This evening we’re going to be in the book of 1 Kings, chapter 17, verses 8 through 24. We’ve had two ordination services on Sunday evening, and three weeks ago we began a series called “Indispensable.” And what we’re trying to do in this series is look at characters in the Bible, nameless and overlooked characters in the Bible, that we have much to learn from. We live in a culture, a celebrity culture, and sadly that creeps into the life of the church as well too, and yet the Bible shows us that there is much to be learned and there are great examples of faith in the nameless and in the overlooked, because ultimately it’s not about us; it’s about God. So we’re going to be in 1 Kings 17:8-24. I love this story. In seminary I did an exegetical paper on it and I’ve taught Sunday school on it and I’m thrilled to be able to preach it to you. It features a nameless widow from a pagan land in a dark and difficult time in Israel’s history. And what we see in this nameless woman is a surprising recipient of God’s kindness and a striking example of faith to us. So before I read God’s Word, let’s go to Him in prayer.
Father we just sang that Christ is all that we have. That is our confession. We stand here as those who only stand upon the merit of Christ Jesus. We are here to worship You. We are here to learn from Your Word. We are, without Christ, we are destitute and we are empty of anything good and spiritual. And yet in Christ, we have everything we will ever need. And so as we study this story of this widow in a pagan land, help us to see Your goodness, help us to believe it in our trials, help us to believe it in our suffering, and help us to reconsider our expectations about where and with who and how You work. Please be with us. Thank You for your good and true and perfect Word. We pray all of this in Jesus’ name, amen.
1 Kings 17, starting in verse 8, reading through 24. This is God’s Word:
“Then the word of the Lord came to him,” Elijah, “‘Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed 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. And he called to her and said, ‘Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.’ And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, ‘Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.’ And she said, ‘As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.’ And Elijah said to her, ‘Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’’ And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.
After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. And she said to Elijah, ‘What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!’ And he said to her, ‘Give me your son.’ And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed. And he cried to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?’ Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.’ And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, ‘See, your son lives.’ And the woman said to Elijah, ‘Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.’”
Amen. This is God’s Word.
Billy Graham was once asked, “Who is the greatest Christian of all time?” and his answer was this. He said, “I suspect that it would probably be someone you would have never heard of, someone who humbly lived for Christ in a very difficult and obscure circumstance, but who loved Christ and lived for Him, regardless of the cost.” I love this story before us this evening because it shows us a picture of a woman who came to faith and is actually an example of faith for us in a very difficult and obscure circumstance. But more than that, I love this story because it shows us something about the character of God that we all need to see. It shows us about the goodness of God. And I also love this story because what it does, if you read it honestly, if you hear God’s Word in this text and you receive it, what it does is it forces you to reconsider things. It forces you to reconsider the expectations that you have about how God will work in this world. It forces you to consider the purpose of your suffering. It ultimately forces you to reconsider the goodness of God. And so those are the three points this evening. This story forces us to reconsider our expectations, it forces us to reconsider our suffering, and it forces us to reconsider our understanding of the goodness of God.
Reconsider Our Expectations
So first, this story forces us to reconsider our expectations. This was a dark time in Israel’s history. Idol worship was rampant, there was a wicked king too, and because of that, Elijah, God’s mouthpiece, the one who God spoke through, had withdrawn. God had commanded him to leave Israel. And then, he camps out by a brook, and because of the darkness in the land, actually God had commanded a drought and a famine. And Elijah had told King Ahab, “Until I say so, there will be no rain,” and there wasn’t because God’s Word is true. And so the brook and the resources that Elijah had here in the beginning of chapter 17, had dried up. And so in verse 8, it says, “The word of the Lord came to him, and said, ‘Arise, go to Zarephath,’” which is a pagan area. It would be considered Baal country. “Arise and go to Zarephath.” And God says, “There will be a widow there to meet you and provide for you.” And so Elijah obeys God’s command and he goes.
