Flour, Oil, & My Son
I tell people all the time to “trust God” – He will not let you down!
But do I really BELIEVE that down to the core of my being? Truth is…I have never been truly tested as many of you have been tested. And this is not a request to be TESTED either, God! All I mean by that statement is that I still have my health, my family, and a great job. Many of you reading this may have gone through a season where one or more of these things were taken from you.
In 1 Kings 17, we see a widow woman TESTED! God had sent the prophet Elijah to her so she could “provide” for him during a drought.
Really – a poor widow? How can she provide for Elijah when she can’t even provide for herself and her son? Elijah says, “Hey Miss Widow, can you fetch me a jar of water? Oh, and while you are at it, I could really use a piece of bread too!” Ok, that is my paraphrase, not a quote, from verses 10-11.
Look at the widow’s sad response, “…I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.”
That is about the saddest thing I have ever heard! Elijah told her to go and make bread with the last of the flour and oil for all of them; for God said that her resources would not be exhausted until the drought breaks. So she gets to cooking and feeds all three of them. And just as prophesied, her flour and oil were not exhausted!
Impressive miracle, right? She trusted God and the prophet with her material possessions without any questions asked. But then…the unthinkable happens. Her son grows sick and “there was no breath left in him”. Now the questions come. I mean, it is one thing to trust God with your flour and oil, but quite another to trust him with your most precious possession…your child.
The widow let it rip…”What do I have to do with you, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my iniquity to remembrance and to put my son to death!” (v. 18). It is funny how the enemy will bring up our past sins and clobber us over the head with them when we are at our weakest point. Go finish reading 1 Kings 17 to see what happens to her son and the response of the widow.
So friends, I guess I am left with the question, “Where do we draw the trust-line?” Can we draw a circle around certain things in our lives that we trust God with, but anything outside of the circle is “off limits”? I don’t think so.
You see, He is God alone. Through the good times and bad…we still must declare with David in Psalm 86:
- “O You my God, save Your servant who TRUSTS in You.” verse 2
- “For You are great and do wondrous deeds; You are God alone.” verse 10
So do you trust God with your flour, your oil, and your ___________? <Tweet this
You fill in the blank and ask God to help you turn that situation completely over to Him in child-like trust. What would go in the blank for you personally? I would love to hear from you!
