A WIDOW’S ASCENT – 1 Kings 17

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on May 13, 2012 under 2012 |

Preached Mother’s Day Sunday, May 13, 2012 from 1 Kings 17

Theme: God often uses times of trial to call someone to decisive steps toward a greater faith in Himself.

(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)

Each Mother’s Day, we look at a story of a great woman of faith in the Bible. And for this morning’s story, I ask that you turn with me to the Old Testament book of 1 Kings. That section of the Bible is mainly about the ministry of the great Old Testament prophet Elijah during very difficult times. But this particular chapter tells us the story of a poor widow woman who ministered to the prophet—and as a result, placed her faith in the God that the prophet proclaimed.

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Now; before we get into her story, I want to tell you a little about this widow. We don’t know very many details. We don’t even know her name. But what we do know about her suggests that she had many strikes against her in life.

From the standpoint of the covenant promises of God, she was born an outsider. She was not a Jewish woman. Instead, she was woman of the notoriously paganistic people group known as the Sidonians. And she was also a widow. How it might have been that her husband died is something we’re not told. But she was left alone and poor. And she also had a small child to care for while living in very hard times. What’s more—even though we don’t know the details—she was a sinner. There were some things in her background for she felt deep guilt and shame. And as we read her story, we may even get a sense that she had grown to be just a little bit jaded—just a little cynical—perhaps even somewhat bitter. The troubles of life—both from the things she had done, and the things that had happened to her along the way—had made it a little hard for her to believe very easily that the God of Israel could love someone such as her and take her under His wing.

And if I may say so; in that respect, I think that she may be like a lot of people around us. She may even be like someone who is here this morning. Life has taken its toll on some of us. We’re not so trusting as we used to be. We may look at other people and admire the ease with which they have faith in God; but such faith doesn’t come so easily for us. We’ve been too hurt by the harsh realities of life. We feel too dirty inside to think that God would want anything to do with us. It just isn’t in us to have an ‘easy-going’ faith in God.

But that’s why I believe this woman’s story is so important. God was not ignorant of the hurt she had felt in life; nor is He ignorant of the hurt we feel. He knew that this woman didn’t have it in her to have an ‘easy-going’ faith in Him; and He also knows that it isn’t in some of us either. But what this passage describes to us are the gracious steps by which He came to her—just as she was, challenged her hard-heartedness, and called her to take some short but crucial steps of faith that drew her to Himself. Perhaps He is calling some of us to make some of those same steps here today.

And to encourage you, let me share with you what she said at the end of the story—after those steps had been taken. 1 Kings 17:24 tells us,

Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is the truth” (1 Kings 17:24).

Even though she began a but unsure of this man who was God’s spokesman—and even though she had a hard time trusting that God could love her—she ended up absolutely confident in what Elijah had to say to her, and placed her trust in the word from God that he spoke to her.

The great lesson of this woman’s story is that God often uses times of trial to call someone He loves to take decisive steps toward a greater faith in Himself. And it may be that He is doing so with someone who is here today—or is just about to do so!

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Let’s begin this story by considering the times. If ever there were times that deserved to be called “hard time”, it was the times in which this poor widow lived.

They concerned the times of the kings of the northern kingdom of Israel. Many of the kings of the southern kingdom of Judah were good and godly men; and some of them were wicked and unfaithful to God. But all of the kings of the northern kingdom of Israel were wicked and unfaithful—and some were extremely wicked and unfaithful! They all walked—to some degree or another—in the wicked ways of the first king of the northern kingdom, Jeroboam. He was the first to introduce idolatry into the lives of his people.

If you were to skim through chapters 15-16, you’d see that the story of the kings of Israel was quite a soap-opera! Jeroboam left his kingdom to his son Nadab. Nadab was killed by a conspirator named Baasha; who then became king. Baasha and his whole household was cursed by God for his wickedness; and so, even thought his son Elah was set on the throne as king in his place, Elah was killed by his own servant Zimri; who then went on to kill-off every member of his father Baasha’s household until that there was no one left. Zimri felt threatened when his people heard that he had killed-off Baasha’s household. They sought to place a man named Omri on the throne instead of him. Zimri took his own life; and then—not surprisingly—Omri became king. The loyalty of the people became divided between Omri and another man named Tibni; but the pro-Omri people won out. And when Omri died, his son became king in his place—the notorious Ahab.

You can just imagine what kind of times those must have been to live in! And yet, as bad as things had been, they became even worse under Ahab. 1 Kings 16:30-33 tells us this:

Now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him. And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshiped him. Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him (1 Kings 16:30-33).

And it was in these dreadful times that God raised up His prophet Elijah. The first verse of chapter 17 gives us his bold, abrupt introduction into the story of the Bible when it says;

And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word” (17:1).

God’s heavy hand of judgment was falling on the people of the northern kingdom of Israel. The land would suffer famine and drought until the time God told His servant Elijah to announce that the famine and drought would end. He spoke these bold words right to the face of wicked King Ahab—and perhaps even to the face of Ahab’s wicked wife Jezebel.