And in verses 8 through 10, he meets this widow, this woman, this nameless woman, who is vulnerable, who is desperate. You really couldn’t come up with a better picture of vulnerability and desperation, could you? She is a widow during a time when widows really had no provision. She was responsible for a child who clearly couldn’t help her with things because she had to do the work by herself, so she was working alone. She didn’t live in a place where the one, true living God was exalted. She lived in Baal country. She was vulnerable, she was desperate, and she was making her last meal. She said to Elijah, “I am gathering sticks so I can make my last meal so my son and I can eat it and then die.” This is vulnerability. This is true desperation. You couldn’t get more vulnerable than this. And yet, this is exactly where God chooses to work. This is exactly where God shows up – into this dark and bleak and hopeless situation.
And moreover, when Elijah speaks to her and says, “Share with me some of your food and give me some water, share with me some of your last meal because the Lord says your food will not run out,” she hears him and she obeys. This is actually a picture of faith for us. She receives the Word of God and she acts on it. She not only trusts Elijah, but she trusts the word of the one, true living God. And this is actually exactly what faith is. Faith is staking everything upon the Word of God. Dale Ralph Davis says, “Faith is wagering everything upon the veracity of God’s Word.”
And so this story, it gives us a picture of faith, but it also tells us something very important about faith. Faith is not something just for the intellectual. Faith is not something just for the impressive. It’s not something simply for the well-known or the wealthy. It is for anyone who will receive the Word of God and trust wholly in the Word of God and what it says about Christ Jesus and what He does for sinners. So faith may not be for who we expect. And this text, this story, it forces us to reconsider our expectations about the what and the who and the when of faith and how God works in this world because when it comes to faith, it doesn’t matter who you are, it doesn’t matter where you’re from, it doesn’t matter what your last name is. It doesn’t matter what you do or who you know. All that matters is whether or not you believe God. And so we need to reconsider our expectations about how God works and with who God works in this world.
Now I’ll give you an example. During the water crisis months ago, we had the privilege to deliver water to area code 39206, people who had reached out to 311 and asked for water deliveries, right? And so we would take bundles of water, we would knock on the door and if they let us in we would give them their water, we would pray with them, we’d tell them what we could about our church, and that’s pretty much what we did. And so we drove into this area of town that we typically don’t usually go to, and in one particular instance we pull up to a house and the yard is unkempt, we knock on the door and a sweet woman answers the door and she invites us in. And inside her house, it was apparent because he was there, but you could see her husband, she had devoted her life to caring for her husband. He was in poor health. It seemed as though his legs had been amputated and she was completely taking care of him. And so we gave the water to her and I asked if I could pray. And I prayed. And then she asked me if she could pray for us. And the prayer that she prayed would put the prayers that I write for a worship service to shame. Scripture flowed from her heart. And we left that home, surprisingly – and maybe we shouldn’t have been surprised – but we left that home ministered to and blessed.
And the reason I tell you this story is because you never know where God is at work in this world. And that story was a great reminder to me not to put expectations that are unbiblical or too narrow upon God who gives faith to all kinds of people in all kinds of situations. For when it comes to faith, it doesn’t matter who you are or where you are from. It’s for anyone who will believe God.
You know, there’s great spiritual danger, actually, in putting any kind of unbiblical expectation on the requirements of faith. Jesus actually talks about this story in Luke 4 and He tells the Israelites, He tells the religious leaders in that day, He says, “There were many widows in the land of Israel that Elijah could have gone to during that drought and famine, but God sent Elijah to a woman outside the city, to a pagan land, to Zarephath.” And the people, when Christ said that, were deeply offended. They were outraged. In fact, the Bible tells us that they tried to run amuck to the top of a hill and kill Him and throw Him off. They wanted to kill Jesus because of what He said to them. You see, they thought that they were deserving of being accepted based on their heritage, their ethnicity, their lineage; anything but simple faith. They expected to be accepted because of who they were, not because of who God is. And so may that never be true of us. May we never expect to be accepted for any other reason than because of who God is.
