Overcoming The Odds 5/12/2019

Introduction

We live in days that are increasingly unfair to mothers. Motherhood is not as honored as it once was. Today if you are a mother who has chosen to put family before career you are thought odd.

Last week I mentioned that 41% of babies are born to single mothers. The idea of being a mother in a home with a father has been altered by society. It is a day of great challenges for motherhood. The odds seem overwhelming for all who are trying to be a great mother.

Our kids have access to things that teach them values we don't hold. It is nearly impossible to keep influences away from children today that pull them in ways the world would have them travel.

What's a mother to do?

Paul pointed out a young man named Timothy who had an example from his mother and grandmother.

2 Timothy 1:5 NKJV

when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.

When the will of Henry J. Heinz, wealthy distributor of the famous "57 Varieties" line, was read, it was found to contain the following confession: "Looking forward to the time when my earthly career will end, I desire to set forth at the very beginning of this will, as the most important item in it, a confession of my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior. I also desire to bear witness to the fact that throughout my life, in which there were unusual joys and sorrows, I have been wonderfully sustained by my faith in God through Jesus Christ. This legacy was left me by my consecrated mother, a woman of strong faith, and to it I attribute any success I have attained." - James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988), p. 381.

When it comes to facing the overwhelming odds of a sinful society, godly moms get Gods attention.

Elijah’s Problem

1 Kings 17:7–9 NKJV

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

Elijah is in trouble. He prophesied no rain would be coming. God has sustained him with water in a brook and food brought by crows. But even Elijah will feel the effects of a lack of rain.

God says to Elijah “you go over to Zarephath. There is a widow who is going to provide for you.”

When God needed a vessel to work thru, He chose a mom.

1 Kings 17:10–14 NKJV

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.” 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.” 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.’ ”

A widow with one child, she would have been in the lowest, most impoverished situation for that society.

Why would God ask a woman with no means, a woman who was suffering herself to take care of Elijah? Because God knows the heart of a mother - a real mother will give even when there is nothing left to give.

Years ago, a young mother was making her way across the hills of South Wales, carrying her tiny baby in her arms, when she was overtaken by a blinding blizzard. She never reached her destination and when the blizzard had subsided her body was found by searchers beneath a mound of snow. But they discovered that before her death, she had taken off all her outer clothing and wrapped it about her baby. When they unwrapped the child, to their great surprise and joy, they found he was alive and well. She had mounded her body over his and given her life for her child, proving the depths of her mother love. Years later that child, David Lloyd George, grown to manhood, became prime minister of Great Britain, and, without a doubt, one of England's greatest statesmen. -- James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988), p. 375.

God never looks for who has the most money to do His work, He looks for the willing heart.

Our society and our kids don’t need rich mothers, they need mothers who are willing to give, to care, who have faith, who live as an example before them.

Your kid will never care what car you drive, shoes you wear, handbag you carry. They will notice if you love them, invest in them, care for them.

Being obedient would seem foolish. Today Elijah would have been scoffed at as some selfish religious leader taking advantage of the poor!

God’s economy works different than the world’s economy. Obedience would change her life forever.

Could she imagine what God was going to do with her simple obedience and limited supply of flour and oil?

Never underestimate Gods work, even when you seem to have little to contribute.

Altar Music

Do not be afraid

Elijah tells her to not fear.

Fear is the one thing that stands between most of us and the miraculous that God plans to do.

Fear will rob you of God’s blessings.

Her life and her sons life are on the line.

1 Kings 17:15–16 NKJV

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.

This is faith at work.

Food for the woman, Elijah and her family. This could indicate that there was enough to give to her extended family who found themselves affected by the drought.

Givers are not created when they finally have enough to give, they are usually givers long before they have enough to give!

God used this widowed mom’s faith to overcome overwhelming odds. God can use your faith to overcome the odds that this world puts in front of you.