Ahab was a no-good king. God usually sent prophets to send word, so this time he sent... ELIJAH THE TISHBITE!!!! He told Ahab that there would be no rain in the next few years. After which he went to hide in a ravine, where God commanded the ravens to feed him. When the spring there dried up, God sent him to the house of a widow to ask for some bread. She said, "I only have 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."
He 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. Then make something for you and your son. 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.' "
So the widow really had no other choice. If I was her, I'd feel a bit iffy about the whole thing. She probably mumbled something about crazy prophets the whole time she was making the bread. When it was done, she brought it to him. Then trudged back to make some for her and her son she peeked into the jar, not sure whether to expect to find it full or empty. Sure enough - it was full! So was the jug! So the widow and her son and Elijah lived with plenty of bread.
But the widow's son soon became ill and died. The woman went to Elijah and said, "What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?"
Elijah took the boy and said, "O LORD my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?" The widow had asked him, "did you do this? Is it your fault?" Then Elijah had asked God, "did you do this? Is it your fault?" He stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this boy's life return to him!" And the LORD heard Elijah's cry and he lived. Elijah took him to his mother and she said, "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth." It seems like she would've gotten a clue before, seeing as her flour jar was still full and there was still no rain on the land. But you know what? We all do that. We forget about the little things God does for us, and doubt him when it's time for him to make things work. When I was getting ready to go to Arkansas, we needed those little bitty toothpaste tubes to carry on the plane. My mom's into couponing, so we had free toothpaste all over, and we couldn't believe we had to go and actually BUY little toothpastes. But guess what we got in the mail as a Wal-Mart sample - free little bitty toothpastes. I was delighted! There was a lot of planes to catch next and lots of things that could happen that we could be delayed or not even go. But I didn't have a problem then because I figured if God could send us toothpaste, he could get planes where we needed. It's not like we didn't have $3 tops to get the toothpaste - God just knew we didn't want to have to buy them. If God can do little the little things that we don't even need - just want, He can DEFINITELY do the things we need!!!!
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