Faith
“And without faith it is impossible to
please [H]im, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that [H]e exists
and that [H]e rewards those who seek [H]im.” Hebrews 11:6 [my correction].
I came across this verse the other day and it
blew me away! It is a verse that I have read several times, and I even taught
this to children no bigger than my knee! (Yep was a preschool teacher for a
church when my son was little). But something about this verse yesterday had me
gasping for air, and face down on the floor thanking God for building my
faith!! I can go through the bible and point out several “giants” who had
abounded faith, and what God did to build it. Hebrews 11 calls out the names of
these giants, and what their faith did to bring glory to God. But I want to
take a different route this time, I want to zone in on a woman who was out
picking sticks to make her last meal (1 King 17). Not just her last meal of the
day, but her last meal on earth and not just for her but also for the last meal
her young son would eat too. Picture this woman riddled with sadness, as she
has already lost her husband and is about to lose her son too. I can picture
her crying as she is picking up the sticks and crying out to God why? She had
lost all hope and faith and all she could look forward to was death. Everything
was taken from her, and she could give nothing to the Lord… or that is what she
thought.
As she is gathering the stick as young man
approaches her asking for a cup of water, which she processed to give him as he
also commands her to give him a piece of bread from your hand. At this point I
can see her wiping around and give the man a look of death. In my mind I would
be screaming how dare you? I have nothing left! But the woman states she only
has a little oil and flour left and that she will prepare for her and her son.
Elijah looks at her and state “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But
first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me,” I would look at Elijah
and say are you crazy, I just told you I didn’t have enough. Elijah continues “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.’” but this
woman did something that would forever change her path in life. With faith she
followed the command that Elijah gave her. YES, she made the cake, and handed
it to him for his enjoyment! What faith!!! As most people would have chase
Elijah away to only enjoy their last meal on earth instead of fulfilling a need
of another!
Picture this woman going back to her house
to make the last of what she had to give it to another person. She empty the
last of her flour.. hitting the bottom of the jar to get every last bit out,
then pouring the rest of the oil in the pan to cook the cake for Elijah.
Picture her crying as she heads out of the house to hand the cake to Elijah;
slowly doom fills her steps as she heads back to the house. The question of “will there be more in the jars when I get back into the house” runs
through her mind. It would have been very hard to walk back to the house,
knowing that I had empty both jars. My mind would be screaming… not
possible, not possible. Satan is very good at discouragement. I don’t
know if I could even looked into the jars with my mind set that the Lord will
provide! But this woman had faith that the jars would have more in them!
And with great faith came great reward, not once did the jars become empty! She
had them full for three years!!! Yes three years, each day emptying them out to
make bread for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! And yes they were always
filled!!!! Great faith in trusting the Lord would provide for her needs as she sacrifices
her last meal to help the prophet….
To
Be Continue….
No comments:
Post a Comment