1 Kings 17:8-16 — Flour and Oil

Flour and Oil by James M. Thomas

The LORD’s word came to him, saying, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain 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. He called to her, and said, “Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.”

As she was going to get it, he called to her, and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”

She said, “As the LORD your God lives, I don’t have a cake, but a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jar. Behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and bake it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”

Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go and do as you have said; but make me a little cake from it first, and bring it out to me, and afterward make some for you and for your son. For the LORD, the God of Israel says, ‘The jar of meal will not run out, and the jar of oil will not fail, until the day that the LORD sends rain on the earth.’ ”

She went and did according to the saying of Elijah; and she, and he, and her house, ate many days. The jar of meal didn’t run out, and the jar of oil didn’t fail, according to the LORD’s word, which he spoke by Elijah. 
—1 Kings 17:8-16

Merriam-Webster defines stewardship as “the activity or job of protecting and being responsible for something.” Who of us isn’t responsible for something? More and more these days when I think about responsibility and stewardship, I find myself thinking about the widow of Zerephath…

God had used Elijah to bring a drought in Israel in order to get the attention of King Ahab and give a wake-up call to God’s people. Survival became a challenge in the land. But God provided for and supported His servant Elijah through various methods. One method was through a person who was struggling to survive herself–a widow in the coastal town of Zerephath.

The widow was a Phoenician, of he same culture and beliefs as Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, King of Israel. It seemed the widow had more in common with the woman who wanted Elijah dead. And yet God sent Elijah to her.

The fact that the woman was a widow suggests that she had no one else to rely on. What’s more, she had a son. Not only was she trying to feed herself and keep a roof over her own head. She also had to do the same for her household. Things had gotten pretty bleak for her during the drought. And in the midst of this, God commanded the woman to take care of His servant Elijah, whom God was sending her way.

Well, aside from being startled that God had communicated with her, the widow was struck with disbelief that she could handle another mouth to feed. And when Elijah showed up, she told him as much. This woman planned to take the last of her flour and her oil and make a little bread for her and her son—a last meal of sorts. After that, she fully expected that she and her son would starve to death.

But Elijah had seen what God could do and assured the woman: If she made Elijah her first priority, the bowl of flour would not be exhausted, nor would the jar of oil be empty, until the day the LORD ended the drought by sending the rain. And that is just what happened.

Now for the stewardship application: Though I have seen God work in my own life, I confess that, at times, I still find myself wondering what the next day will bring. And I’m sure I’m not alone.

But if God has called us to be a supporter of His work through His church, then we must believe God will enable us to do just that. And though, like the widow, our flour and our oil seem to be nearly gone, God will stretch them, in amazing ways, to see us through the drought until He once again sends the rains.

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