So the question for us this evening is this – “Where do we expect and where even do we want God to do His work in this world?” Do we put limitations on the work of God in this world based off of culture? Do we subconsciously put limitations on God’s work in this world based off of a zip code? What are the things that we expect of God that are unbiblical and untrue? We need to realign our expectations with what the Bible teaches us about how God works in this world. What about our own lives? Where do we expect God to work? How do we expect God to use our lives for His kingdom? We do a great deal of talking about gifts, and that is good. We are to use our gifts for God’s glory, and yet the Bible teaches that God often, and maybe even especially, uses our weaknesses for His work in this world. Paul says, “I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” We need to realign our expectations with what the Bible teaches, with what this story shows us about how God works in this world and in our lives. So first, we need to reconsider our expectations.
Reconsider Our Suffering
Secondly, we need to reconsider our suffering. The story, I think if you are reading it for the first time, or if you are reading it with fresh eyes, you get to verse 17 and you hear about the death of this widow’s young son. And honestly, you’re perplexed. What’s going on here? Is this the other shoe finally dropping? Why is God allowing this to happen? Of course we quickly read that Elijah does pray and intercede and the boy is brought back to life. And yet, we are left with the lingering question – What is going on here? Why would God allow this to happen? God is not playing games. God is not toying with this widow woman in Zarephath. God is actually calling this nameless widow into something deeper and better.
And for the reader of this story, God is forcing us to reconsider our suffering. At the end of the story in verse 24, when the dust settles from this traumatic event, this widow says this. “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.” What this does not mean is that she had previously rejected the Word of God just before. What it does mean is that her assurance that God is true and that His Word can be trusted is strengthened. He is the God that rules over creation. He is the God that gives life. He never lives. And she came, this widow came out on the other side of this trial more sure with a greater and deeper assurance. Her faith was actually strengthened through this painful and distressing and gut wrenching trial.
And actually, this is often how God works in our lives, is it not? One author who I love says that, “God gives us gifts in hard times. And one of those gifts is a sweet assurance that at the end of the day God is always trustworthy and true.” God shows this to the woman in Zarephath and He does this for us time and time again. It’s actually through affliction so often that our assurance grows. Listen to the words of John Newton. He says, “Assurance grows when we have been brought very low and helped, sorely wounded and healed, cast down and raised again, have given up all hope and have been suddenly snatched from danger and placed in safety. And when these things have been repeated to us and in us a thousand times over, we begin to learn to trust simply to the word and power of God beyond and against appearances. And this trust, when habitual and strong, bears the name of assurance.”
So what about you? Where are your points of pain and perplexity? What are your doubts? What are your fears? Certainly there are many. And could it be that the things that make life difficult, the things that make life overwhelming, could it be that these actually are the things that God is using to forge something better and beautiful in your life? This doesn’t mean that you have to like suffering, in fact, you shouldn’t like suffering. But there are gifts that God gives His people during hardship, there are treasures in our trials, and one of those is a greater assurance of His promises and His character and His Word. And so this story is showing us that we must, in light of who God is, reconsider our suffering.
But what does that look like? Well it looks like paying attention. It looks like developing a healthy curiosity for what God might be up to in your trials. It looks like putting up the antenna even in the storm to receive what God may have for you. We need to develop a healthy curiosity, even in the storms of life, for what God might be doing because there really are treasures in our trials, treasures for us sweeter and better and deeper things that God is calling us to through our suffering.
One other thing. We’re able to jump back in the text. I’m always struck by Elijah’s word to the widow woman when she says, “I am about to eat my last meal and die.” He says, “Do not fear.” That is an audacious thing to say to someone that is about to eat their final meal and starve. But Elijah can say, “Do not fear,” because in that moment God is present through His Word. And there is a lesson in that for us. Even in our suffering, even in our confusion, even in our trials, even in the dark places of life, where God’s Word is, there is always hope. Where God’s Word is, there is always hope because God’s Word shows us, as the hymn says, that “our Jesus can repay from His own fullness all that He takes away.” And so this story shows us what John Bunyan writes. He says, “I have often seen that the afflicted are the best sort of Christians.” So we need to reconsider our suffering.
