The Widow at Zarephath Who Supplied Elijah With Food

As the result of King Ahab’s marriage to a Gentile woman named Jezebel, a Baal worshiper, all of Israel was suffering from severe drought. At that time, there was a widow who lived in Zarephath. When she was gathering sticks around the town gate, someone asked her.

“Would you please bring me a little water?”

He was Elijah the prophet, who came to Zarepath as God told him to. As the woman was going to get some water, Elijah called to her and said.

“Please bring me a piece of bread, too.”

Then a worried look was cast on her face, because her food was running out as a result of the long drought.

“I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”

“Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 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 the Lord gives rain on the land.’ ”

So she did as Elijah said, and a miracle occurred in her house. There was always enough flour and olive oil left in the containers, in keeping with the word of God spoken by Elijah. God’s blessing upon her family continued until the end of the famine.

Even though we are given a chance to receive a blessing from God, it is very hard to recognize and grasp the chance if we only focus on our present difficult situations. The reason the woman from Zarephath was able to be saved from starving to death was because she recognized the opportunity to receive a blessing from God even in such a desperate situation where anyone could get frustrated.

We can never experience God’s blessings if we just feel worried or put our focus only on our current difficult situation. The opportunity to receive God’s blessings is given to those who always obey God’s will with faith.

Beyond the walls of our reality, with the eyes of faith, let us look at the blessings God has prepared for us. God’s blessings are so close within our reach!