Favor in a Famine

I Kings 17:14
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 of the Lord gives rain on the land.

We’ve been in recession for about 2 ½ years. It seems this global recession is drudging on like the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Every time I see the real-time footage of that oil spill gushing out, it feels like a painful reminder of how our money has been leaking away for the last 2 ½ years.

It’s been about that long for the prophet Elijah since it rained in Israel because of King Ahab’s disobedience in worshipping idol gods. Elijah pronounced a drought for three years. God sends Elijah to a brook for his provision. God made ravenous birds provide Elijah with meat. During this famine God sent unlikely sources to bless us. People whose very nature it was not to give had to bless us because of God’s favor, but then the brook dried up!

Now we are at the widow’s house begging for bread. She’s just as broke as we are but God sent us here. Elijah asks her for water and for bread. The woman is about to make her last meal and resign to death, her and her son.

Elijah challenges her to make the man of God something first and then her and her son can eat. This is hard because physically the evidence suggests she only has resources for one more meal but Elijah speaks spiritually that if she prioritizes her giving that she will go on living because the flour and the oil will not run out until the Lord sends rain on the land to end the drought.

When we are down to our last do we trust God to give to him first? If we are down to our last God ought to get his first because he’s the only guarantee we have left. God is so serious about providing for his people he says in Malachi 3:10 “prove me, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing you will not have room to receive.” God can’t lie. Prove him!

When the woman baked bread for the prophet, she went back in and made some for her and her son. She kept doing this until God sent rain to end the famine. Her favor continued through the famine because of her:

1. Faith. She believed what the man of God spoke to her even though in the natural she didn’t see it. We walked by faith and not by sight.

2. Hospitality even though she was strapped she still helped somebody out in a time of need.

3. Giving. She gave to God first by obeying the man of God in her giving him bread and water. God should be the first one to get our limited resources so that he can give us unlimited provision. That’s why Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “Give us this day, our daily bread.”

Dear God, give me the faith of this, widow woman who believed the man of God even when there was no proof she was going to eat again. We speak life over this recession and proclaim an end to this famine. We end it by giving out of faith not hoarding out of fear because we need our favor to last through this famine. Thank you Lord for our daily bread.

In Jesus Name,
Amen.