Reconsider the Goodness of God
We need to reconsider our expectations. We need to reconsider our suffering. And finally, this story, this story leads us to reconsider the goodness of God, or at least how we understand the goodness of God. Have you ever experienced something that just keeps getting better, that just keeps getting more and more beautiful? Maybe it’s a sunset on the beach. Maybe it’s a time-tested friendship. Maybe you remember what it was like to fall in love with your spouse. Well this is the experience of the nameless widow in Zarephath. The more she encounters God, the better and better she sees Him to be. And it’s true for us. The more we encounter God, the more we get to know Him, the more we see His beauty and goodness. You see, this woman in our story, she discovered that God was alive. Right? She experienced the miracle. She experienced Elijah coming to her and speaking God’s Word and God’s Word coming true. And so she also discovered that God was true. She had seen Him keep His Word.
This woman sees that God is powerful. We see that when she addresses Elijah. She said, “What have you against me, O man of God?” When her son dies, she knows that is the hand of God because she knows that God is powerful and she knows that this God, the one, true living God, holds in His hand the keys of life and death. She had also come to understand that God is holy. She says to Elijah, the man of God, “You have come to bring my sin to remembrance.” She recognizes that before the face of God she is unholy and God is holy. But what she discovered as Elijah interceded for her and her son was brought back to life, she discovered that all these things are true, and also that this God, the one, true and living God is good. He is for His people. He is the giver of life. This widow was seeing what the whole Bible testifies – that God breaks into darkness, He lifts up the poor and needy, He restores the brokenhearted, He hears the cries of His people, and He acts on their behalf. God is good. And this is what this widow discovered in the middle of a pagan land, a faraway land in her darkest moments. And this is what the story is showing us – that our God is a good God.
In our own lives, we understand often that God is real. We may know that He is mighty, that He rules creation, but it’s very possible that this evening we don’t sense His goodness. I have many conversations about people’s spiritual lives, and so often at the root of those deep, spiritual struggles is a doubt that maybe God isn’t good and maybe God isn’t for me. But this story shows us otherwise. It shows us that God is truly good. But, maybe we think, maybe we think that God was good to this woman in this story, but how do I know that God will be good to me? How do I know that God is good for me in my situation? Well even in this text we are pointing to the answer.
You see, Elijah was God’s prophet. He was an office bearer. And Elijah, when he interceded for this young boy who had lost his life, he stretched out, he touched him and he, in doing so, became ritually unclean. The rest of the Scripture tells us about the Prophet, Priest and King, Jesus Christ Himself, the second person of the Trinity, who entered into the sin and death-soaked world. He entered into a low estate. He was born into poverty. He suffered trials and temptations and infirmities. Everything that this ruined world could throw at Jesus Christ, it did. And everywhere Jesus went, He gave life. He healed diseases. He cast out demons for undeserving and overlooked people, often, and we have it chronicled in Scripture, for nameless widows who society had cast out. He came to proclaim good news to the poor. He came to proclaim liberty to the captives. He came for the recovering of sight to the blind, to set liberty those who are oppressed. And ultimately He came to save us from our sins. He saved us from our sinful uncleanliness through His perfect life and His atoning death and through His glorious resurrection.
So my encouragement to all of us, my call to all of us, is to never ever lose the sense of shocking surprise that Jesus Christ Himself would die for us. We have nothing more to offer than a pagan widow years ago in a far-away land, making her last meal. And yet, in our sinfulness, in our idolatry, Christ Jesus has looked upon us and He has given up everything for us to call us His own. So do you want to be faithful in this world? Never lose the sense of surprise that God would love sinners like us. Never lose the sense of the God, Christ Jesus who was a man of suffering, walks us through hard, difficult times to give us treasures, to strengthen our faith. Because it is the people who are amazed at God’s grace and it’s the people who see Him in their suffering who are actually lights in this world. It’s not the impressive or the important. It’s people who see this. Finally, just never forget that our God is mighty and strong and true and He is good and He is for His people in Christ Jesus.
Let’s pray.
Father, You truly are the Creator, the Redeemer, the Sustainer. We are broken, sinful people. We have nothing to offer You. Praise be that You have given us Christ Jesus, that we are Yours and we belong to You through His work of salvation. May we always remember that. May we always be shocked and surprised at Your grace and Your goodness, even in our hard times. We pray this all in Jesus’ name, amen.