(Note: I used a pic that I took 32 years ago.)
Nearly ten million people had filed for unemployment in the last 2 weeks because of this pandemic. I can only imagine their fear. It’s not just fear due to the possibility of getting infected, but fear of not being able to pay rent, mortgage, etc.
I don’t know if anyone would want to read this because we all seem to be focused on the news of this virus. Besides, we already know this story. But I’m still sharing this to remind us that Elijah, the man of God, went through the same crisis during his lifetime.
Elijah the Tishbite was told by God to go to Ahab, the king of Israel, and to tell the king that because of his (Ahab’s) sins, a great drought was coming and that there would be neither dew nor rain for years.
Then God told Elijah, “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there.”
And so, winter came and passed, then summer, but there was no rain. Cattle and plants began to die. There was famine in the land. And King Ahab ordered his people to look for Elijah who at this time was hiding by the brook.
Getting hungry, Elijah wondered where he could find food but just then, a raven flew overhead and dropped something. It was food! And another raven flew by dropping more food. Elijah praised God, for He kept His promise to provide for him. Then he drank cool water from the clear brook.
Day after day the ravens came and dropped food for Elijah, and he was content. But gradually, he noticed the brook getting smaller and shallower until the day came when he couldn’t hear the trickle of water anymore. The ravens continued to bring food morning and afternoon but what about his water? Finally, the last trickle of water had disappeared. It didn’t say whether Elijah was worried because he trusted God. And surely God told Elijah, “Go to Zarephath and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to take care of you.” Again, Elijah did not question God but went to Zarephath.
The widow at Zarepath didn’t have any food left except for a small amount of flour just enough to make a meal for her and her son. She planned to make the last bread and then die afterwards.
So here comes a stranger, Elijah, who asked the widow to make him a meal. If you were the widow, how would you react? You’d probably say: “Is this man out of his mind? There’s no way that I’d give our last meal to him.”
But the widow willingly did what Elijah asked her to do. And this was when she received her miracle from heaven. She took the flour and oil, baked bread and amazingly, the same amount of flour and oil were left in the containers. Her containers of flour and oil never ran out and she had enough for each meal until the drought was over. I am sure many people died during the drought, but because Elijah followed God’s instructions, Elijah and the widow and her son survived.
To those who lost their jobs or sources of earnings, may the story of Elijah be a great reminder of God’s amazing deliverance, as what He did for Elijah, and also for His people when they lived in Egypt – when God spared them from the plagues. Praying that everything will soon go back to normal.
Micah 7:18 “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.”