And by the way; let me just offer a side-note. We live in dark and ungodly times too. But we should never despair over the seeming-hopelessness of such times. It’s at a time when things seem as dark as they could possibly be, at a time when the fear of God is almost completely eradicated from a culture; at a time when the wicked seem most to be in power, and the spiritual lives of people seem to be as low as they could possibly go; at a time when the godly are laughed at and marginalized, and perhaps even threatened, that God often graciously raises up a mighty ‘world-changer’ for His cause. He answers the times by raising up a man uniquely prepared by Him for the times. It was when the spirits of men seemed to be hopelessly shackled in chains of religious bondage, and when the word of God was scarcely heard at all, that God raised-up Martin Luther to put the word of God back in people’s hands and set them free. It was at a time when England was spiritually dead—when the word of God was being locked away in cold, dark church buildings by unbelieving clerics; and when the needy people were being locked out of the churches—that God raised up John Wesley, and Charles Wesley, and George Whitefield to take the word of God out into the streets and declare that men must be ‘born again’.

God raised up Elijah in the dark times of the kings of Israel. And He is able to raise up another such man for the dark times in which we live. Let’s be praying that He will do so!

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Now; the dark times of God’s hand of judgment were affecting everyone everywhere. They affected God’s man Elijah as well. But God was looking-out for His faithful servant. Verses 2-6 tell us;

Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook (vv. 1-6).

Can you imagine that? We’re not told how long it went on; but for as long as it was needed, God provided water from the brook and food from the ravens—both morning and evening—to meet Elijah’s needs. He learned from personal experience that God was His faithful Provider.

And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land (v. 7).

The time of God’s provision at the Brook Cherith came to an end. And it wasn’t because God could no longer provide for His prophet. Instead, it was so that the provision He was giving him would extend to someone else. It’s then that the widow is brought into the story.

Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you” (vv. 8-9).

And this leads us to the first step that I believe God was calling this woman to take in order to be drawn to Him—that is, the step of . . .

1. RECEIVING GOD’S INITIATIVE OF GRACE TOWARD HER (vv. 1-9).

Did you notice where she was living? In “Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon”. Sidon was a sea-port along the Mediterranean coast. It was the homeland of that wicked woman Jezebel! If ever there was someone who might think that God would have nothing to do with her, it would have been this foreigner—this Sidonian woman in Zarephath. And yet, God was reaching out to her in love by sending His precious spokesman out to be taken care of by her.

Did you know that the Lord Jesus once made reference to this woman in a way that made His own Jewish kinsmen insanely furious? He was preaching once in the city of Nazareth—His own hometown; but they weren’t believing on Him as they should. So He told them,

“You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.’” Then He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow” (Luke 4:23-26).

They were so angry with Him for suggesting that God might show more grace to a humble foreigner than He would to them that they grabbed Him and tried to throw Him off a cliff! But it was true! It wasn’t a widow of Israel that God honored with the presence of Elijah, but this poor widow of Sidon! And I suggest to you that this is one of the first ways that God uses difficult times to call a hardened person to Himself. He begins by taking the initiative toward them and showing love to them.

If you are here this morning and you have felt as if God couldn’t possibly love you, or couldn’t possibly have anything good in store for you, or couldn’t possibly want to bless your life, then you need to know what it means that you are here today—hearing this story. It means that God is showing the initiative of love toward you; and is inviting you to come to Him—just as you are, needs and all.

We take the first step toward Him when we willingly—humbly, graciously—receive His act of grace toward us.

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Elijah did as God commanded. Perhaps it may have surprised him that God would send him to the homeland of Jezebel; but he obediently went. As this passage goes on to tell us;

So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink” (v. 10).

This request was something that she seemed willing and able to fulfill. After all, they were in Zarephath near the sea; and the waters were still flowing there. But his next request seemed to be something that she felt unable—and perhaps even unwilling—to do for him. She turned to get water for him;

And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” So she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, 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” (vv. 11-2).

Now; notice carefully what she said. She said, “As the Lord your God lives . . .” She didn’t consider herself to have the right to call Him her God. She must have known a little about the God of Israel; but she must have felt like an outsider toward Him. But it must also be that she could tell that this man was an Israelite—an insider in relation to God. And notice that she said that she was just then gathering a few sticks to start a fire, bake the small portion of bread that she could make for herself and her son, and then die. She was broken, frustrated, cynical and in despair. She had no hope for the future. She and her people were like what Paul said in Ephesians 2:12; “. . . aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” And notice in all of this what it was that the man of God (an insider) was asking of her (an outsider). He was asking for her to give him—God’s spokesman—all that she had.

What a challenge! She had only enough to bake a little for herself and her son so that they could eat and die; but he was asking her to give even that to him. But through the act of Elijah asking this of her, God was inviting her to take the next step toward Himself through a difficult trial—that is, the step of . . .

2. DISCOVERING GOD’S FAITHFULNESS TO PROVIDE FOR HER (vv. 10-16).

We go on to read,

And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth’” So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah (vv. 13-16).

