Honoring God With Our Money: Lessons from the Widow and Elijah

As you read the story of the widow and Elijah in I Kings 17:7- 16 below, think about what we can learn from this story about God’s provision for His people.

 And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.  

And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying,   Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.   

So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.

And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.

¹And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, 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.

Elijah asks the widow for bread

And Elijah said unto her, 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 sendeth rain upon the earth.

 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.

 

When I read this story, it reminds me that:

(1)   God does provide for His people.

(2)   God wants us to trust Him.

(3)   We need to give to the work of the Lord first and then take care of ourselves.