The Widow of Zarephath

Intro: Week 3 of Rock and a Hard Place

Hook: Maybe the Traffic Road Rage story.

My intention in sharing any of these stories, whether a would you rather, a stuck refrigerator, or a road rage incident, I want to help you think through what different situations have arisen in your life and where you are now, or to know what to think when you approach one in the future. Our example today centers around the prophet Elijah and a widow. We will be in 1 Kings

1 Kings 17:8–12 ESV

Then the word of the Lord came to him, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” And she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now 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.”

The Rock:

The Drought/Famine

The Hard Place:

Limited Food

How did she get here?

She was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Before this Elijah had been fed by two ravens—an unclean bird. Possibly making it easier for him to approach this Gentile woman for help.

Before reaching the widow, Elijah was fed by ravens—birds considered ceremonially unclean. How might God use uncomfortable or unexpected circumstances in our lives to prepare us to receive help from people or places we wouldn't normally expect?

How did she get out?

1 Kings 17:13–16 ESV

And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, 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.’ ” And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.

She acted in faith. She had to believe in this God she did not know from the message of this man she didn’t know.

God provides a miracle to keep her fed.

How did she respond when she made it through?

She hand her family was fed. But then something awful happens. Such is life.

1 Kings 17:18 ESV

And she said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!”

The Other Rock:

Her son dies.

She feels that after being exposed to the holiness of God through his miracles, she was aware of her own sin, and it also came to God’s attention. And that God was punishing her through taking her son.

What follows, is that Elijah cries to the Lord and is able to raise him from the dead.

She then knows that Elijah is a man of God, and the word of the Lord is truth. Her faith is strengthened.

Even more importantly, Elijah’s faith is strengthened even more. The Rock and a Hard Place in the widow’s life, became a stepping stone of faith for Elijah before he was to contend with the prophets of Baal.

In your life, how God works through your life, can be a stepping stone for someone’s faith and the way God brings you through is an addition to your testimony that can propel them to do what God has called them to do.

I want you to be able to approach trouble faithfully because you know you serve a God who can do all things!

Close and split into groups.