Do you realize what this means? The Bible tells us, in James 5:17, that this famine from God lasted for three and a half years. That would mean that every day that Elijah lived in the home of this poor widow (perhaps as much as two years) this woman would wake up, mix the portion of flour and tiny portion of oil that she had—enough for Elijah, herself, and her household—and come back the next day and find that there was more flour and oil for that day! Every day, she would see a new miracle of God’s provision for that day’s needs! And it was all because she learned to trust in God’s provision, and to give Him His portion first.

Several centuries later, our Lord Jesus spoke these words:

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:31-34).

And I suggest to you that this is another step that God calls someone to take toward Himself—that is, that they will depend on Him to be the one who meets their needs. Perhaps you are someone who has taken that first step—and have accepted His gracious act of initiative toward you. Perhaps you have grown to accept that, yes, He could love even you. But it may be that He is calling you today to go a step further; and to learn to trust Him to be the one who will be your Provider and meet your every need in life.

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God had challenged this dear foreign widow in those very ways. She was a foreigner who had no right to expect anything from the God of Israel. And yet, God came to her in the person of His spokesman Elijah. And then, having accepted God’s grace toward her, He called her to take a step further toward Him, and to enter into a relationship with Him as her Provider.

But there was one more step she needed to take. And as a mother, it would have been the most challenging of all. We’re told,

Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman who owned the house became sick. And his sickness was so serious that there was no breath left in him (v. 17).

To say that there was no breath left in him was to say that he had physically died. Just how this terrible tragedy came upon this woman we’re not told. But as a mother, this sorrow—in relation to all the other sorrows that had been her lot in those dark days—must have been the greatest of all. And what’s more, as a widow, it would have meant the end of her future.

And notice very carefully what she says next:

So she said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?” (v. 18).

The phrase, “What have I to do with you . . .” is a phrase that show up elsewhere in Scripture (see 2 Samuel 16:10). It’s an expression of profound contempt. These were hurtful words that show how the sudden death of her son touched a very raw nerve deep in her being. And the raw nerve that seems to have been touched was that of her own sin. She said, “Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?” Just what the nature of her sin was is something that we can only speculate. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that she—a widow—had this small son. But we can plainly see that, even though she had been making steps toward God—even though she had tasted of His grace toward her, and had seen His remarkable provision—all the burden of guilt and shame that had been laying dormant in her suddenly came bursting forth in a great overflow of bitterness. Perhaps she lashed out at Elijah because his presence—as God’s spokesman—reminded her of how far from God she really was.

I so admire Elijah in this story. He didn’t condemn her. He didn’t rail back at her for her bitter words toward him. He was compassionate—just as God Himself is compassionate toward those that He is drawing toward Himself through the hard trials of life. In fact, Elijah felt the pain of it all too. We’re told;

And he said to her, “Give me your son.” So he took him out of her arms and carried him to the upper room where he was staying . . . (v. 19a).

Do you notice that this child must have been relatively small? He was in the woman’s arms; and Elijah could take him into his own and carry him. But do you also notice the willingness of the mother to take this next step that God was calling her to take? The man of God was asking this grieving mother to give him her small son; and she did so.

And what happens next is both strange and remarkable. We’re told that Elijah took the child . . .

and laid him on his own bed. Then he cried out to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, have You also brought tragedy on the widow with whom I lodge, by killing her son?” And he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back to him” (v. 19b-21).

I believe that God’s prophet Elijah was completely identifying himself with this small child in the terrible consequences of sin and death—just as our Lord identified Himself with us in our suffering on the cross. And we’re told;

Then the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived. And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives!” (vv. 22-23).

And in this great challenge of handing her dead son over the prophet—along, it seems, with handing over her sense of guilt and shame—she was taking the most important step that we needy sinners can take in drawing near to God; and that is the step of . . .

3. BELIEVING ON GOD AS THE ONE WHO CAN GIVE LIFE TO THE DEAD (vv. 17-23).

Do you remember what the Lord Jesus said to His dear friend Martha—after her brother Lazarus had died? He came to her in her grief and told her,

“Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world” (John 11:23-27).

The Bible tells us, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). And the most crucial step God ever calls someone to take in drawing them near to Himself is to believe on His Son Jesus Christ as the one by whom He has fully paid for our sin, taken our guilt away, turned back the curse of death, and given us eternal life.

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And that brings us again to those closing words in verses 24;

Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is the truth” (v. 24).

God took this poor, broken, needy, foreign widow through some very significant steps toward Himself. He took her from being an outsider, to the place where she willingly received God’s initiative toward her and believed He could love even her; and then to the place where she trusted in Him to be her Provider; and finally to the place where she fully trusted Him as the one who could raise her from all the deadness of her sin and give her life. I believe fully we will see this dear woman in heaven.

May the very same gracious God of Israel walk each of us—even through the dark trials of life—through the steps we need take in order to draw near to Him through His Son Christ Jesus.