the Lord. 

Would you do it?

In America, we here have a hard time understanding true need and true desperation. The chilling reality of the situation that this Widow was facing is something that many of us can't wrap our minds around. We, here, have a hard time just tithing every Sunday; let alone giving up what could be our very last meal in obedience to the Lord. 

I'd be willing to bet that many of us would not have been obedient to the Lord in this particular instance. Shamefully, as I reflect, I probably would'nt've. At most I would've baked the bread and given Elijah what was left AFTER my son ate- certainly not before!

However, the Widow did as she was instructed. [17:15]

That's grit. 

The ability to look into the face of pure need and desperation and still faithfully be obedient to the Lord is a strength of character that I, personally, am sadly lacking. How about you? In comparison to the grit and grace shown by this widow, how do you measure up?

Scripture goes on to tell us that the Lord was abundant in providing for the needs of the Widow. Verse 16 lays forth that the oil and flour needed for meals was continuously multiplied, so that it never ran out. That's a miracle! 

BUT! Before the ingredients proved continuously sufficient, the Widow first had to be obedient and use the last of them. I can picture her scraping the bottom of the jar as reality of its true emptiness settled in her stomach. Still, she made the bread. And the Lord rewarded her obedience with recurring provision. 

He will do this for us, too. 
Philipians 4:19 says that "And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus." 
The context of this verse is on giving. The church of Philippi had been very generous in giving to Paul and his fellow ministers for their ministry. Philippi was faithful in obedience and generosity, thus God promised to meet their needs. The Widow was faithful and obedient in feeding and caring for Elijah, thus the Lord met her needs each day. Coincidence? Certainly not. But I'll let the Holy Spirit in you have His way with that point.

I regress... The Lord has certainly shown me new ways that I need to emulate the beautiful spirit of the Widow from 1 Kings. 

• The grace in her responses. 
• The grace in her acceptance of her situation. 
• The grace in her care for others.

LIKEWISE-->

• The grit in her determination.
• The grit in her selfless obedience.
• The grit in the fire of her spirit as she prepared new meals each day.

The chapter doesn't end  with verse 16, and I encourage you to read the rest. The Lord does many other "Only Him" things in her life. But for now, I want to leave you with this thought until next week. 

If you were that widow, if you were standing before Elijah with an armful of sticks and the knowledge that you were completely out of resources for your son, would you have been obedient?

And, in what areas of your life, right now, are you standing before God- very much in the same way as the widow did, and, considering all the mess and craziness of your own life, will you decide to be obedient to Him or not?